AN EXAMINATION OF READING OUTCOMES FOR CHILDREN IN THE SOUTHERN SCHOOL DISTRICT EARLY CHILDHOOD PROGRAM

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if the Southern District’s pre-kindergarten achieved the desired reading achievement outcomes. The specific focus was on the reading development of all students attending pre-kindergarten in the Southern School District and their third-grade reading proficiency according to the Oklahoma Core Curriculum Reading Test. The Southern School District provided administrative data for the study. The District provided 729 complete cases of student reading proficiency levels from first grade first quarter through the third-grade fourth quarter, as well as categorical scores for the Oklahoma Core Curriculum Reading Test. Findings suggest there were no differences in reading achievement between students in the Southern School District pre-kindergarten program and students not enrolled. The descriptive data revealed very similar achievement trends when comparing all District pre-kindergarten attendees to non-attending peers. The breakdown of students by proficiency performance category was nearly identical when comparing pre-kindergarten attendees to non-attendees. The cross-tabulation supported the original descriptive findings with nearly identical findings for District pre-kindergarten attendees and those who did not attend. A logistical regression analysis was conducted to determine if District pre-kindergarten had increased student odds of scoring proficient on the third grade OCCT. The model confirmed the two previous findings with the District pre-kindergarten attendance have no greater odds of scoring proficient than students who did not attend pre-kindergarten in the District.