originally entitled Experimental Variation of Head Start Curricula:

Transcription

1 DOCUMENT RESUME ED AUTHOR Mller, Louse B.; Dyer, Jean L. TTLE Four Preschool Programs: Ther Dmensons And Effects. NSTTUTON Lousvlle Unv., Ky. Dept. of Psychology. SPONS AGENCY Publc Health Servce (DHEW), Washngton, D.C. REPORT NO PHS-PR-0 PUB DATE 72 NOTE 34p. EDRS PRCE DESCRPTORS DENTFERS MF-$0.65 HC-$3.29 *Chld Development; *Chld Psychology; Developmental Psychology; *Early Experence; Preschool Chldren; *Preschool Evaluaton Project Head Start ABSTRACT A progress report on an experment begun n 968, orgnally enttled Expermental Varaton of Head Start Currcula: A Comparson of Current Approaches," s gven. Chldxen were taught by one of four methods n Head Start at age of four years. n Kndergarten and frst-grade years most had ether Follow Through or Regular programs. Montorng of classrooms was done through frst-grade year. Results show Head Start program dfferences on Bnet Q obtaned n prekndergarten year had dsappeared by end of frst grade, followng steady declne for all groups. Expermental Head Starts were equal to cty medan and superor to smlar (Ttle ) schools. (NF)

2 U. S. DU'Ar,TV4T & WELFAE :,:r7!' F!:!", THE "FOUR PRESCHOOL PROGRAM: THER DDENSONS AND EFFECTS" Research Grant PHS HD 5354 from Publc Health Servce PROGRESS REPORT No. 0 June, 97 - Hay 3, 972 Louse B. Mller, Ph.D., Project Drector Jean L. Dyer, Ph.D., Research Assocate Gary C. Salk, M.A., Graduate Research Assstant Erca D. Bard, 3.A., Graduate Research Assstant Robert P. Krtkausky-, B.A., Graduate Research Assstant Mary Frances leedman, Admnstratve Assstant Kay Proctor, Secretary rcrj.rdata rsur) PSYCHOLOGY DEPARTMENT UNVERSTY OF LOUSVLLE Lousvlle, Ky. FLMED FROM BEST AVALABLE COPY

3 FOUR PRESCHOOL PROGRAM: THER DME:MES AND EFFECTS Louse B. Mller and Jean L. Dyer Unversty of Lousvlle Frst-Grade Year Ths s the 0th Progress Report on a longtudnal experment' begun n 968 and orgnally enttled "Expermental Varaton of Head Start Currcula: A Comparson of Current Approaches". The study was ntally funded by the Offce of Economc Opportunty and s currently beng supported by the Department of Health, Educaton, and Welfare- - Publc Health Servce. The chldren were taught by one of four methods n Head Start at the age of four years--bereter-engemann (B-E), DARCEE, Montessor, or Tradtonal. n ther kndergarten and frstgrade yeas: most of them had ether Follow Through or Regular programs. Montorng of classrooms was done through the frst-grade year. Testng of chldren at the and of second grade wll complete the study. Ths report covers the perod from June, 97 to May 3, 972 and presents the results of montorng of frst-grade vdeo-tapes, the man battery of tests gven by the research staff at the end of the frst grade, and the Calforna Achevement Test gven by the cty schools at the end of frst grade. Durng the school year, vdeo -tapes were made on 27 Regular frst-grade teachers and fve Follow Through teachers. Of the Regular teachers, two tapes were obtaned on sx teachers and one tape was obtaned on the remanng 2. Two tapes were obtaned on each of the Follow Through teachers. n Aprl and May of 97, 289 chldren were retested wth those tests of the orgnal battery whch were stll approprate. The followng tests were admnstered: Stanford-Bnet, Replacement Puzzle, Curosty Box, Dog and Bone, Basc Concept nventory, Wepman kudtory Dscrmnaton Test, Face Sheet of the Bnet, Parallel Sentence Producton, and Gumpgookes. Mddle-class ch0-en were tested at the end of ther kndergarten year wth the followng tests: Stanford- Bnet, Replacement Puzzle, Curosty Box, Dog and Bone, Basc Concept nventory, Wepman Audtory Dscrmnaton Test, Chldren's Audtory Dscrmnaton nventory, Face Sheet of the Bnet, Parallel Sentence Producton, Preschool nventory, and Arthmetc. Procedural controls were smlar to those n prevous years. Turng ths same perod all frst-grade chldren were gven the Calforna Achevement Test, Level, by the cty schools. Raw scores and grade equvalents were obtaned for each chld. Results of these tests are presented separately because the problems of analyss and nterpretaton are n some respects dfferent from those nvolved n repeated tests.

4 2 Results A. Program Characterstcs No statstcal comparsons from vdeo-tape data have been made at ths pont, but some results were obvous, and consstent wth prevous fndngs. Follow Through frst-grade classrooms were dstngushed prmarly from Regular classrooms n that Follow Through teachers nteracted wth ndvdual chldren rather than wth Groups of chldren. These results are smlar to result' 'nd n kndergarten classes. n general, Regular frst-grade teachers nteracted wth both Graups and ndvduals, except on Negatve KOR where they nteracted wth ndvduals, and n Gvng nformaton where they tended to nteract wth the Group. Modelng as a technque was qute common n Follow Through classrooms. t dd not appear that were strong dfferences between Follow Through and Regular n terms of total amount of Academc Requests or total amount of Academc nformaton that was gven to the chldren. However, Postve Feedbad: was slghtly hgher n the Follow Through classrooms. B. Program Effects Analyses (Man Battery) Wth regard to results on the man test battery, there wore a number of questons of nterest. Of prmary mportance was the nature of the effects of the four Head Start programs, apart from and n combnaton wth the two types of subsequent experence n kndergarten and frst grade. Sex dfferences were also of nterest and t was mportant to determne whether there would be stablty of trends noted at the end of kndergarten. n order to answer these varous questons, a number of dfferent analyses were necessary. Some analyses were made, not to obtan addtonal nformaton, but prmarly to guard aganst erroneous nterpretatons. For example, aman effect of Head Start program obtaned from an analyss whch excluded the varable of Follow Through or Regular Kndergarten and frst grade mght mean several thngs: () t could represent a powerful effect at one tme perod; (2) t could represent a strong effect n the Regular program whch was not paralleled n Follow Through but emerged sgnfcant because of the larger number of subjects n Regular; or (3) t could result from an effect whch was characterstc of both Follow Through and Regular. The ratonale for answerng questons about the nteracton and covaraton of Head Start wth the two sequences (Follow Through and Regular) was essentally the same as t was at the end of kndergarten. Durng frst grade, however, although attrton wts not large, there were a number of transfers from Regular to Follow Through and vce versa. Ths created a larger number of dfferent sequences and reduced the numbers n specfed sub-groups, partcularly those who had two years of Follow Through (FF). For ths reason no separate analyses were made wthn FF. Wthn the sequence of Regular Knder-

5 garten and Regular Frst Grade (RR), there were at least two classes from each Head Start program, except Montessor. Further, these chldren had been dstrbuted among a large number of classes and schools. Therefore, ther kndergarten and frst-grade experences could be consdered typcal wthn the lmts of the varatons present among regular school programs n the communty. n order to obtan nformaton about sex, trends over tme, and the nteracton of varous programs wth these two varables, an analyss of varance over all four data ponts was made usng the four Head Start programs and the orgnal Controls (CL) but combnng over all later sequences. Thus, the analyss of varance was a 5 x 2 x 4 factoral wth repeated measures on the last factor, usng 5 groups, 2 sexes, and 4 tme perods. Analyss oa just the frst-grade data pont was a 5 x 2 factoral analyss of varance usng the two factors of Head Start groups and sex. U for both analyses was 22. To nvestgate the effects of Head Start versus no Head Start nteractng wth the FF-RR sequences over tme, these three factors were ncluded n a 2 x 2 x 2 factoral analyss of varance (Head Start vs. no Head Start, FF-RR, and tme perods: Kndergarten and frst grade) wth repeated measures on the last factor. The four types of Head Start were combned n both Fly and RR. n addton, an analyss of varance whch ncluded each Head Start program and Controls, the FF-RR sequence, and tme (kndergarten and frst grade) was made. Ths analyss was a 5 x 2 x 2 factoral wth tme beng a repeated measures factor, and was used prmarly to check on results whch mght be msleadng because of possble nteractons of Head Start/kndergarten/frst-grade programs. Both the orgnal Controls (CL ) and the Follow Through Control group (CL2) were ncluded n these two analyses. N for both analyses was 65. A repeated measures analyss wthn RR was made whch ncluded Head Start programs and CL and sex (5 x 2 x 2). Ths analyss was made over two data ponts kndergarten and frst grade, and N was 4. 3 Snce the method of handlng the Achevement Test data was necessarly dfferent, these analyses are dscussed and results presented separately (p. 5). Results on all measures are presented only for those varables on whch effects were statstcally sgnfcant at the.05 level of confdence.

6 4 Results (Man Battery) Means for Head Start and Control groups (CL) combned over both FF and RR for the four data ponts are shown n Table. Means for the fve groups n each sequence separately at the kndergarten and frst-grade ponts are shown n Table 2. () Head Start Program Stablty On the Stanford-Bnet, for all groups combned, there was an ncrease n the Head Start year, followed by a decrease n both the kndergarten and frst-grade years. The frst-grade Q level was about the same as the level at the begnnng of Head Start. Mean Qs for each of the fve groups at the four data ponts are shown n Fgure. Controls dd not change durng the prekndergarten year, but ncreased n kndergarten. Head Start chldren ncreased n the prekndergarten year, then decreased n kndergarten. Of partcular nterest s the performance of the B-E chldren, ncreasng n Head Start and decreasng n both kndergarten and frst grade at a faster rate than the other groups, so at the end of frst grade, they were the lowest group on ntellgence and below ther ntal level. Ths was prmarly due to ther greater decrease.n RR n comparson to the decrease n other Head Start groups. On the Basc Concept,nventorx (BC) and the Parallel Sentence ProductoTTPSP7, ar groups from kndergarten to frst grade. The prevous fndng of a sgnfcant dfference on the Rog and Bone between the two hghest (DARCEE and Montessor) and TH; two-lowest (B-E and Tradtonal) groups was confrmed by the analyss over four data ponts. Means at the four ponts are shown n Fgure 2. Program order was smlar wthn RR, wth DARCEE hghest at end of frst grade. From kndergarten to frst grade, one group--montessor chldren-- declned, Performance on Curosty-Actvty was constant through Head Start and kndergarten, then ncreased at frst grade. A man effect of Head Start program confrmed prevous results showng the contnued low poston of Tradtonal on ths measure. Ths result was confrmed wthn RR. Means at kndergarten and frst grade are shown n Fgure 3. Wthn RR, DARCEE was hgh on Curosty-Verbal wth more than twce as much verbalzaton as the next hghest group (Controls). On the Behavor nventory, there were a number of Head Start program dfferences. and Montessor chldren became more aggressve durng frst grade; B-E was the only group who ncre3fga7377gresson n both kndergarten and frst grade, becomng sgnfcantly more aggressve than Montessor and -+

7 * Har Teat Battery TABLE Pro- Kndergarten, Kndergarten, and Frst Grade Heans for Head Start Progrens and Controls ( ) 5 Ste nf ord -3ne t B-E 0'59) krcee Mon to;;s or Tradtmal (w44) Controlo (:fr29 Pro -Knd. Fall Pre-Knd. Sprng Kndergarten st Crade , D2L-?nd Bono Pre-Knd. van.?re-knd. Sprng Kndergarten st.ade replacament Rzz'l o A / Pro-Knd. Pre-Knd sprng Kndergarten st Grade Replacement Puzzle 3 Pre-Knd. Fall Pre -Knd. Sprng Knder prten st Grade Onlos ty-ve Pro -Knd. Fall Pm-Knd. Speak; Kndergarten st Grade Oarosty-Actvtz PS? Pre-Und. Fall Pro-Knd. Sprng Kndergarten st rade Pro-Knd. 9- Pro -Knd. Sp-rng Kndergarten st Grade t

8 6 TABLE confrmed B-E DAFtCEE Montessor Tradtonal Controls BC Pre-Knd. Fall Pre-Knd. Sprng Kndergarten st Grade Behavor nventory ndependence Pre-Knd. Fall Pre-Knd. Sprng _ Kndergarten st Grade Tmdtz Pre-Knd. Fall Pre-Knd. ;trng ), Kndergarten st Grade VSP Pre-Knd. Fall Pre-Knd. Sprng Kndergarten st Grade Aggresson Pre-Knd. '''all Pre-Knd. Sprng Kndergarten ? st Grade Achevement Pre-Knd. Fall E Pre-Knd. Sprng Kndergarten st Grade

9 TA ;--3. r ; ted 7 Face Sheet latngf; PS Touters Factor Pm-Knd. Pall Rre-Krld. Sprng rtulorgarten st Grade Ftctor U Pre-Knd. Ps Pro-Knd. Sprng Kndergarten st arade Fact or Pro-Knd. Pal Pm -K nd. Sprng Kndergarten st Grads B-E DA.!.C.T..2. Mont.s3sor Tradtonal Contro ,-) te ', c.e.,, sl -...l..ọ :.l48 2.t , , e,

10 "t:',.-'!:..,, t :-.4-- '!! TABLE 2 -'ttery -3.a :tart and Co: sca drer: '.%`..t2 Tro Te.4-2., T.-.4-zu; Two rfk:r..f. of FAgt2.ar f '.;-z*:, --, -. ;2 ( 7:=3 ).. -)r f.-3:t: K.? ER t :r n c..(, rxf-, C-c; "nr 7nd r-no 7.2at t ;',4;e.44. A r rcr.- 4.sr t-.- ; N. -.. /le:co ,!.--s...r..., : -7, % - -/ r2 (...:' ) ';4. c.,,,-,-- ) (;,--20 ) r....:...4 :"..;: Contso Les L. :* FF ar, -!: :!'..F.._. -...!..,_ :::::. t.w... M.. r::$,.!.; R Q-."-';'. c.: f.., r..^ ",,...,...; :7-,5.::7 9.:...::: c-.,,,- pt:,,,:. : -...,., 0.;.t.:... Z. -; 7 '; F)...,:',!4.- 7,,. ;, f' :5 95, 47 ::Y,.).f !. t! : : -: :?...,,.. t s :. :. '. Cr y..,, Re; 7 me :; 2; -C, 2?C'5.,:: :-:,-4. C:??.:.3(-. e.)., ',."-s"! cr-sszent derrvrt!:,n rt do axosty - Verbal 3-.9 ;) 4:,.;...-:.; l':' r.".r) 7: '::0. 4 7!!,..,.,, % 2,e0 C...:', 0 8! t, 2::: 2 ( CO 2,. 90 Knd ere.: rt-e-.t4.44, st (ra de.7 f L.95 JO O.2',..: 4-, , ':.6.::*?.75

11 TABLE 2 contnued B-E rarce3 Monte-ssor Tradtmal Curosty- FF R t FF RR FF RE Actv ) ssp --- Controls - - FṮ R t 7 F P.R st GradtYt 6.C Q5 Kndargar tom : ; ! at Grade ; : l':.r;s5 P',C.7. Kzdergarten C':' ,0 A Grade Wr or nml mr.t TrdaDendence Kndergarten 24, G ; st made ! VS Kndergarten , st Grade , Aggres3on. Knderrrten : 2.80 st Grade ' Kndergarten 2.30, f!.

12 . t. ;.!!! ;! 'l,! t : e"..t.?:::: H5...-.!.e-.. g t.:: z TT r.r s Cfra;!'.F.'. - :... ;f: G 2.0'3'.88..Z!.;! :.f ,3 :lt; ,25.Alr 9. ) p."; r r:p = TABLE 2 contnued MOnte...`:SOrl FFE f ,6 2.32; 2 ' :.: "!, %. 2, FF Kt FF... le.9! ; RE (.95 3.lo!.5(.7) t :2 ;;;.;.-:.5.% ^ f 4.:...),d,,'.. t7 f...,/ "s ,;') - t zq f a.....:.: -4; ; : C:s :7' Got :... e 4Cv %. 2.l l' 2.h c'; ') ;..5; 2.69? 2.5'

13 Zv Factor FF Kndergarten st Oracle ?actor Kndergarten st Grade TABLE 2 contnued B-E DARCM Mantessor ER FF RR. RR f Tradtonal Controls RR Kt' RR j j

14 ;: 0- t C!!;::', 0/.; n Ns ;r:s; -. ;:t.. for He -c.;,rt ttr. 0/- nn,: -.; t. (rn(lo

15 3 0 af 0 9 _ V Bereter-Engelmnn ARCEE Montosnor Tradtonal 8 7, Pre -C Fall Fg. 2. Doe, ard for head 5tArt. progrann. Pre-K Sprng + Knd. Gradt Prv-K.rldercr:.2.tert, ndorf,arroln, and lot Crr..) mc:t.n:

16 ( / fop. ' &fejt. 7 7t) ;. ::t (.0

17 Controls at that pont. DARCEE, Tradtonal, and Controls mproved greatly from kndergarten to frst grade, becomng less aggressve. Tradtonal and Controls became less tmd from kndergarten to frst grade; Montessor chldren became more tmd. n Achevement Motvaton, B-E, DARCEE, and Montessor all decreased; Tradtonal and Controls ncreased. (2) FF-RR Effects 5 The decrease n Q over all Head Start programs was slghtly greater n FF than n RR, as shown n Fgure L. On the BC, however, mprovement was greater n FF than n RR despte the hgh correlaton between these two measures. Con the Behavor nventory, for all factors except ndependence, there was a FF-RR x Tme nteracton--ff teachers rated chldren hgher than RR teachers dd n kndergarten, but n frst grade, RR chldren were rated hgher. (3) Sex Dffeences On the Stanford-Bnet, both sexes showed smlar gans n the Head Start year, and although both decreased n kndergarten and frst grade, the grls' decrement was greater than the boys' (6 ponts vs..5 ponts). At the end of frst grade, the females' mean was lower than at the begnnng of Head Start (not sgnfcant), whle the mean for males was hgher than t was at the begnnng (Fgure 5). Cver all four data ponts, males were hgher than females on Curosty-Actvty. Males were also sgnfcantly hgher at the end of frst grade. On two other measures males were hgher than females at the end of frst grade--achevement Motvaton and ndependence. Females were superor on the Wepman Audtory Dscrmnaton Test, and wthn DARCEE and Controls, females were hgher on Parallel Sentence Producton. n all other groups, there was no sex dfference on ths measure. Analyses - (Achevement) A sngle analyss whch ncluded Head Start program, Follow Through vs. Regular, and sex would have nvolved very small subgroups. Therefore, two analyses of varance were made on raw scores on the Calforna Achevement Test at the end of frst grade. One analyss was a 5 x 2 made on the orgnal Head Start programs and CL) by sex. Nwas 97. groups (the four To compare Regular and Follow Through, a 2 x 2 analyss of varance of raw scores was made, ncludng the sex varable but combnng expermental Head Start programs and control groups. N was 88. Head Start program and sex were of partcular nterest n these analyses. t was also consdered mportant to examne the effects of nterventon on achevement n comparson wth natonal norms.

18 RR k. st, Gradc ft, -tfot ;trtd

19 Funale3 00, \ f-- t Dt 7a3 :3prng Orad 5 ;.; : t.,. nf zt 'Jrn.e..er, awl

20 6 Dd these Head Start prorrams as a whole or dd any partcular one of them provde the chldren wth an mportant advantage n terns of ther natonal standng on achevement-type tests? Of partcular nterest also was the pattern of effects over tme. Were the advantages at one pont n tme later dsspated, mantaned, or augmented? Uere there delayed effects on achevement? Althcurh the frst-grade score was the only one avalable on the Calforna Achevement Test, other achevement-type tests had been prevously gven the same chldren at three dfferent tmes. At the end c: prekndergarten and kndergarten, the Preschool nventory was gven. At the begnnng of frst grade, after a year of kndergarten, the :etropoltan Readness Test was gven. n order to use these three dfferent tests n a repeated measures analyss, the followng procedures were adopted. ndvdual scores on Readng and :lath on the Calforna Achevement Test were transforned to percentles based on the natonal norms. The mean of these two percentles was used to provde a composte achevement score. Scores for these same groups of chldren on the Metropoltan Readness Test gven at the frst of the year n frst grade, and the Preschool nventory (PS) gven at the end of Head Start and end of kndergarten, were also converted to percentles. PS percentles at the end of Head Start were used to determne whether the groups dffered pror to kndergarten. Ths was possble for all groups except CL2 on whom no Head "tart scores were avalable. o sgnfcant dfferences were found at the end of Head Start. Two repeated measures analyses of varance were then made on these percentles over three tne perods--end of kndergarten (Ps), begnnng of frst grade (Metropoltan Readness Test), and end of frst grade (Calforna Achevement Test). n the frst analyss the two sexes and the four types of Head Start were combned for a 2 x 2 x 3 analyss of varance--ff vs. RR, Head Start vs. Controls, and Tme. N was 5. A second repeated measures analyss of percentles on achevement measures was performed on scores of the RR group only. Ths was a 5 x 2 x 3 analyss, ncludng type of Head Start program plus Controls, sex, and the three tme perods. N for ths analyss was 06. Fnally, n order to obtan a more precse answer to the queston of the effects of these Head Start programs, t was desrable to make a comparson between the expermental sample and the populaton of chldren from whch the sample was drawn. For ths purpose, scores on Calforna Achevement were obtaned from the schools on all chldren n the cty who took the test n the sprng of 97 at the end of ther frst-grade year. Snce not all of the ndvdual scores have become avalable yet, analyses have not been completed. Summary PS percentles were obtaned from Educatonal Testng Servce and were based on data obtaned from L38 chldren. avalable to us n 969. These norms were made

21 data n terms of grade equvalents are presented for examnaton and dscusson. Results () Frst-Grade Achevement (Raw Scores) Table 3 presents the raw score means for the two frstgrade programs (Follow Through and Regular) by sex for the Calforna Achevement Test at the end of frst grade. n Table 4 are presented the raw score means by Head Start program by sex. At the frst-grade pont there were no man effects for ether Head Start program or Follow Through-Regular. Comparng Follow Through and Regular frst grade only, there was a sex-by-frst-grade program nteracton n Math Computaton and Math total. Males were superor n Follow Through and there was no dfference between the sexes n Regular. Ths nteracton s shown n Fgure 6. Combnng Head Start programs over both types of frst grade, there was a sex man effect on Readng Vocabulary. However, ths appeared to be due prmarly to a large dscrepancy n favor of Control females n the Regular sequence (CL). (2) Head Start Programs - Natonal Norms Table 5 presents the mean percentles, grade equvalents, and Qs for Head Start and FF-RR combnatons.2 The means for the four programs n RR on PS at the end of Head Start dd not dffer. An nteracton of Head Start program -by -Tme occurred, ndcatng a sgnfcant change n relatve standng among the fve groups wthn the Regular sequence. As shown n Fgure 7, at the end of frst grade, groups from Tradtonal, Montessor, and DARCEE Head Start were very smlar (above the natonal mean) n achevement, and the Bereter-Engelmann and Control groups were much lower. Reference to Table 5 ndcates that although they were superor to Controls n Readng, B-E chldren appeared especally handcapped n Math, scorng at the 3st percentle and below Controls, who were at the 44th percentle. The dfference between these two groups n terms of expected grade level was four months. The dfference between the hghest groups and B-E was sx months. Of partcular nterest s the comparson of Tradtonal and Controls who were at the same percentle on PS at the end of Head Start and very close on Metropoltan Rendness at the 2 Snce separate Readng and Math scores were not analyzed, percentles and grade equvalents based on ndvdual scores were not avalable. Therefore, percentles based on group means are presented for all tests n tables and graphs for dscusson purposes.

22 0. egusormo wattaastgov :vey L.. v. r L oparo UMON JOJ Flom puu.lottuk ut monqa comma pull avn3ea T0.3 so lb QU Jbl TV -7EB.6 2trweeE snus4 Gerwaoa ZeDS t 9 nz 05 ze;q. 0). nrzl 99 zl gc LG9L ot N z S: W5L gnekl 9z U09 99 :36L5 e6 t Tr colywo nz z:69 LC nc Tu004, t 35 Lftr

23 2. Calf orna Achevement Test: at Grace tsanz. for Wles and Females Head Start Programs and Controlc (C ) Read nt B-F, DA: :C EE Mont es s t r.. Tradt onta Controls Males 7.0,4, : Females e 7h.3 Total 7) Math males : Rame/ s , Total h. 50.3t; 5.u] 54.0r b

24 22 Fenn les Males Follow Through Fg.. 6. r; "..'0,7 Through and fsralar. f Regular. : feln.ams

25 23 TA3..E Pre::choo tory-, Stanford-Bnet, 4.! T o t, and calf arda At; h lova:tent Pca-oe c'er-do and ;-4.-E :3 for Head ::; tart.n.nd Corrb434. ton3 Pre- Lnd. Kndergart-An PTT, P3 % 3-9 Mean Metro..,. at Grade atlorna --Reanne. Math r.,.,e, FF t.? , ::-.. : G. G.E. E3,4 6 _..._ RR DAR C EE FF :.',:.,,- :)', 43, RR ' , montec;:;02- ef th..0-;.2 S.6 g0.5c RR :; Trad Lmal FP' 7 5t : , L5 RR 7 57 ), f.-: ,V,",.!!oad Stsrt FE ) /.7 6 p m ( ;?-; 5,7.a c;ontrolu FP fl ? Cr: J.,, 0 r%,.. 9?.69 HT: 20 e.-/ c T

26 L 80 L- - Mon :.3 f.)r X Tradtonal -- Controls 70-- ' x le G- 0 - f Pro-K Knd. /3tro. Calf. PS PS Rsadneas Ach. Fg. 7. ;L, T.!3t.: for rtr:t.;z7tr,.-.0. r ::!Atlt Pp.

27 25 begnnng of frst grade, but dffered greatly at the end of frst grade. The dfference n Readng was nne months (Table 5). Snce Follow Through was a hghly specalzed and more homogeneous program than Regular n both kndergarten and frst grade, t mght be expected to nteract more strongly than the Regular sequence wth prekndergarten programs. The data from ths study dd not permt an adequate test of ths hypothess but Fgure 8 shows that Tradtonal, whch was very low on PS after Head Start, was the hghest group on achevement at the end of frst grade, and Bereter-Engelmann, whch ended Head Start extremely hgh, dd not mantan ths poston. (3) FF-RR Effects - Natonal Norms n terms of natonal percentles, there was no evdence of overall superorty at frst grade for Follow Through chldren from expermental Head Start programs. FF were slghtly hgher n Math but slghtly lower n Readng. Ths s n contrast to the pcture at the end of kndergarten on the Metropoltan Readness Test, where there was a clear and subtantal Follow Through superorty. The separaton between the two control groups who entered kndergarten wthout any Head Start, however, appeared qute substantal. These two groups dd not dffer on PS at the end of kndergarten nor dd they dffer n Q at that tme nor at the end of frst grade. (PS at the end of Head Start was not avalable for Follow Through Controls.) But those who had two years of Follow Through were the hghest of the four groups n Math achevement whle those who had Regular Kndergarten and Frst Grade were the lowest. Controls n Regular were partcularly low n Readng achevement and far below chldren n Regular who had had Head Start (Table 5). A three-way nteracton of FF-RR-by-Head Start-by-Tme occurred. Ths s shown n Fgure 9. Although ths nteracton does not unambguously confrm the hypothess that FF had a greater effect on Controls than on expermentals, the result s consstent wth ths hypothess. () Head Start Effects - Local Populaton Avalable summary data n grade equvalents as shown n Table 6 suggest that the chldren from these expermental Head Start programs were superor by fve months to the average Readng achevement level n comparable (Ttle ) schools and superor by two months to the entre cty, whch ncludes some mddle-class schools. t should be noted that both the cty and Ttle medans nclude data from expermental Ss. Therefore, the expermental advantage may be underestmated. As shown also

28 26 Bereter-lngelmann 0 DAR= Montos3or Tradtonal Controla o Pro-K PS Knd. PS Metro. Rae Calf. Ach. Fg. 8. Preschool nvonlory, Rrndnns TWA: and Calforna Achevernont Twt: 'orcontlev "or l!ev :Aart progrlfl:; and controls wthn

29 27 SO (-.A) RR '...cre -F F Ams FF r mon t H - - Pre-X Knd. Metro. Calf. PS PS Readnevd ;Loh. Fg. 9. Pm:3 f;or!, M.)t ropo:;. T.. a r:d all r ornj : kr fl tvc l, : t ont h o.r f > Lf4 no Pt:, vrt, crb na ono

30 28 Tk8LE arede Squvalentz on?last Grade Calforna AchcYtment Test ExpertmentAl Samples Compared to f,cpulatans Al Cty a:hoolr Heacls.5 Math.7 Ttle School:.5 Al]. Follmw Through.5 20 Expermental Hcad F,tart.7.7 oe.7. 8 ) ejlg.8.7) Natonal Me*n.;. 7 Note:- GE haoed on school nedzen for Cty and Ttle t on chld medan for all Follow Throuch, and on chld mean for expermental Head Start and PF-RR. From top to bottom on the table, each group s contaned n the precednc group except for.. Expermental Hod start and FFER exc3udo cantrola.

31 29 n Table 6, the poston of the expermental Head Start groups was not smply duo to the scores of those who had FF, snce those chldren and those who had RR were very smlar. Comparng the entre group who had Follow Through wth those n expermental Head Start who entered Follow Through (FF), t s cloar that oxpermental Head Start provded a Readng advantage of two months. The entre Follow Through group ncludod those who had the expermental Head Starts. Therefore, ths dfference also maybe underestmated. n Math, the expermental Head Starts were even wth the cty modan but t appears that the greatest advantage n ths area was held by the Follow Through group as a whole. Further analysos nvolvng separaton of varous sub-sets from remanng populatons and based entrely on chldren's raw scores should provde a more accurate pcture of these results. A substantal change n relatve postons would not be expected, however. Summary of Results by Groups Tho prekndergarten B-E program across both knds of kndergarton and frst grade appeared to result n low scores on nventveness, ncreased Aggresson, greater Tmdty, and a decrease n Achevement Motvaton. B-E chldren's Cs appeared to declne somewhat more than those of chldren from other prekndorgarten programs, partcularly when they entered the Regular educatonal sequence. n frst grade, B-E chldron who had RR were sgnfcantly low n achevement, especally Math. The DARcam: prekndergarten program produced hgh scores on nventveness- -the chldren contnued to ncrease n kndergarten and frst grade and were the hghest group at the end of frst grade. They became sgnfcantly less aggressve from kndergarten to frst grade, but decreased n achevement motvaton-- prmarly n FF. Wthn the Regular sequence, they were oxceptonally hgh on Curosty-Verbal, and they ncreased greatly on ths measure n FF as well, becomng the hghest group. They were above natonal norms n Calforna Achevement at frst grade. The Montessor prekndergarten group declned n nventveness from kndergartontofrst grade and became more aggressve. Wthn the Regular sequence, howover, ths group romaned the least aggressve, though not sgnfcantly so. They shfted from least to most tmd n ths perod also, and decreased n achevement motvaton. They were above natonal norms n Calforna Achevement. Tradtonal chldren ncreased n nventveness but wore stll comparatvely low at the end of frst grade. They became less tmd from kndergarten to frst grade. n ths perod, they also ncreased n achevement motvaton by toachers' ratngs. They were sgnfcantly low on Curosty-Actvty at the and of the 30

32 30 frst grade. n achevement, the Tradtonal chldren scored as well as DARCEE and Montessor wthn the Regular program and n Fr they were the hghest group. There were not many FF-RR dfferences. Declne n Q was slghtly accelerated n FF but mprovement on the Basc Concept nventory was greater. On all Behavor nventory measures, chldren were rated hgher n kndergarten by FF teachers but hgher by Regular teachers n frst grade. n Calforna Achevement, FF was not sgnfcantly better than RR at frst grade, except that two years of Follow Through appeared to beneft Controls wthout Head Start. FF Controls and RR Controls dd not dffer on PS achevement at the end of kndergarten, but at the end of frst grade, F? Controls had a mean natonal oercentle for achevement of 67.5, whle RR Controls scored at the 45.5 percentle. Controls wthout prekndergarten (CL,) dd not change n Q durng the prekndergarten year, whereas Head Start chldren ncreased. Durng the kndergarten year, Controls ncreased; Head Start chldren decreased. Controls also mproved n nventveness from kndergarten to frst grade and n the Regular program were close to DARCEE chldren on ths measure. They became much less aggressve from kndergarten to frst grade and less tmd. They ncreased n achevement motvaton but ths appeared to have been the case prmarly n the Regular sequence. Calforna Achevement scores appeared to dffer as a functon of type of kndergarten and frst grade, wth Controls n FF beng much hgher. Sex dfferences also occurred. There were smlar gans n Q durng orekndergarten for the sexes, but grls declned from that pont to end of frst grade more than boys dd. At the end of frst grade, females wore hgher than males on the Wepman Audtory Dscrmnaton Test and lower on Curosty-Actvty. Males were hgher on teachers' ratngs of Achevement and ndependence. Control females (MO -were hgher n Readng Vocabulary. On Math, males were superor n FF, but there was no dfference n Regular. Overall Summar; Head Start program dfferences on Bnet Q obtaned n the prekndergarten year had dsappeared by the end of frst grade, followng a gradual but steady declne for all groups. The B-E group declned uomewhat more than others and declne was greater n FF than n RR. Controls ncreased n Q durng kndergarten and frst grade. n school achevement, however, the pcture was dfferent. Wthn the Pt sequence, all Head Start groups were above natonal norms on Calforna Achevement Test except Controls and B-E. Regardless of the FF-RR sequences, expermental Head Starts were equal to the cty medan and superor to smlar (Ttle ) schools.

33 3 Stable Head Start program effects were found over the three years on nventveness (Roland Bone) wth DARCEE and Montessor hgh and B-E and Tradtonal low. Tradtonal remaned low on Curosty-Actvty. B-E chldren became more aggressve through kndergarten and frst grade. Stable sex effects were found n favor of males on Curosty- Actvty, Achevement Motvaton, and ndependence. Females were at frst hea-tn Q but declned to a moan slghtly below ther ntal pont whereas the mean Q for males at the end of frst grade was above the prekndergarten level. For the second tme females were found to be hgher on Parallel Sentence Producton n tho program. DARCEE Dscusson There can be lttle doubt that n general chldren from these expermental Head Start programs were performng better academcally at the end of frst grade than ther counterparts n dsadvantaged (Ttle ) areas of the cty. Snce there were 34 other Head Start classes durng the year of the experment, many of these chldren n the Ttle schools dd have the regular prekndergarten program. Comparng Controls who had no prekndergarten wth those who had the expermental Head Starts confrms that the expermental Head Starts were qute valuable for chldren who mere destned for Regular programs n kndergarten and frst grade. Comparson n terms of natonal norms ndcates that three of the expermental Head Start programs gven n prekndergarten (DARCEE, Tradtonal, and Montessor) had effects whch were not strongly manfest on the Readness Test at the end of kndergarten but dd appear on frst-grade achevement. f the poston of the n the RR B-E group sequence represents a real program effect, one mght speculate that they were handcapped durng kndergarten and dd not catch up durng the frst-grade year. t s nterestng that chldren were consderably B-E hgher than Controls n Readng whereas n Math they were the lowest group at the 3st percentle. Snce teachng of arthmetc occupes one-thrd of the tme gven to academc study n the B -B programs ths result may reflect a confuson on the part of the chldren resultng from a dfference n method. The Math program n B -B s a very specalzed approach. Even the Readng scores of the B-E group, however, would be expected to be hgher on the bass of ther Head Start achevement. Therefore, t appears possble that the ntroducton of the B-E program as mplemented n ths experment at the four-year-old level was n some way detrmental, gven the avalable sequences. Ths result, of course, says nothng about the value of B -B when ntroduced at the kndergarten level. Nor, n fact, can effects of the other programs be generalzed over other age levels. Attenton should be called to results from the Tradtonal Head Start. Both Follow Through and Regular groups from ths proknder- -of) tn

34 32 garten program began kndergarten wth a dsadvantage n terms of end-of-head Start PS scores. Yet ths group fnshed frst grado wth achevement scores hghor than all other groups and well above the natonal average. Whether ths Tradtonal program was representatve of the populaton of such classes cannot be determned. Ths appears doubtful snce the four teachers had eght weeks of specal tranng pror to the experment and wore part of the experment rather than a control group. The results do suggest that a Tradtonal program can provde prekndergarten experences that are at least as good as these of the other throe f frst-grade achevement s used as a crteron. Tho dramatc Follow Through superorty measured by tho etropoltan Readness Test at tho begnnng of frst grade was no longer found on Calforna Achevement at the end of the year. Ths result may reflect the greater dfference between the Regular and Follow Through Kndergartens than between the two frst-grade programs n terms of academc content. Regular Kndergarten was qute smlar to Tradtonal Head Start and very dfferent from Follow Through Kndergarten; Regular =frst Grade was, of mme, a much more academc program and not so dfferent n content from Follow Through Frst Grade. t appears that Follow Through was valuable for Controls who dd not have the expermental prokndergartene and for B-E but perhaps chldren unnecessary for these who had the other throe programs n Head Start. From thc results on the man battery, t s clear that rasng Cs n the prekndergarten year s not a smple soluton to hgher academc achevement at a later perod. Controls wthout Head Start ncreased n over the years to the level of expermontals but were stll well below natonal norms n achevement. Sgnfcant results n aroas other than achevement are theoretcally exctng, but ther practcal mplcatons are dffcult to evaluate because satsfactory crtera are lackng. For example, no norms are avalable on the Dog and Bone or Carosty Box. Aro relatvely low nventveness or Curosty -.Actvty undesrable program effects? n the typcal school stuaton whch requres the ',rght', answer arrved at n the "rght" way, dvergent thnkng or the ablty to derve alternatve solutons to problems, s probably an as not much of Nor do we know at ths tme whether exploraton of the envronment as measured by the Curosty Box s related to ntellectual curosty and possbly therefore to cogntve development. n any case t would seom that prekndergarten programs may have effect;, on motvatons and atttudes whch endure through two succeedng years, despte the vcsstudes of lfe and subsequent school experence. Ths fact should not be overlooked n efforts to ate achevement. acceler- Cno very mportant cautonary note should be added: There s no evdence avalable from ths study regardng the possble effects of

35 33 contnuty n any of the four progrars.e., a sequence consstng of the same type o program contnued from prekndergarten through (frst grade. Ths s underscored by the sex dfferences f ound. net consstent enough to allow frm conclusons, the varatons n program effects as a functon of sex of chld may well be related to tmng of programs or progrm components. f programs ntroduce expercnces whch are premature for certan groups, e.g., males, the effects of shftng to dfferent programs subsequently may be detrmental for ths reason alone. Fn'aly, t should be re-emphaszed that the sources of program effects t be s ought n program components or dmensons. Although both program dmensons and program effects have been assessed n ths study, further expermental or.!t :rll be necessary to establsh causal relatonshps between them.