Date of Award
2001
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Programs for Higher Education
Advisor
Paul M. Terry
Committee Member
Charles L. Faires
Keywords
Allen Independent School District, Educate America Act, Goals 2000, Learn 'N Playday program, U.S. Department of Education, age-level skills, appropriate developmental activities, child development, child growth, chronological-age-level skills, cooperative project, developmental functioning, developmental gain, developmental skill level, developmental skills, developmental programs, educator reports, kindergartners, parent education, parent-child interaction, parents in partnership, post screening, preschoolers, readiness, school readiness, school year 2000-2001, screening, statistically significant gain, targeted interaction, unmet goals
Abstract
In compliance with Goal 1 of Goals 2000: Educate America Act of 1994 (U.S. Department of Education, 2001), all children should enter school with all developmental skills in place, ready to learn. In the 2000-2001 school year, educators reported that a large majority of kindergartners continued to enter school with less than the expected chronological-age-level skills, and it is their anticipation that this goal will continue to be unmet. Partially due to the lack of agreement on what readiness constitutes and the lack of availability of programs that are designed to focus on appropriate developmental programs for preschoolers, children continue to enter school with less than ready skills.
Parents in Partnership was a cooperative project between 56 parents and their 4-year-old children enrolled in Allen Independent School District's Learn 'N Playday program, which was designed to assess the developmental skill level of each child through pre- and post screening and to demonstrate a significant increase in the child's developmental functioning and overall school readiness through parent education and targeted interaction between parent and child. Following a predetermined schedule of activities, a post screening comparison resulted in an average developmental gain of 9 and 1/2 months in children who participated in Parents in Partnership in comparison to a 5 and 1/2 month developmental gain in children who were not involved. The results of this study showed a statistically significant gain in development and supported the hypothesis that the factors of parent education and parent-child interaction in appropriate developmental activities are effective in furthering a child's growth toward school readiness.