THE EFFECT OF HALF-DAY AND FULL-DAY SCHEDULES ON THE ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN.

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to determine whether a significant difference existed in the academic achievement of students as a function of attending half-day or full-day kindergartens. The hypothesis was students in full-day kindergartens will demonstrate more growth in academic achievement than students in half-day kindergartens as measured by the Head Start Measurements Battery (HSMB) in seven areas: language, math, nature/science, perception, reading, social development, and overall score. One hundred subjects were randomly selected from 158 qualified subjects that attended four Chapter 1 schools in a public school district in Southern Arizona. Four half-day and five full-day kindergartens participated. Five classes implemented a bilingual curriculum, one a Spanish curriculum, and three an English curriculum. Eventually, 74 subjects were pretested in November 1984 and posttested in May 1985. The majority of the subjects were Hispanics. Based on the literature review, the need to assess children in English/Spanish/bilingually, the need for an individually administered test of a manipulative nature, and the need for a psychometrically sound instrument, the Fall 1984 version of the Head Start Measures Battery was selected. It assesses the three-to-six-year-old child's cognitive development. The research design used was a quasi-experimental approach: the non-equivalent control group design. The independent variables were the schedules and the dependent variables were the seven areas measured by the HSMB. Mean gain scores were calculated in each of the seven areas. A t-test was used to analyze the data. The results indicated that there was a statistically significant difference (p<.05) between the mean gain scores of the half-day and full-day kindergartens (in favor of the full-day kindergartens) in language, math, and reading. The evidence failed to indicate a statistically significant difference in nature/science, perception, social development, and overall scores. In conclusion, the findings suggested that there was greater academic achievement in languages, math, and reading for full-day than for half-day kindergarten students. The findings failed to provide evidence of a difference in the academic achievement of half-day and full-day kindergarten students in nature/science, perception, social development, and overall scores.