Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Availability

Open Access Thesis

Keywords

Children with social disabilities--Education--United States; Children with social disabilities--Education; Education, Preschool; United States;

Abstract

This study was designed to measure the effect of the Home Start Project upon school achievement as measured by the third grade scores on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. The non-randomized posttest-only control group design was utilized in this research project. Subject selection consisted of those forty-four subjects for whom prior comparisons had been drawn concerning Horne Start subjects. However, it was possible to locate only 31 Home Start subjects (22 black and 9 white) and 31 of their older and Non-Home Start siblings (22 black and 9 white). The ITBS September scores of Home Start children were compared with the ITBS September scores of their older siblings, who constituted the control group. A two factor analysis of variance by race and by the Home Start treatment was utilized in this study to determine the effects of the Horne Start program. There were significant differences between means due to the Home Start program on the following subtests: Graphs, Total Work Study, Math Concepts, Math Problems, and Total Math, indicating that the program is particularly effective in the mathematics skills area. Race and the Home Start treatment interacted to have a significant effect on scores on the following subtests: Total Work Study, Math Concepts, and Total Math. It was found that race was a significant variable on all of the subtests except Spelling and Capitalization, with white children securing higher scores than black children on each subtest and composite score. Although replication studies are obviously needed, differences of mean scores between Home Start blacks and Non-Home Start blacks suggest that very early preschool intervention may provide the opportunity for successful school achievement in the mathematics and graphics skills areas. However, a lack of significance of difference between means suggests that these long-term gains appear not to have been achieved by whites on any of the ITBS subtests. It is urged that replication studies be conducted to determine if the mathematics gains by blacks are related to home influences. An interesting investigation related to this reconnnendation would be an evaluation of the effect that the program is having upon the parents. A clinical assessment of intra-individual differences as opposed to group differences of black and white children would offer valuable information for a more thorough investigation of the effect of the Home Start program. Also, there would be value in assessing school achievement again in the upper grades in order to assess any long-term gains which may result from the Home Start program. In summary, in so far as the statistical model used fits the data, the results on the comparison of Home Start and Non-Home Start children indicated that blacks attained significantly higher achievement scores on the average in the mathematics skills area. This study shows that the home-based early intervention program, Home Start, may be having a significant effect on later school achievement for black children in the mathematics and graphic skills areas.

Year of Submission

1976

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Education

Department

Department of Educational Psychology and Foundations

First Advisor

Ralph Scott

Second Advisor

Barry J. Wilson

Third Advisor

Gerald D. Bisbey

Comments

If you are the rightful copyright holder of this thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit a request to scholarworks@uni.edu and include clear identification of the work, preferably with URL.

Date Original

1976

Object Description

1 PDF file (34 leaves)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

Download

Comments?

Share

COinS