THE IMPACT OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION ON EMERGENT LITERACY SKILLS IN KINDERGARTEN STUDENTS

Abstract

The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to examine the differences in emergent reading skills in kindergarten between students who attended an early childhood education (ECE) program and those who did not. Additionally, this research study investigated the difference in the emergent literacy skills of emergent bilingual (EB) students and non-emergent bilingual (non-EB) students in kindergarten. The sample utilized in this study were students, including English Learners, who attended kindergarten during the 2022-2023 school year in an urban and suburban charter school in Southeast Texas. This study collected data from the school’s beginning, middle, and end of year district reading screening measures. These reading screening measures evaluate the emergent literacy skills of kindergarten students in letter naming, phonemic awareness, letter sounds, decoding, and word reading. Independent sample t-tests compared the performance of these skills for the group who attended an ECE program and those who did not and EB and non-EB groups. There was a total of 60 participants categorized into 45 in the ECE group, 15 in the non-ECE group, and 27 in the EB group, and 33 in the non-EB group. Analyses revealed significant differences favoring the ECE group over the non-ECE in emergent literacy skills. Notably, no significant differences emerged between the EB and non-EB students, likely due to the high ECE attendance among the groups. The study underscores the significant benefits of ECE in fostering emergent literacy skills. On the contrary, no significant differences were observed between EB and non-EB students, challenging previous research, and suggesting a need for further exploration into specific factors influencing emergent literacy outcomes.