Date on Master's Thesis/Doctoral Dissertation

5-2019

Document Type

Doctoral Dissertation

Degree Name

Ed. D.

Department

Educational Leadership, Evaluation and Organizational Development

Degree Program

Educational Leadership and Organizational Development, EDD

Committee Chair

Ingle, William Kyle

Committee Co-Chair (if applicable)

Immekus, Jason

Committee Member

Buecker, Harrie

Committee Member

Powers, Deborah

Author's Keywords

BRIGANCE; kindergarten; readiness; urban; elementary; regression

Abstract

Beginning with the 2017-2018 school year, there was a change in School Entry Age (SEA) legislation. This dissertation analyzed the relationship between SEA and school readiness after the enactment of the new legislation. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to control for student demographics to ascertain the relationship between SEA and school readiness. Findings were as follows: older students scored significantly lower than younger students on the BRIGANCE Kindergarten Screen (BKS), students who had exposure to private child care outside of the home fared much better than students who were kept at home the year prior to kindergarten, and female students outscored their male counterparts. White students and African-American students scored similarly; however, Hispanic students scored markedly lower. The highest scoring subgroup in the race category were Asian students. Students who spoke English as their native language far outscored students who spoke Spanish. The correlation between SEA and BKS scores was weak, but it was statistically significant. When controlling for demographic factors, there was a negative relationship between vii SEA and school readiness on the BKS. Implications for future practice, policy, and research are discussed.

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