FACTORS AFFECTING GRADE SCHOOL PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS WITH PRESCHOOL EDUCATION A Thesis Presented to Graduate School Department University of La Salette Santiago City, Isabela, Philippines
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in Education By PATSON P. OPIDO May 2010
Chapter 1 THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND
Introduction “Bright minds make bright futures!” Preparatory children nowadays are far better than before they are more advanced in teaching and more capable of absorbing the methods of learning that used with them. Modern teaching accompanied with modules and analytical measures develop the preschooler’s memory retention that serves as the foundation of their education. Kids today are more willing and not afraid to try to discover new ways and methods of learning. The value of preschool is a hot topic these days. A small but growing number of studies link enrollment in preschool or child care centers (which typically include a preschool curriculum) to higher cognitive and language scores on kindergarten-entry tests. The early childhood stage is a permanent learning stage. Whatever they learn now, they will take home. This preschool education is the provision of education for children before the commencement of statutory education, usually between the ages of three and five, dependent on the jurisdiction. The institutional arrangements for preschool education vary widely around the world, as do the names applied to the institutions. The terms usually given to centers for the care of infants—those in the first phase of childhood (about three months to three years of age)—are infant school, day care, day nursery, and crèche—the term crèche
being used not only in French-speaking countries but also in such places as Scandinavia, the United Kingdom, Poland, Russia, and Israel. For the second phase of early childhood, other institutional names and arrangements exist, the most common being the “maternal school” (école maternelle), or nursery school, and the kindergarten. Typically, the maternal school (for ages three to four or five) precedes kindergarten (for ages four or five to six), but in some countries—Italy, for instance—a child goes from the maternal directly to the primary school. In Germany, in addition to the Kindergarten, there is the Schulkindergarten (school kindergarten), which is for children of school age who are not considered sufficiently mature and which therefore serves as a kind of preparatory school for primary school. In the United States, kindergarten is considered a part of primary education. Preschool work is organized within a framework that professional educators create. The framework includes structural (administration, class size, teacher-child ratio, etc.), process (quality of classroom environments, teacher-child interactions, etc), and alignment (standards, curriculum, assessments) components that are associated with each individual unique child that has both social and academic outcomes. Effective preschool education can help make all children ready to learn the day they start school and, more importantly, help close the enormous gap facing children in poverty. Preschool gives our kids the strong foundation they need to be successful in school and in life. Children who attend pre-kindergarten programs have bigger vocabularies and increased math skills, know more letters and more letter-sound
associations, and are more familiar with words and book concepts, according to a number of studies. Nationwide, almost two-thirds (64 percent) of children attend preschool center in the year prior to kindergarten, typically at age four. On any given day, more than 5 million Filipino youngsters attend some pre-kindergarten program. And a preschool day is not just advanced babysitting for busy parents. Kids also practice many key components of the school day, including the importance of routine. That's key for early learners. Little kids have only a certain amount of what's called 'active working memory. If a large portion of their brain is figuring out what they're going to do next, there's less room there to spend on learning. Result: Preschool has a huge impact on their ability to keep up in class. The Philippines faces overwhelming problems in education. We cannot depend on the government alone to shoulder the task of educating people especially the poor. On the contrary, the government itself is one of the problems in education by putting it in the least priority and giving it a very low budget. Any private entities interested in helping the poor people through education must implement its own program for education. But any program for education to be implemented by private sector, commercial or noncommercial, needs to conform to the national education system being implemented by the government. Especially those education programs intended for the poor people must be in accordance with the national education system if only to become legitimate and be acknowledged by society.
The researcher is motivated by the above mentioned situation and this led to the conceptualization of this study. The Factors affecting grade school performance of students with preschool education I believe is highly influences the different factors that affect the academic performance of the Filipino youth in their growing years. As an educator, the researcher is faced with the fact that there is an imperative need to strengthen and streamline the internal management of educational arrangements in order to achieve efficiency and responsiveness to trends and challenges of the next millennium. It is therefore the aim of this study to empower parents and positively influence them on the affirmative effects of pre-school education in the holistic development of their children particularly on the advancement of their academic performance. Background of the Study Education is vital for personal, social, and economic development. Poor education largely and badly impacts on the national development. Thus, the governments that really concern of national interest, sustainable development, and people rights attempt to implement well-planned national education system, which could benefit each and every citizen to develop. Present education situation is still in turmoil, as present ruling government does not want to make real changes to develop education sector. Though the regime claims that it promotes education of Burma, it has yet to successfully implement a good
education system and free education for all. Without student rights, academic freedom, and rights of education it could not be well developed. According to government figures, over 3 million school-aged children failed to acquire primary education. Children dropped out from schools for various reasons, but the key reason is families' financial status. Even though legal context under existing laws is prescribed for free primary education, there is neither clear legal protection mechanism or monitoring body nor any attempt or action of public awareness to help implementing the provision of Child Law effectively and successfully. Currently, the regime has laid down a four-year national education promotion program and a 30-year long-term education plan. However, the government assistance of student facilities such as hostels, scholarship funds, and modernized learning materials are not materialized yet. The government authorities have ordered to do self-reliance program in education, particularly in rural areas. It is assumable that the government has less responsibility for free compulsory primary education in these regions. Since people are suffering of social burdens and high commodities price, they could not well support such programs. Other education rights such as student rights, rights of education and academic freedom are entirely no practice under successive military regimes. Because of abuses on these rights, education standard reaches the lowest point and is not sustained. Though the regime opened all universities and institutes in July 2000, it has never focused on quality of education. They showed so-called achievement in education sector to international community; the numbers of graduate students, school buildings, and new institutes are increased they claimed.
But, these numbers are just quantities and hollow, not the substance of quality education. The regime has abused academic freedom and institutional freedom, and government interference to education is widely common. Universal access to primary education for all school-age children is an important component of the education reform programs. Primary Education or Basic Education should be compulsory and accessible freely to all in order to meet the main aims of all the declarations and charters of education. According to the World Bank, the government only spends 28 cents a year per child in public schools.1 By the late 1990s, the regime's expenditure on civilian education equaled only 1.2 % of the country’s Gross National Product - compared to 3.8% for developing countries - and had declined 70% in real terms since 1990. Meanwhile, school attendance has also dropped nationwide, primarily because of rising school fees. Schools in some parts of the country have closed down due to lack of State funding. Children drop out for several complex reasons, although the prime reason is based on families’ financial status. For example, most of the cases of school dropout in the primary levels are strongly linking with economic factors. The high cost of tuition and school-related fees are a major factor. School fees include enrollment, textbooks, exercise books, school cleaning, examination papers, sports fees, in school tutoring fees and USDA membership. A child failing their examinations is another reason for school drop-out. The Pre-school Education Programme, established in 1992, aims to provide 5year-olds in disadvantaged areas and opportunity for early peer socialization and learning activities before starting elementary education. The former DECS organized a total of
1,428 classes with 40,780 pupils in the twenty provinces covered by the Social Reform Agenda (SRA). A total of 638 pre-school teachers were trained in nine selected regions. Instructional materials and supplies were distributed to classes under the Department Programme, pre-schools run by Parent-Teacher Associations, and community-based preschools. In the Philippines, education is a public or state function. Public elementary and secondary education is supported by the national government, the former as mandated by the Constitution (1987), which states that “the State shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels and shall take appropriate steps to make such education accessible to all”, and the latter by Republic Act No. 6655 (Free Secondary Education Act). Specific provisions on education upon which all decrees, policies, regulations, and rules on education are based, are provided in the Constitution. These are expressly stated by way of the constitutional mandate, Presidential decree, and other legal provisions. The growing awareness of the benefits of education, the constitutional provision (a new constitution was adopted in 1987) for free and compulsory education, the demand for education relevance and responsiveness to changing societal needs and the alarming rate of increase in the country’s population have contributed to the problem of providing education for all, a problem which becomes more serious each year. The Department of Education, Culture and Sports (now the Department of Education, DepED) has attempted to implement educational reforms, programmes and projects to address the key issues of access and quality of basic education, relevance and efficiency of the education system.
However, many problems are besetting education in the Philippines. Among the schoolrelated causes are the unqualified and poorly trained teachers, inadequate facilities and equipment, and lack of instructional materials (textbooks and teacher’s manuals). Nonschool factors include poverty, low educational attainment and illiteracy of parents, and poor health and nutrition. Pre-school education at the kindergarten level (age group 5-6 years) must aim to develop children in all aspects (physical, social, emotional, and cognitive) so that they will be better prepared to adjust and cope with life situations and the demands of formal schooling; and to maximize the children’s potential through a variety of carefully selected and meaningful experiences considering their interests and capabilities. In order to attain and ensure the holistic development of children, a well-planned curriculum and a well-balanced programme of activities are necessary, although they may vary according to each pre-school’s approach. Indoor and outdoor play is essential whatever approach the pre-school follows. The language spoken by the child should be valued. It is necessary that such language be used initially and until the children have attained the facility and confidence in expressing themselves in English and Filipino. The following table shows a sample programme of pre-school activities: Theoretical Framework This study hinged on Gagne’s theory of Conditions of Learning. This theory stipulates that there are several different types or levels of learning. The significance of these classifications is that each different type requires different types of instruction.
Gagne identifies five major categories of learning: verbal information, intellectual skills, cognitive strategies, motor skills and attitudes. Different internal and external conditions are necessary for each type of learning. For example, for cognitive strategies to be applied on pre schooler’s to be learned, there must be a chance to practice developing new solutions to problems; to learn attitudes, the learner must be exposed to a creative role model or persuasive visualizations. Gagne suggests that learning tasks for intellectual skills can be organized in a hierarchy according to complexity: stimulus recognition, response generation, procedure following, use of terminology, discriminations, concept formation, rule application, and problem solving. The primary significance of the hierarchy is to identify prerequisites that should be completed to facilitate learning at each level. Prerequisites are identified by doing a task analysis of a learning/training task. Learning hierarchies provide a basis for the sequencing of instruction. These events should satisfy or provide the necessary conditions for learning and serve as the basis for designing instruction and selecting appropriate media (Gagne, Briggs & Wager, 1992). Different instruction is required for different learning outcomes. Events of learning operate on the learner in ways that constitute the conditions of learning. The specific operations that constitute instructional events are different for each different type of learning outcome. Learning hierarchies define what intellectual skills are to be learned and a sequence of instruction.
The most famous and leading theory of Cognitive Development is that of Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget. Piaget’s theory, first published in 1952, grew out of decades of broad observation of children, including his own, in their natural environments as opposed to the laboratory experiments of the behaviorists. Even though Piaget was interested in how children reacted to their environment, he projected a more active role for them than that suggested by learning theory. He envisioned a child’s knowledge as composed of schemas, basic units of knowledge used to prepare past experience and serve as a basis for understanding new ones. Schemas are frequently being modified by two complementary processes that Piaget termed assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation refers to the process of taking in new information by incorporating it into presented schema. In other words, people assimilate new experiences by involving them to they already know. Conversely, accommodation is what happens when the schema itself changes to accommodate new understanding. According to Piaget, cognitive development involves a continuing attempt to achieve a balance between assimilation and accommodation that he termed equilibration. At the center of Piaget’s theory is the principle that cognitive development occurs in a series of four distinct, universal stages, each characterized by increasingly refined and nonfigurative levels of thought. One of these stages is the Pre-operational stage (toddler hood and early childhood). In this period, which has two sub-stages, intelligence is demonstrated through the use of symbols, language use matures and memory and imagination are developed, but thinking is done in a non-logical reversible manner.
Preschoolers, age’s three to six, should be at the “pre-operational” stage of Piaget’s cognitive development theory, meaning they are using their imagery and memory skills. They should be conditioned to learning and memorizing and their outlook of the world is usually very self-centered. Preschoolers have developed their social interactions skills, such as playing and cooperating with other children in their own age. It is normal for preschooler to test the restrictions of their cognitive abilities and they learn pessimistic concepts and actions, such as talking back to adults, lying and bullying. Other cognitive development in Preschoolers are developing an increased attention span, learning to read, and developing structured routines, such as doing household chores. Conceptual Framework This study is based on the systems concept which consists of three components: The Input, the Process and the Output. The Input which is actually the load of the system consists of all things that enter the system. In this research the Input refers to the profile of the respondents and the factors affecting grade school performance of students with preschool education. The Process which transforms Input into Output is sometimes referred to as the transformation function. In this research, the Process consists of Data Gathering, Questionnaires, Informal Interview, and Analysis and Interpretation. The Output of the system is the product or accomplishment of the system. In this research the Output refers to the measures that could be applied in order to enhance the grade school performance of students with preschool education.
INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT Profile of the respondents The Factors affecting grade school performance of students with preschool education
PROCESS Measures that could be applied in order to enhance the grade school performance of students with preschool education Questionnaires Informal Interview Analysis and Interpretation OUTPUT
Data Gathering
Figure 2. Relationship of Variables
Statement of the Problem This particular study was done to determine the Factors affecting grade school performance of students with preschool education. Specifically, this study was undertaken to answer the following question. 1.0 What is the profile of the respondents in terms of: a. Age b. Educational Attainment c. Family Income d. Gender 2.0 What are the factors affecting the influence of enrolling their children to have preschool education of the respondents in terms of: a. Family Income b. Educational Attainment c. Demographic Location of the School d. School’s Reputation/Achievements e. Societal Influences (e.g. Peer Influence) 3.0What are the factors affecting the effectiveness of preschool education to performance in elementary school in terms of: School’s Achievements
Definition of Terms The following terms were used with the context of the study:
Educational Attainment. In this study, this refers to the level of education attained or accomplished by the respondents either primary, secondary, tertiary level or vocational course. This also refers a term commonly used by statisticians to refer to the highest degree of education an individual has completed (Wikipedia.com).
Elementary School. In this study it refers to the stage after preschool education. This also refers to an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education (Wikipedia.com). Family Income.In this study, this refers to the monthly income of the family which was categorized into a) Php 10,000 below b) Php 10,000-Php 20,500 c) Php 20,501Php30,000 . Also, this is generally considered a primary measure of a nation's financial prosperity (Britannica. com)
Preschool. In this study it refers to the toddlers aging 5-6 enrolled at Messiah’s Angel Learning Center. This also refers to be generally considered appropriate for children between three and five years of age, between the toddler and school stages. During this stage of development, children learn and assimilate information rapidly, and express interest and fascination in each new discovery (Merriam Webster Dictionary, 2004).
Performance. In this study this refers to the academic competence of the toddlers aging 5-6 enrolled at Messiah’s Angel Learning Center. This refers to how the student is performing well in class with different factors affecting each level of performance (Merriam Webster Dictionary, 2004).
Chapter II RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES Foreign Literature According to Mayer (2002), children thrive in an environment of consistency, order, and empowerment. Teachers are only facilitators and not the primary focus. Most classes are large (25-30 kids), with a two- to three-year age span. Children are treated as responsible individuals, cleaning up their own spills, cutting up raw fruit and veggies to make their own snacks, going to the bathroom without assistance, and sweeping and dusting at the end of the day. As described by Zinzitzel (2006), many parents judge the value of a preschool by how much reading is taught there. The philosophy that underlies this book does not support this measure, although it does support parents' belief that reading is important. After reviewing a large body of research on how children become good readers, a panel of experts commissioned by the National Academy of Sciences concluded that having a preschool language and literacy foundation is important for later reading success. That foundation involves all kinds of experiences with stories, conversation, word play, books, and other meaningful print (signs, notes, lists, directions, etc.). Its most important component is a rich vocabulary, in whatever language or languages the child speaks. Providing the range of experiences that will build a strong foundation is more important in the long run than simply teaching children to recite the alphabet or to read simple books.
As described by Mayo et.al (2005), a meaningful knowledge base is developed through having many varied experiences with materials, places, and people. Vocabulary building occurs through talking about those experiences. Oral language is developed through participating in back and forth communication, individual conversations, and group discussions. Looking at books and having books read aloud to them also promote children's oral language skills. Phonological awareness is developed through noticing sounds, playing with the sounds of words, and noticing what sound a word begins with. Print awareness is developed as children notice the usefulness of print. This occurs as they experiment with making notes and scribbling and as they find a word in a line of print. Alphabet knowledge is developed as children recognize and name letters and name the letter that represents a certain sound. Foreign Studies The current educational policy debate worldwide is centered largely on the educational achievement gap that persists between low-income and minority students, on the one hand, and higher-income and non- minority students, on the other. Present school reform efforts that seek to address this problem assume that establishing high curriculum standards, test-based accountability, and higher-quality teaching in pre-school education can close this gap. Many researchers and experienced educators question that such reforms alone can close or significantly narrow the achievement gap. The achievement gap has deep roots that begin before school entry. Studies show that the foundation for literacy and other academic learning is laid down before age 5 (Nido, 2006).
Other studies demonstrate that high-quality preschool education can improve the school readiness and school performance of children, especially low-income children. Growing evidence shows that preschool education benefits children who are not poor, although the effects may not be as pronounced as they are for economically disadvantaged children (Yang, 2007). Accordingly, more and more states are establishing universal, state-funded prekindergarten educational programs for 3- and 4-year olds. Emerging research evidence suggests that such universal programs have the potential for improving the school readiness of low-income and minority children as well as of those from higher income and non- minority families. An important element in the success of such state initiatives appears to be high teacher education requirements, which other research has found to be a strong predictor of high-quality environments for children, and equitable teacher salaries, which help pre-kindergarten programs, recruit and retain talented teachers (Myrna et.al, 2007). Historically in the United States, universal access to elementary and secondary schooling eventually became a reality. Universality of access has not, however, resulted in equal educational achievement, and schools still differ from one another in the quality of the education they provide. The reference is to the well documented, persistent association of educational achievement to socioeconomic status (SES) and race/ethnicity. As a group, that is to say, on average, students of higher SES fare better on indices of educational achievement than do those from lower SES families (Galean, 2007).
African American, Hispanic, and other non-White groups who are overrepresented in the lower socioeconomic strata tend, as a group, to lag behind their White counterparts in school achievement. Equal educational achievement has been a goal of local communities, the states, and the federal government for decades, as expressed in such efforts as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (Gormley, 2007). Local Literature Filipino families are stable. Divorce rates have increased since the 1960's, but remain relatively low. In 1980 the number of divorces was 1.2 per thousand people, while the comparable figure for the United States was 5.2 per thousand. Just 6 percent of all Japanese families are headed by a single parent (Manabat, 2008). There is a strong consensus regarding roles and the appropriate division of labor within the family. A man's primary focus is the workplace, which often includes extensive work related socializing with male colleagues during the evening hours. In contrast, a woman's primary focus is her home and family, with particular attention to the rearing of children. The family-centered role of women is reinforced by their relative lack of long-term career opportunities outside the home (Villanueva, 2007). While most Filipino’s subscribe to the view that a woman's place is in the home and that work should not interfere with her primary responsibilities to children and husband, women nevertheless make up almost 40 percent of the labor force. More than half of these women are married. Many mothers with small children work only part-time so they can be at home when their children are not in school. The extra income generated
by mothers working outside of the home is often used to help meet the cost of their children's education (Sanglap, 2006). In many white collar families, the father is a proverbial "guest" in his own house, returning home most evenings after the children have gone to bed. Although fathers provide children with certain role models and many take an active interest in education matters, the task of attending to the child's upbringing and education is usually left to the mother. Mothers take that responsibility seriously. Mothers and their children are especially close. Filipino mothers seldom confront their preschool children. Rather, they attempt to appease the child and foster an intimate, dependent relationship. The purpose of this approach is to get the child to comply willingly with the mother's wishes and to shape behavior gradually over the long term. Another goal of early training is to instill in the child a deep sense of responsibility to the mother and family. This becomes an important factor in developing motivation for school achievement in the Philippines. Early childhood training includes attention to manners and proper social behavior required outside of the home, but there is little actual exposure to group situations beyond the family until the preschool experience (www.tanikalangfilipino.com). Much of a mother's sense of personal accomplishment is tied to the educational achievements of her children, and she expends great effort helping them. In addition, there is considerable peer pressure on the mother. The community's perception of a woman's success and educational attainment depends in large part on how well her children do in school. Filipino parents are strongly committed to early education, though
pre-elementary education in the Philippines is not a part of compulsory education nor is it linked, like American kindergartens, to the formal school structure. Virtually all Philippine pre-elementary education takes place in one of two types of institutions: preschools and daycare centers. Preschools, enroll children primarily between ages 3 and 5. They are in session approximately 5 hours per day. Daycare centers, are primarily for the children of working mothers. They accept children from infancy through age 5 and are in session 8 hours per day. In most other respects the two types of institutions are similar in physical facilities, curricula, teaching styles, and classroom activities (Villacruz, 2008). Both types of pre-elementary institutions require tuition. In the case of daycare centers, parents are assessed charges in accordance with their income. In addition to income from tuition, pre-elementary institutions receive subsidies from all three levels of government in varying amounts. The close nature of the mother-child relationship and the strong cultural and parental commitment to education enable the mother to provide a strong foundation for the child's entry into elementary school (Nieves, 2008). Local studies In the past 25 years, a series of well-designed and well-implemented model preschool programs have shown significant effects on young children's cognitive growth. Such effects have been reported for small demonstration programs such as the carefully controlled barangay early interventions and the Infant Health and Development Project (Zabala, 2006). These effects have been shown to last through the elementary grades and
beyond. These include not only effects on reading achievement and literacy scores but also on reduced rates of grade retention and of special education placement and higher rates of high school graduation. According to Hernandez (2008), we take it as axiomatic that higher levels of human capital increase a nation’s wealth and add vibrancy to its political and cultural life. Perhaps the best-validated determinant of human capital is the amount of engaged time that learners spend on age appropriate cognitive tasks. This concept has spawned the advocacy of educational policies as diverse as increasing the time devoted to cognitive learning during each school day, adding to the length of the school day and to the number of school days per year, and increasing the fraction of students graduating from high school, attending college, or starting school at an even younger age (thus, before kindergarten). The evidence is overwhelming that preschool programs can work to increase performance in the early school grades (Sungyap, 2004). Evidence also suggests that these programs can positively affect later high school graduation rates, labor force participation, stable household formation, and criminal behavior (Reyes, 2005). However, studies demonstrating long-term effects tend to be small and local in scope, as are the studies showing only short-term effects; and two of the studies claiming long-term benefits left program implementation up to the program developer. So while it is well warranted that preschool programs can work, the main policy question is whether they do in fact work when they are implemented at scale. That is, when the program’s reach is state-wide or federal, when its management is in the hands of education
bureaucrats, and when its daily classroom implementation depends on local officials and teachers whose knowledge and motivation may not match those of the program developer’s own staff. In the language of medical research, the evidence for the efficacy of preschool programs is stronger than the evidence for their effectiveness (Forcadela, 2006). Relevance of Cited literature and Studies Past and current studies involving preschool education are particularly associated with the effectiveness and ventures that enlighten the factors behind the reasons for such. Such studies made way on describing the effectiveness of preschool towards the advancements of educational achievements. A 27 year longitudinal study of participants in the High/Scope Perry Preschool Project found that kids who participated in the program had significantly better outcomes than children who did not attend preschool. Participants were more likely to complete high school and have higher monthly earnings and be married. They were less likely to need special education, receive welfare or be arrested. A study of the Abecedarian early childhood pre-school program compared participants to a control group and found that students who attended the early care program were 74% less likely to become teen mothers and could earn $3,750 more a year then those who had not been in a pre-school program. A 15-year longitudinal study of low-income children in Chicago who participated in a school district preschool program found a 33% reduction in the rate of juvenile
arrests, a 40% reduction in grade retention, a 41% reduction in the need for special education, and a 29% increase in the rate of high school completion. A review of a number of pre-school programs found that the programs provided varying improvements in a number of different areas. These included gains in cognitive development, improvements in educational outcomes, reduced levels of criminal activity and increased economic self-sufficiency, first for the parent and later for the child. These realizations clarified and exposed the different researches that pursued the effectiveness of preschool education and how it can help in the advancement of the child’s educational achievements.
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY Research method to be used The study is driven to establish the FACTORS AFFECTING GRADE SCHOOL PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS WITH PRESCHOOL EDUCATION. This study made use of the descriptive-correlational method. This study describes the profile of the respondents, and the establishment of relationship between factors affecting grade school achievements and performance with their previous preschool education. Descriptive statistics was used to explore the data collected regarding the personal profile of respondents and made general observations about the data collected. Moreover, it employed a correlative method of research wherein it compares and discusses the association of the factors affecting grade school achievements and performance with their previous preschool education.
Population and sample Size The research will be conducted at Messiah’s Angel Learning Center at España, Manila. The subject of the study are mothers of preschoolers in which their children have been enrolled with the same institution starting from nursery to preschool, 25-45 years of age, and have been connected with Messiah’s Angel Learning Center from school years 2003-2009. 75 percent of the total qualified number of sample in the population will beselected or 300 respondents will be chosen. Sample size will not be computed secondary to restricted amount of subjects.
Instrumentation This survey is a self-made survey questionnaire that will serve to determine the factors affecting grade school achievements and performance with their previous preschool education. The researcher incorporated into the survey questions investigating the awareness of parents regarding the long term impact of pre-school education to their children. The survey is divided into two parts. First part includes description of the sociodemographic profile of respondents. The second part is composed of a set of close endedquestion to represent the different factors that affects the Performance in Elementary School of those respondents who have had previous preschool education. Given the Survey uses 5-point response choices Likert Scale, we can assume that agreement with positively-worded items would represent the factors affecting predictive validity. The questionnaire will go through validity tests where in measures to ensure its validity will be based on review of related literatures, conduction of focus groups, seeking opinions with experts for content and phase validity and pre-testing the questionnaire to a different set of participants. Data gathering Procedure The researcher sets out to assess the factors affecting grade school achievements and performance with their previous preschool education. The researcher would like to mention how the locale of the study, Messiah’s Angel Learning Center started with the formal utilization of the said program. This is grounded on the idea that no study and evaluation may be done on the said program if it is yet to be implemented by the institution. Messiah’s Angel Learning Center was built on May 2001, and has been
purposely built to accommodate preschoolers and expose them to the fun and creative way of learning. The school started with 6 teachers and a principal, with 20 pre-school students divided into two sections, with the efforts of the Board of Directors it expanded and presently accommodates 60 pre-school students, divided into 6 sections with 2 highly qualified teachers supervising each student. The schools adopted the modern concept of preschool curriculum, incorporating computer subjects with the traditional subjects of Filipino, Mathematics, Reading, English, Science and Religion. Messiah’s Angel Learning Center, has produced hundreds of academically competitive students among the top elementary schools in España, Manila. For the purpose of producing more valid, nonbiased and non-discriminatory data, the researcher will choose to seek the aid/assistance of a statistician coming from PUP graduate school. The said person will primarily be tasked of conducting and administering the distribution and gathering of survey questionnaires. Statistical Treatment of Data Descriptive statistics will be used to explore the data collected regarding the personal profile of respondents and general observations were then done. The descriptive quantitative analysis will be used to determine the factors affecting grade school achievements and performance with their previous preschool education. The following 5-point Likert-type scale was used in interpreting the responses on the factors affecting grade school achievements and performance with their previous preschool education
Table 1: Likert scale Scale Description 4.5 – 5.0 Very Highly Effective 3.5 – 4.49 Highly Effective 2.5 – 3.49 Moderately Effective 1.5 – 2.49 Minimally Effective 1.0 – 1.49 Not Effective This study will also utilize a correlative analysis using Pearson’s 2-tailed analysis, which measured the English and Filipino questionnaire correlation and significance. Fundamentally, a high positive correlation with r value of 0.916 considers the relationship to be significant. The following Correlation will be followed in the study: Correlations English Filipino english
Pearson Correlation 1 .916(**) Sig. (2-tailed) .000 N 144 144 filipino Pearson Correlation .916(**) 1 Sig. (2-tailed) .000 N 144 144 ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)
The Weighted Mean will also be used to determine the factors affecting grade school achievements and performance with their previous preschool education. With this, comparisons and differentiations of the different responses of the respondents to the different factors affecting grade school achievements will be achieved.
Percentages will also be used to describe the respondents’ profiles. It is a proportion expressed either in decimal or fractional form that can be computed into a percentage by multiplying the proportion by 100 and affixing the percentage symbol (%). This was used as a descriptive analysis describing a part as a whole using the formula: %=F/N x 100 Where; %= Percentage distribution F = Frequency Distribution N = Total Number of Respondents Frequency Distribution is an important character of a large mass of data that can be readily assessed by grouping the data into different classes and then determining the number of observation that fall in each of the classes. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test the significant differences when the respondents are grouped according to age, educational attainment, family income and gender to the effectiveness of preschool education to performance of their children in elementary school. Analyses of variance are a collection of statistical models, and their associated procedures, in which the observed variance is partitioned into components due to different explanatory variables. In its simplest form ANOVA gives a statistical test of whether the means of several groups are all equal, and therefore generalized. In this study, in order to test the different responses of the department utilized in the locale, ANOVA testing was used and implemented.
The analysis of variance uses variance to cast inference on groupm eans. The null and alternative hypotheses are: :H0 :1 = :2 = . . . = :k :H1H0 is false (“at least one population mean differs”) where :i represents the population mean of groupi. Thus, if the variance between groups exceeds what is expected in terms of the variance within groups, we will reject the null hypothesis. Let F²W represent the variance within groups in the population. Let F²B denote the variance between groups within the population. The null and alternative hypotheses may now be restated as: :H0 s2 B# s2W
:H1 s2B > s2W The variance between groups may be thought of as as ignal of group differences. The variance within groups may be thought of as background noise. When the signal exceeds the noise, we will reject the null hypothesis.
