Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of this quantitative, causal-comparative study was to examine the difference in reading and mathematics achievement at third grade between students who participated in transitional kindergarten and students who did not participate in transitional kindergarten in 4 districts in Southern California after controlling for English learner status, socioeconomic status (SES), gender, and ethnicity. Methodology. A nonexperimental, retrospective, causal-comparative research design was used to determine whether transitional kindergarten participation influenced scaled scores on the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) test for English language arts (ELA) and math. De-identified student test scores and demographic information were obtained from 4 districts in Southern California. Findings. After controlling for gender, English learner status, SES, and ethnicity, transitional kindergarten participants scored 22.549 points higher on the SBAC ELA test than nonparticipants. While not statistically significant, transitional kindergarten participants scored 8.502 points higher on the SBAC math assessment than nonparticipants after controlling for the same variables. No interaction was found between transitional kindergarten participation and the other variables on SBAC assessment results. Other significant relationships found were: Males scored better than females on the SBAC math assessment, English learner students scored lower than non-English-learner students on both assessments, low-SES students scored lower than nonlow-SES students on both assessments, Hispanic students scored lower than Caucasians on both assessments, and Asians scored higher than the Caucasians on both assessments. Conclusions. Students who participated in transitional kindergarten outscore students who did not participate in the program. This positive result was seen for all students in the study regardless of their gender, English learner status, SES, and ethnicity. When compared to the mean scaled scores of students in Grade 3 statewide, transitional kindergarten students in this study outscored the statewide mean. Results align with past research demonstrating positive effects of prekindergarten education on academic achievement. Recommendations. Future studies should examine strategies used in transitional kindergarten classrooms and their effect on student achievement to refine practices. A larger sample from across California will help to determine the effects of transitional kindergarten on demographic groups. Longitudinal data following transitional kindergarten students for multiple years beyond the program could measure the continued effect of the program.