Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of special education preschool programs upon early school success of "At-Risk" mildly handicapped students. Methodology. This was an expost-facto study. Three groups of students were compared on five variables: special education placements, retentions, acting-out behaviors, shy/anxious behaviors, and learning skills. These groups included the Treatment-Group which was composed of 72 mildly handicapped students who participated in special education preschools, Comparison-Group 1 consisting of 72 mildly handicapped students who did not participate in the preschools, and Comparison-Group 2 consisting of 72 non-identified handicapped students attending the same classrooms as the students in Treatment-Group. A Chi-square was used to compare special education placements and retentions. A two way ANOVA was used to compare the three behaviors and to look for the interactive effects of gender, socio-economics, and language proficiency. The Duncan procedure was used to determine where the differences existed among the three groups. Findings. The special education preschool participants did as well as their non-identified handicapped classmates and better than the non-participant mildly handicapped students in all areas except special education placements. Gender, socio-economic levels, and language proficiency had no interactive effects upon the five dependent variables across the three groups. Conclusions. Two conclusions were reached from the findings of this study: (1) When considering rates of special education placements and grade level retentions, "At-Risk" preschool participants can maintain themselves with regular education students; and (2) Participation in special education preschools may help reduce behavior problems and enhance learning skills. Recommendations. Five recommendations grew out of this study: (1) Replicate the study using a quasi-experimental design; (2) Use non-biased observers to record student behaviors as they occur in the classroom; (3) A longitudinal follow-up should be conducted on the students involved in this study; (4) Replicate this study out side the California Central Valley; (5) A Cost effectiveness study should be conducted on these programs.