Dr. William Allan Kritsonis, PhD Dissertation Committee for Dr. Melody Wilson, PhD Program in Educational Leadership, PVAMU, Member of the Texas A&M University System.
1. The Impact of the Public Pre-Kindergarten Montessori Program on Kindergarten Texas Primary Reading Inventory Scores: Principals’ and Teachers’ Perceptions of Its Effectiveness A Dissertation Defense by: Melody Ann Wilson April 10, 2008
2. Committee Members Pamela Barber-Freeman, Ph.D. (Dissertation Chair) Douglas Hermond, Ph.D. (Member) Wanda Johnson, Ph.D. (Member) William Allan Kritsonis, Ph.D. (Member)
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4. Purpose of the Study The first purpose was to determine if Montessori attendees did better than non-attendees on the four dimensions of the TPRI. The second purpose was to examine principals’ and teachers’ perceptions on the effectiveness of the Montessori program in preparing the pre-kindergarten students for kindergarten.
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7. Null Hypothesis #1 H 01 :There is no statistically significant difference in the kindergarten Texas Primary Reading Inventory (TPRI) scores between kindergarten students that attended a public pre-kindergarten Montessori program and kindergarten students that did not attend a public pre-kindergarten Montessori program in the area of Graphophonemic Awareness.
8. Null Hypothesis #2 H 02 :There is no statistically significant difference in the kindergarten Texas Primary Reading Inventory (TPRI) scores between kindergarten students that attended a public pre-kindergarten Montessori program and kindergarten students that did not attend a public pre-kindergarten Montessori program in the area of Phonemic Awareness.
9. Null Hypothesis #3 H 03 :There is no statistically significant difference in the kindergarten Texas Primary Reading Inventory (TPRI) scores between kindergarten students that attended a public pre-kindergarten Montessori program and kindergarten students that did not attend a public pre-kindergarten Montessori program in the area of Book and Print Awareness.
10. Null Hypothesis #4 H 04 :There is no statistically significant difference in the kindergarten Texas Primary Reading Inventory (TPRI) scores between kindergarten students that attended a public pre-kindergarten Montessori program and kindergarten students that did not attend a public pre-kindergarten Montessori program in the area of Listening Comprehension.
11. Qualitative Research Question #1 What are principals’ and teachers’ perceptions about the effectiveness of Montessori pre-kindergarten as it relates to preparing students for kindergarten?
12. Qualitative Research Question #2 What do principals and teachers perceive as the necessary reading readiness skills for pre-kindergarten students to possess to be successful in kindergarten?
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14. Qualitative Research Question #4 Did educational leadership programs prepare or promote principals’ awareness and understanding of the components of the kindergarten Texas Primary Reading Inventory (TPRI)?
20. Major Findings Quantitative Category Montessori Non-Montessori t Sig. 2-tailed Graphophonemic Awareness 9.12 8.59 3.73 * 0.000 Phonemic Awareness 6.13 4.96 12.23 * 0.000 Book & Print Awareness 4.77 4.51 4.21 * 0.000 Listening Comprehension 4.63 4.25 3.70 * 0.000 * Significant at p ≤ 0.05
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45. Qualitative Research Question #4 Educational Leadership Programs Preparing Principals’ Understanding of the Kindergarten Texas Primary Reading Inventory (TPRI) Programs Frequency Percent TPRI Promoted 2 13.0 TPRI Not Promoted 13 86.0 Total 15 100.0
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57. Tell a child- He will forget ! Show a child- He will remember !! Involve a child- He will understand!! Chinese Proverb
Editor's Notes
There were 2 male principal respondents and 13 female principal respondents. There were only 2 male teacher respondents and 23 female teacher respondents.
*Have both Montessori and non-Montessori teaching; ** Have no Montessori teaching: ***Have no non-Montessori teaching
8 Principals and 16 Teachers were Montessori trained while 7 Principals and 9 Teachers were not.
Qualitative Research Question #1: What are principals’ and teachers’ perceptions of the Montessori program in preparing students for kindergarten? Both principals and teachers noted that the Montessori program lays the foundation for later academia.
Qualitative Research Question #2: What do principals and teachers perceive as the necessary reading readiness skills for pre-kindergarten students to possess to be successful in kindergarten? Both Principals and Teachers perceived that Vocabulary Development and Listening Comprehension were necessary Reading Readiness Skills for Kindergarten.
Qualitative Research Question #3 : What areas do principals and teachers perceive are the most important for kindergarten students to be successful in reading as they relate to the Texas Primary Reading Inventory? Both principals and teachers noted that word attack skills (which is the knowledge of letter names and sounds), positive reading experiences, and positive reading opportunities are the most important areas for kindergarten students to be successful in reading as they relate to the Texas Primary Reading Inventory.
Qualitative Research Question #4: Did educational administration programs prepare or promote principals’ awareness and understanding of the components of the Kindergarten Texas Primary Reading Inventory? All 15 principals completed an educational leadership program, but only 2 principals were aware of the Kindergarten Texas Primary Reading Inventory.