Significance of the sudy Essay Example

study will make use of the quasi-experimental design as two groups will be compared to determine any difference in their academic performance and which specific subjects they differ.

The study will make use of matched groups wherein one group has attended Headstart and the other group has not. Academic performance will be measured using their present academic grades and their achievement test scores which will be administered to the two groups at the start of the study. Participants The participants of the study will be third grade students of S.V.

Marshall Elementary School. This group was chosen as this age corresponds to the school age stage wherein the child is expected to be industrious and have the motivation to learn independently (Spigner, 1985). Since the participants are captive, the sampling method will be purposeful sampling, as the research study requires that one group have attended Headstart and the other group have not. This will be identified through the enrollment records of the school, age will not be controlled for but it is more likely that they have the same age range.Gender, religion and ethnicity will be taken into consideration to enrich the discussion of the findings of the study but is assumed to not have any effect on the variables to be measured.

Socioeconomic status will most likely be similar as the school is located in a small locality and have fairly poor to low average income families. Instruments This study will measure academic performance based on the academic grades of the research participants for the present school year across subjects.Grades are quantitative indicators of how well a student had performed in class; this is an overall assessment

of the child’s performance in class activities, quizzes, exams and participation which is also used to differentiate better performing students from the rest. Since academic grades have been countered as subjective measures of academic performance, an achievement test will be administered at the start of the study to serve as an objective measure of academic performance; the achievement test will be chosen based on how well it is aligned with the present curriculum of the third grade in the said research area.

Procedure A letter of intent will be sent to the school’s principal/head to explain the objectives of the research study and to ask permission from the school to utilize their students as research participants and their academic records for data analysis. Once permission has been granted, the researcher will conduct a preliminary survey of how many students in the third grade have attended Headstart. A sufficient number of students will be identified and the same number of students in the same grade who have not attended Headstart will also be identified.A letter of consent will be sent to the identified students so that parents would allow their child to serve as research participants in the said study, an informed voluntary consent will be included in the letter and will be returned to the researcher in keeping with the ethical guidelines of conducting research with minors. The identified groups will then be asked to take the standardized achievement test, and then the researcher will gather the academic grades of the said students from their class advisers or principals.

The data will then be collated and subjected to statistical analysis to test the study’s research hypothesis. Data

Analysis A descriptive analysis of the demographics of the research participants will be undertaken to provide a background to the personal characteristics of the participants. A descriptive analysis of the academic grades per subject and the achievement test scores will also be done as initial analysis to the gathered data. An independent t-test will then be carried out to test the difference in the academic grades and achievement test scores between the two groups.

Finally, a descriptive analysis of which subjects the two groups differed in performance will also be done to determine in which specific subject the academic gap exists. Further analysis may be conducted if required to adequately answer the research questions.

References

1. Abbott-Shim, M. , Lambert, R. , & McCarty, F. (2003).
2. A comparison of school readiness outcomes for children randomly assigned to a Head Start program and program’s waiting list. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk 8; 2, 191-214. Aughinbaugh, A. (2001). Does Head Start yield long-term benefits?Journal of Human Resources, 36 (4).
3. Barnett, W. , Steven, M. , & Hustedt, J. (2005). Head Start's lasting benefits.
4. Infants and Young Children, 18 (1): 16-24. Currie, J. ; Thomas, D. (1995). Does Head Start make a difference? The American Economic Review, 5; 3, 341-64.
5. Lee, V. , Brooks-Gunn, J. , Schnur, E. ; Liaw, F.
6. (1990). Are Head Start effects sustained? A longitudinal follow-up comparison of disadvantaged children attending Head Start, No Preschool, and Other Preschool Programs. Child Development, 61; 2, 495-507. Slaughter-Defoe, D.
7. , Clayton, C. ; Rubin, H. (2001).A longitudinal case study of Head Start eligible children: Implications for urban education. Psychologist, 36; 1, 31-44.
8. Spigner, L. (1985).Changes in mental
   

age, self-concept, and creative thinking in ethnically different 3- and 4-year-old Head Start Students. Denton: Texas Woman’s University.