| This quantitative study was a quasi-experimental design utilizing nonequivalent groups to determine whether there was a difference in the kindergarten readiness skills of socioeconomically disadvantaged children enrolled in Pre-K in for-profit and nonprofit programs in major metropolitan city. This quasi-experimental study used comparison groups that had been administered a pretest on the Work Sampling SystemRTM during fall 2008, taught using the pre-kindergarten curriculum, and were administered a posttest on the Work Sampling System in spring 2009. Specifically, this study examined seven educational domains that are precursors to kindergarten readiness. The seven domains that were measured in the study are (a) personal and social development, (b) language and literacy development, (c) mathematical thinking, (d) scientific thinking, (e) social studies, (f) the arts, (g) physical development and health.;The results of this study indicate that when simply comparing children from for-profit centers to children from nonprofit centers based on their post-assessment mean scores, the academic effectiveness of Pre-K programs housed in nonprofit child development centers is not greater for socioeconomically disadvantaged children than Pre-K programs housed in for-profit child development centers. |
