| The study was a comparison of children's self-concept in two preschool programs as measured by child, mother, and teacher. One program was a "model" preschool program with 30 children deemed by the state of Tennessee to be a "model" program for early childhood education. The second program was a state licensed day care center with 26 children. Both programs were located in the same community in South-Central Tennessee. It was my intention to determine the level and congruence of self-concept in children in a "model" preschool program as rated by self, mother, and teacher as compared with children in a day care center. The degree of consistency among raters (child, mother, and teacher) for the preschool and the day care center was also evaluated.;To investigate these objectives, five null hypotheses were stated. The results of these hypotheses are as follows: Hypothesis 1--Rejected: The day care center children had higher self-concept than the children in the "model" program. Hypotheses 2 and 3--Failed to reject: There was no significant difference between the ratings of the teachers and mothers. Hypotheses 4 and 5--Failed to reject: There was no significant correlation between the ratings of the mothers, teachers, and the children within the "model" preschool program and the day care center.;It was concluded that the "model" preschool curriculum had little significance in enhancing the self-concept of the "model" preschool children. The results also implied that there was no significant difference in how the teachers and mothers rated the children between the two groups. However, there was no significant correlation between the ratings of the children, mothers, and teachers within the two preschools.;Conclusions resulting from the study are that further attention needs to be focused on large samples of children the same age in order to make more solid inferences and generalizations from the results. Additionally, more research is needed in the area of the effect of progressive education on young children's self-concept. Because of the critical stages of development that occurs during the early years, more research is needed on factors that influence the development of self-concept of young children, especially through preschool programs. |
