Document Type

Thesis

Date of Degree Completion

Spring 1971

Degree Name

Master of Education (MEd)

Department

Education

Committee Chair

Daryl Basler

Second Committee Member

Dohn Miller

Third Committee Member

Sam Rust Jr.

Abstract

Teachers in elementary schools often assert that they could teach more successfully if no child under six years of age was admitted to first grade. While teaching kindergarten this writer also found many parents of kindergarten age children quite concerned about the "best" age for their child to enter kindergarten. Besides age there seemed to be concern in other areas such as physical size, coordination, and emotional maturity. However, most school districts in Washington set chronological age as the major requirement for school admission. The problem to be investigated in this study was to determine the relationship, if any, between physical and familial factors and the child's success in kindergarten. In order to accomplish this one must (1) measure success and then (2) compute the relationship of other factors to success. On the basis of these relationships, if they exist, one can better group children, provide more comprehensive curriculum, and staff classrooms to compensate for both high and low success factors. The purpose of this study was two-fold. The first phase was to determine success and the second to determine the relationship between success and other factors. Educators and other researchers, as well as teachers and parents, have been concerned with the need to determine success and then compute the relationship between success and other factors. For the purpose of this study a presentation of research has been limited to success, chronological age, height, weight, sex, birth order, and parents' education as each of these areas relate to the kindergartener.

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