The Impact of Pre-primary Education on Students’ Academic Achievement in Later Schooling Years: TEOG Exams

Abstract

The purpose of this mixed methods study is to determine whether pre-primary education participation influences the academic achievement of the students in the later years of schooling, based on the results of the Upper-Secondary Education Entrance Exam (TEOG) in Turkey and to convey the reasons for parents to send or not to send their children to pre-primary education by parents' views. The TEOG exam participants from 7 secondary schools in district of Ula-Muğla in the 2015-2016 school year constitutes the study group of the quantitative part of the study. 12 parents selected among the parents of the students in the quantitative study group constitute the study group for the qualitative part of the study. The quantitative data related to the TEOG scores of the participants were obtained from school records. Qualitative data of the study were obtained from interviews with parents. While descriptive and comparative statistics were employed in the analysis of the quantitative data, content analysis was utilized in the analysis of the qualitative data. The major results of the study are: (1) Pre-primary education participation, whether in rural or urban areas, significantly affects the academic achievement of student in later schooling years. (2) The academic achievement of students is higher for girls than boys regardless of their participation in pre-primary education. (3) The participation in pre-primary education reduces the achievement gap between the gender. (4) Gender is not a significant factor for parents whether or not to send their children to pre-primary education. (5) Parents whose children participated or not participated in pre-primary education are well-aware of the possible benefits of pre-school education.

Evaluation of Preschool Curriculum by Stufflebeam’s Context, Input, Process and Product (CIPP) Evaluation Model

“…Bir diğer ifadeyle bu zengin uyarıcılar bireyin bilişsel gelişimi için fırsatlar sunmaktadır. Ayrıca, okul öncesi eğitim başta dezavantajlı çocuklar olmak üzere çocukların akademik gelişimi, sosyal gelişimi, dil gelişimi, psiko-motor gelişimi ve özbakım becerilerinin gelişimi üzerinde önemli etkilere sahip olabilmektedir (Conyers, Reynolds ve Ou, 2003;İş, 2017;Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı [MEB], 2013;Taner ve Başal, 2005;Türkkaş Anasız, Ekinci ve Anasız, 2018). Okul öncesi eğitimin bütün bu etkileri dikkate alındığında, bireyin bir bütün olarak gelişmesinde son derece kritik bir öneme sahip olduğu söylenebilir.…”