Impact of preschool intervention on lower economic status children in Malaysia.

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of preschool intervention on the cognitive achievement, social behavior and social adjustment of first and second grade children in Malaysia. The data utilized in this study were collected in 1984 as part of the Malaysian Preschool Status Survey. Data pertaining to children's family backgrounds were gathered using a parental questionnaire, while data on achievement in language and computation were obtained through the administration of achievement tests. The social behavior and social adjustment variables were obtained from a teacher rating questionnaire. Several statistical techniques were utilized, ranging from simple univariate and bivariate analysis to a more complex multiple regression and path analysis. A simplified analytical model of causal relationships among variables was developed. The bivariate analysis provided the preschool differential impact on cognitive and affective achievement between children attending private preschools, government preschools and those without preschool experience. It also demonstrated that preschool attendance closes the achievement gap between children from low and high socio-economic strata, and that this is sustained throughout the first grade. The regression analysis examined the relative importance of variables and concepts related to affective domains that predict cognitive achievement. Path analyses were performed to examine the nature of the relationships among the variables diagrammed in the model. The findings of multivariate and path analysis, coupled with the bivariate analysis, showed the importance of academic orientation concepts in predicting achievement scores. The background variables of gender and locality of residence were discovered to have low direct effect on achievement scores. The socio-economic status variables of children's families had a stronger direct effect for the second grade sample than for the first grade. The effects of background variables were mediated through the indirect effects of preschool attendance and academic orientation concepts. The direct effect of preschool intervention on cognitive achievement showed a decrease in value when the first and second grade samples were compared. The analyses showed the importance of preschool attendance as an intervention program and also support previous findings that the effect of preschool slowly diminishes as children proceed through grade school.