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288 K-12 LEADERSHIP PRACTICES

Theory Source Comments

Cohort Effect

(Students travel as a

class, grades K-3)

CCPC

STAR (all)

SAGE (some)

(e.g. accelerated schools).

Students benefit academically and socially

from what Sarason called a psychological

sense of community (PSOC).

Empirical data that STAR and various small class-size studies provide help explain the

Fade and offer a variable or condition for analysis. Head Start enrollees can be exposed to two

conditions: (a) those who have participated in small classes from Head Start through grade

three or (b) those who have not. Given the longitudinal, empirical evidence provided from

effective early childhood programs, there should not be a Fade effect in any early childhood

education programs that incorporate the same successful theories and practices that are

common to the programs explained in the literature review.

The Study: A Pilot Test of a Theory

Group I consisted of Head Start students who experienced full-day kindergarten every day

in small classes and continued in small classes through grades one, two, and possibly three.

Group I students will not demonstrate the Head Start Fade, or will have less Fade, than will

Group II students who did not have the conditions experienced by Group I students. A small

sample (n = 21) met conditions for Group I at the beginning of the study but experienced

some attrition over the years. The Metropolitan Achievement Test (MAT) results were one

outcome measure. Michigan’s MEAP test was proposed as a second measure at grades 3 and

4, but results had not been retained.

To determine if students were experiencing a test-score fade, student test scores from first

to second grade were analyzed using Wilcoxon signed-ranks test. Results in Table 2.

Table 2. Wilcoxon Signed-Ranks Test: Metropolitan 8 Reading Achievement

Tests—First to Second Grade Comparisons.

ng Tests N 1 st > 2nd 1 st = 2nd 1 st < 2nd Z Value Sig

Total 21 1 1 19 -3.85 <.001

Sounds & Print 21 2 1 18 -3.25 .001

Vocabulary 21 0 1 20 -3.92 <.001

Comprehension 21 3 1 17 -3.06 .002

Results of the Wilcoxon analysis show that Group I students improved in all aspects of

reading as measured by the MAT-8 reading achievement tests. The Head Start Fade did not