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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1   BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Early childhood care and education/intervention programs that is been done in schools have been shown to significantly enhance children’s prospects for academic success by reducing the probability of referral to special education, grade retention, and leaving school prior to high school graduation, which in turns facilitates the growth and performance of schools (Smith, 2002). Factors that affect the growth and performance of schools and childcare providers include poverty, developmental and learning disabilities, belonging to an ethnic minority, and speaking English as a second language, among other things (McLoyd, 19980. In addition, early childhood care demonstrate significant return on investment over children’s lifetimes according to cost-benefit analyses. Perhaps one of the most important functions of childcare provider programs is providing a strong foundation for literacy development, bearing in mind that poor academic skills are strongly associated with dropping out of school and delinquency (McLoyd, 1998).
However, there is an important caveat with regard to these research findings, only early childhood care and education programs of high quality are associated with positive outcomes which also bring the school to lime light in terms of growth and performance. According to Jencks & Phillips (1998), poor quality programs appear to be associated with negative child outcomes and, unfortunately, the very children most likely to benefit from early childhood care are the least likely to be enrolled in high-quality schools. New research is revealing how high-quality schools may be supporting children’s language and literacy development and that the impact of specific preschool language and literacy activities may depend on children’s language and emergent literacy skills. Perhaps the most robust predictors of school success are child related factors which are their early oral language skills, including vocabulary, use of complex sentences, and metalinguistic awareness (of which phonological awareness is one element).
Emergent literacy skills, including letter knowledge, knowledge about letter–sound correspondence and understanding the purposes of reading and writing, are also associated with later school success (Bowman et al, 2001). Overall, there is good evidence that parents and teachers, as well as home and school environments, can influence the development of these school child skills and thereafter raises the performance and growth of the school being attended. Thus, early childhood programs organized by school management that focus on strengthening children’s language, literacy, and self-regulation across multiple contexts typically prove to be most effective in promoting school success.
1.2   STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
As educators and policy makers consider whether and how to implement high-quality education system and child care and education programs, there are important issues to keep in mind. In order to understand the potential impact of child care and quality education programs, an understanding of the multiple factors that affect children’s academic success and school completion is needed. Based on an understanding of these multiple factors, determining which elements of child education and intervention are associated with long-term positive effects on growth and performance of schools is important. However, the researcher is examining the factors that affect the growth and performance of schools and childcare providers in Enugu State.
1.3   OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The following are the objectives of this study:
1.  To examine the factors that affects the growth and performance of schools and childcare providers in Enugu State.
2.  To examine the relationship between child’s academic success and the growth and performance of a school in Enugu State.
3.  To determine the factors militating against the growth and performance of schools and childcare providers in Enugu State.
1.4   RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1.  What are the factors that affects the growth and performance of schools and childcare providers in Enugu State?
2.  What is the relationship between child’s academic success and the growth and performance of a school in Enugu State?
3.  What are the factors militating against the growth and performance of schools and childcare providers in Enugu State?
1.5   HYPOTHESIS
HO: There is no significant relationship between growth/performance of a school and child’s academic achievement in Enugu State.
HA: There is significant relationship between growth/performance of a school and child’s academic achievement in Enugu State.
1.6   SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The following are the significance of this study:
1.  The outcome of this study will educate the administrators in education sector and the general public on the factors that affects the growth and performance of schools and childcare providers which has been proved by researcher to be determined by the child’s academic achievements.
2.  This research will be a contribution to the body of literature in the area of the effect of personality trait on student’s academic performance, thereby constituting the empirical literature for future research in the subject area.
1.7   SCOPE/LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
This study will cover the factors that affect the growth and performance of schools and childcare providers in Enugu State. It will also cover the factors militating against growth and performance of schools and childcare providers.
LIMITATION OF STUDY
Financial constraint- Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
Time constraint- The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.

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