Poverty and Name Writing in Four-Year Olds

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between name writing ability in four-year old children qualifying for free-or-reduced lunch at school. This research attempted to answer if name writing ability in a four year old directly relates to the family's socio economic status. After permission was granted by parents or guardians to use their child's name writing sample from the beginning of the school year, the researcher and the general education teacher involved in the study scored students' name writing samples based on the rubric created by the Strategic Teaching and Evaluation of Progress assessment, (STEP). Students were divided into two groups: those who qualified for free or reduced lunches and those who did not qualify. The findings of this research indicated that the vast majority of the students in four-year- old kindergarten qualified for free or reduced lunch. In fact, all 29 students used in this study qualified for free or reduced lunch. Because no permission slips returned were of students who did not qualify for free or reduced lunch, the study's results were inconclusive; however, preliminary results indicated that socioeconomic status did not impact a child's ability to write his or her name at the age of four.