The research on school adjustment and literacy skills of first grade primary school students according to schooling age

This study aimed to observe orientation and literacy skills of first grade primary school students according to schooling age. Survey model was conducted and data were collected via "School Adjustment Teacher Rating Scale" which was originally developed in 1996 by Ladd, Kochenfender and Coleman and translated into Turkish in 2010 by Önder and Gülay and "Reading Skill Scale" and "Dictation and Writing Skills Scale" which was developed in 2010 by Obalar. Furthermore, "Personal Information Form" was prepared by the researcher in order to obtain information about students and parents. Survey data were collected from 337 first graders studying in two public schools in Ordu in 2013-2014 academic year. Survey data were analyzed by SPSS 17.0 statistical analysis package. Statistics such as "frequency,percentage,average,standard deviation" were also used to describe survey data better.Kolmogorov-Simirnov Test was used to determine if data was or was not normally distributed.In analyses, Kruskal Wallis H-Test, Mann Whitney U-Test, and Sperman's Rank Correlation were also utilized in analyses. Analyses were evaluated in %95 confidence interval and p<0,05 significance level. Research results perform that the older students starts the school, the more they adjust to school. Students' scores on school adjustment teacher rating scale vary by gender in favour of female students significantly.Moreover, the scores on school adjustment teacher rating scale of students having pre-school education are statistically higher than the ones of students not having pre-school education.The research also points out that the higher mothers' level of education is, the greater students' scores on school adjustment teacher rating scale are. Another significant result is that the higher fathers' level of education is, the greater students' scores on school adjustment teacher rating scale are. Having or not having siblings does not have a statistically significant effect on school adjustment. Furthermore, as school starting age is later, students' scores on reading and wirting skills scale are higher. Significant gender difference is not observed in students' scores on reading and writing skills scale. The research also deduces that students having pre-school education have significantly higher scores on reading and writing skills scale.The higher mothers' level of education is, the higher students' scores on reading and writing skills scale are. Besides, the higher fathers' level of education is, the higher students' scores on reading and writing skills scale are. It is also seen that the reading skills of students whose siblings do not go to school are significantly higher. However, having or not having siblings going to school shows no significant effect on dictation and writing skills. Considering the effect of students' school adjustment on reading and writing skills, students adjusting school better have greater writing skills.Consequently, it is observed that there is a positive and statistically significant relation between school adjustment and reading-writing skills and schooling age. Key Words: Schooling age, school adjustment, reading-wiriting skill