Using Cross-Cultural School Readiness Analyses to Inform Community Initiatives

• In Event: Translating Research Into Policies, Educational Reform, and Community Change for Children’s Well-Being

Abstract

Objectives
Our aim was to investigate how familial ethno-cultural origins and neighborhood socio-cultural factors jointly affect children’s developmental outcomes as reflected in school readiness at kindergarten age in social, emotional, and cognitive domains.

Background and theoretical framework
Next to Ontario, British Columbia has the highest population of Canadian immigrants (28%). 34% of those families are deemed low-income, one of the most powerful known risk factors for poor developmental outcomes. Few Canadian studies have examined outcomes for children of immigrant families, and those studies commonly treated immigrants as a monolithic group, regardless of their heritage culture. However, today’s schools and communities, characterized by an increasing diversity of language backgrounds and ethno-cultural customs and values, need research information that can inform their daily educational practices and policies. Our research draws on cognitive anthropology in recognizing that cultures uniquely nurture development and education of children through shared systems of norms, beliefs, attitudes, and values. This study tests our hypotheses that (a) heritage culture uniquely affects children’s developmental readiness to learn; and (b) neighborhood context, specifically socio-economic status and density of immigrant population matching a child’s cultural background, affect children’s school readiness.
Methods & data sources
Since 2000, we have repeatedly collected province-wide Kindergarten data (N≈127,000) on children’s developmental outcomes via the Early Development Instrument (EDI), a teacher survey that assesses children’s developmental outcomes on 16 subscales across five domains: physical health, social competence, emotional maturity, language & cognition, and communication & general knowledge. Key to developing our research questions have been discussions of our results with community forums and roundtables on Canadian newcomers. Our collaborative discussions have led to the creation of a research project advisory group with representation from newcomer community stakeholders, settlement workers, and health and school professionals, that has provided critical insights aiding the interpretation and validity of our results.

Results
Cultural groups showed unique patterns across EDI subscales. For example, when compared to the norm of the population-level sample, Cantonese home-language children entered school with strong pre-academic skills, whereas Punjabi home-language children entered with strong social-emotional skills. Multilevel modeling of EDI data linked to neighborhood census data confirmed neighborhood context significance. Neighborhood poverty adversely affected all children but concentration of immigrants of the child’s same culture interacted with poverty. EDI scores of Chinese home language children growing up in poorer neighborhoods were progressively lowered as neighborhood concentrations of Chinese immigrants increased, suggesting a double jeopardy effect for these children. Punjabi home language children living in poorer neighborhoods showed a reversed pattern: as neighborhood concentrations of South Asian immigrants increased, so did their EDI scores, suggesting in poorer South Asian communities, cultural affinities and community supports may compensate for poor neighborhood economic resources.

Scientific significance of the study
Children of immigrants entering Canada represent a vulnerable but understudied group. These analyses demonstrate for the first time on a population level the extent developmental profiles differ for Canadian Kindergarten children of different cultural origins and reveal the unique influences of neighborhood resources, particularly culture, on young children’s development.

Authors

• Constance Milbrath, The University of British Columbia

• Martin Guhn, The University of British Columbia

• Clyde Hertzman, The University of British Columbia