Parental Involvement and School Readiness Among American Preschoolers

• In Event: 54.062 - Parents and Family Involvement in Early Childhood

Abstract

This project addresses relationships between preschoolers’ school readiness and parental involvement. Children’s own characteristics, familial characteristics, and parental practices are studied using the 2007 National Center for Education Statistics School Readiness Survey. Participants were a national U.S. telephone sample of 2620 parents or guardians of three to five year old children. Results suggest that child age, speaking English at home, child’s preschool experience, socioeconomic status (SES), single parent status, and parental involvement all affect child’s school readiness level. Child age, English spoken at home, preschool experience, SES and single parent status influence parental involvement. Surprisingly, child gender affected neither parental involvement nor child’s school readiness. Learning more about these relationships may help parents with children’s transition to kindergarten.

Authors

• Sisi Dong, Florida State University

• Susan Carol Losh, The Florida State University