Who’s Ready for School? School Readiness Perspectives from Parents, Preschool Teachers, and Kindergarten Teachers

• In Event: 054 - Section on the Sociology of the Family Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 06. Familial Influences on Education

Abstract

The Obama Administration’s Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge Program has refocused national attention on early childhood education and the importance of school readiness for low-income, African American children who are disproportionately at risk for being unready for the transition to kindergarten. Yet, research indicates a lack of consensus on the meaning of school readiness. Preschools, elementary schools, and families differ with respect to the meaning of school readiness and related skills and abilities needed for young children to successfully transition. Focusing on one inner-city neighborhood, and using qualitative interviews with preschool teachers, kindergarten teachers, and low-income African-American mothers of preschoolers transitioning to kindergarten, we examine the multiple meanings of school readiness abilities that characterize each group. We found that school readiness meanings and abilities (academic, cognitive, social, behavioral) vary within and across groups. School (neighborhood, charter, independent) and teacher (philosophy, tenure) characteristics influenced kindergarten teachers’ school readiness perspectives, whereas school characteristics (propinquity, mandated standards) influenced preschool teachers’ school readiness perspectives. Parents’ exposure or lack of exposure to school and job settings that focused on child development greatly influenced their readiness perspectives. Matches and mismatches between kindergarten and preschool teachers and between teachers and parents potentially advantaged and disadvantaged some students’ successful transition into kindergarten. Our substantive findings contribute to conceptual discussion of school readiness. These findings also provide applied recommendations on how to enhance collaborations between preschools and elementary schools and between parents and schools that can help low-income, African American children to be better prepared for school.

Authors

• Robin L. Jarrett, University of Illinois

• Sarai Coba-Rodriguez, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Megan-Brette Hamilton, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign