Children’s School Readiness: A Typological Approach for the Prediction of Later Achievement

• In Event: Assessing Kindergarten Readiness and Development

Abstract

Children's school readiness involves several dimensions of children's competence. Approaches that acknowledge its multidimensional character are needed in research and practice. We used latent class analysis to simultaneously examine the academic skills, work-attitude, and social-emotional competence of a sample of Dutch kindergarten children. Five distinctive profiles of children's school readiness at the end of kindergarten were identified, and then ranked based on their presumed level of adjustment to the grade 1 setting. Multivariate multilevel models with language, arithmetic and work-attitude as dependent variables show that the profile solution is a useful tool for predicting performance in grades 1 and 2. Further research on the interplay between school readiness dimensions and the optimal educational strategies for each profile is suggested.

Authors

• Mayra Mascareño, University of Groningen

• Simone Doolaard, University of Groningen

• Roel J. Bosker, University of Groningen