Profiles of Parent Involvement during the Kindergarten Transition and Children's School Readiness

• In Event: Examining proximal and distal factors that promote kindergarten readiness among preschool children in the United States

Abstract

The kindergarten transition has significant implications for children’s developmental trajectories (Cook & Coley, 2017). Variable centered analyses (e.g., multiple regression) show parental expectations of entering kindergarteners are associated with parent-child activities during the kindergarten transition, which in turn, influence children’s academic performance at kindergarten entry (Jung, 2016; Puccioni, 2015); however, person-centered research is needed to elucidate patterns between parent expectations, parent-child activities, and kindergarten readiness. Specifically, there may be certain combinations of parental support that are more predictive of kindergarten readiness.

This study leverages nationally representative data from the 2010 Early Childhood Longitudinal Study- Kindergarten cohort (ECLS-K; n=12,670) to identify profiles of parents of entering kindergarteners, ultimately linking those profiles with children’s academic skills. Our research questions are: 1) How do parents of incoming kindergarteners group into profiles based on their expectations of entering kindergarteners and engagement in parent-child activities?; 2) Do these profiles differentially predict kindergarteners’ early reading and mathematics performance?

To answer research question 1, we use latent profile analysis in MPlus to identify profiles of parents using constructs in Table 1. To answer research question 2, we use the BCH approach (Bakk & Vermunt, 2016; Vermunt, 2010). We applied Quartagano and colleagues’ (2019) multiple imputation model with sample weights in R statistical software using the hmi package (Speidel et al., 2020) to handle missing data.

A four-profile solution best fit the data (Table 1), with families in High Expectations, Fewest Activities (Profile 1: 21%), High Expectations, High Activities (Profile 2; 39%), Very High Expectations, Moderate Activities (Profile 3; 16%), and Very High Expectations, Most Activities (Profile 4; 24%) profiles.

Children with parents in the Very High Expectations, Most Activities profile (Profile 4) had the strongest reading (M= 55.99) and mathematics (M= 37.72) performance at kindergarten entry, compared to children with parents in Profile 1 (reading: M= 49.03; math: M= 31.22), Profile 2 (reading: M=52.77; math: M=34.91) and Profile 3 (reading: M=53.77; math: 36.00). See Table 2.

Our findings suggest that considering the predictive utility of variations in expectations and home activity levels simultaneously may provide more useful information than either would alone. If we consider Profile 1 and Profile 4, our findings suggest having very high kindergarten readiness expectations and engaging in home activities multiple times per week appears to be positively related to children’s reading and mathematics performance, while having relatively lower expectations and engaging in many fewer activities is associated with lower reading and math performance at kindergarten entry. Considering the High Expectations, High Activities profile (Profile 2) and the Very High Expectations, Moderate Activities profile (Profile 3), there is some indication that parental expectations may be more important than a high quantity of home activities. At the very least, our results could suggest that having very high expectations can compensate for a more moderate level of home activities if we consider Profile 3. Our findings suggest the importance of educators and policymakers recognizing the diversity of parental involvement efforts, particularly when designing outreach efforts and interventions for entering kindergarteners and their families.

Authors

• Gerilyn Slicker, University of Nevada Las Vegas
  Presenting Author

• Christina Areizaga Barbieri, University of Delaware
  Non-Presenting Author

• Zachary Kendall Collier, University of Delaware
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jason T Hustedt, University of Delaware
  Non-Presenting Author