Bridging Disciplinary Boundaries (January 11 - 14, 2007)

Purpose: Assessing school-readiness of young children is a national priority. Some studies explore how many children are not ready to learn, while others study effects of developmental and environmental factors. Research found that 60% of children's performance in third grade is due to kindergarten readiness. This study examines the proportion of children assessed ready for kindergarten. It investigates the relationship between examiner- and parental-reports. It defines ‘readiness' through the standard deviation method for assessing children's learning and skill-acquisition.

Method: 113 families consist of a local-site-sample (60% US-born, 40% immigrant) who were randomized to the longitudinal Early Head Start evaluation when focus children were 4-5 years old. Trained bilingual research staff collected data. Examiner-assessments included 5 standard academic and 3 social-readiness measures. Parental-assessments included 4 social-readiness measures. Measures of central tendency and variability describe children's readiness. Bivariate correlations indicate examiner- and parental-agreements. Independent-t-tests, odds-risk-ratios, and logistic-regression examine birth-status (US-born, immigrant) influence. MRA examines academic-readiness with examiner- and parentally-assessed social-readiness, and birth-status.

Results: By examiner-assessments, half of children are academically-ready in receptive vocabulary, basic concepts, and problem-solving; two-thirds, in receptive and expressive recognition and understanding of letters and letter-sounds; and three-quarters are ready in book-related knowledge and comprehension. Four-fifths are socially-ready in their sustained attention, cognitive-social competence, and in social-emotional regulation. By parental-assessments, four-fifths are socially-ready in behavior-profile and mastery of pre-kindergarten competencies; three-quarters are resilient. By examiner-assessments, 20% children were academically-ready on all 5 academic measures; 15% were not. Immigrant children scored lower than US-born children (p<.05) on all academic measures. 67% children were socially-ready on all 3 measures; 15% were not. By parental-assessments, 46% children were socially-ready on all 4 measures; 10% were not. Examiners' or parents' ratings of children's social competencies did not vary by birth status. Examiner- and parental-assessments yielded positive, moderate, and statistically significant correlations (p<. 05). MRA found that 41% children's academic-readiness can be significantly predicted (p<.05) from examiners' social-readiness, birth-status, and parental-assessments of social-readiness. However, logistic regression identified that children's risk of their academic-readiness can be significantly (p<.05) determined from examiners' ratings of social-readiness and children's birth-status, but not from parental-assessment of social-readiness. Parental-assessment of social-readiness had only a 3% contribution to the variance in children's academic-readiness. Parental- and examiner-measures of social-readiness were varied and may tap different social competencies. Relative risk analyses found that for US-born children, examiner-based academic-readiness was significantly (p<.05) associated with examiners-based social-readiness where no such relationship existed for immigrant children. For immigrant parents who considered their child socially-ready, examiners noted only 23% of children were academically-ready while the rest were not, whereas for those children not socially-ready according to parents, all were not academically-ready.

Implications: These findings demonstrate that although a good number of children from low-income families are ready, significant portions are at risk and need support. Questions are raised regarding the readiness status of children from immigrant families, the adequacy of their assessments, and the nature of their families' understanding of readiness, all of which have implications for social work practice and policy view of children's kindergarten readiness.