Vivian J. Carlson, Ph.D.

1

School Readiness StudyParent Staff Beliefs and
Practices
Vivian J. Carlson, Ph.D. Carlota Schechter,
Ed.D. Saint Joseph College October 2004

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Study Participants

• 16 teachers and assistants at the School for
  Young Children
• 28 parents of children enrolled at School for
  Young Children
• Race/ethnicity (self-described)
• White 70.5
• Latino 18.2
• Asian 6.8
• African American/Black 4.5
• Marital status
• Married 79.5
• Single/never married 11.4
• Lives with partner 4.5
• Separated/divorced 4.5
• Primary language in home
• English 85.2
• Spanish 15.9

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Study Procedures

• Interviews done by senior child study students
• What do you believe is the parents role in
  making sure their child is ready for
  kindergarten?
• What do you think is your childs school should
  be doing to prepare your child for kindergarten?
• Pile sort (24 school readiness skills)
• Put these in order from most important to least
  important for a child to be ready for
  kindergarten.
• Which of these is primarily the responsibility
  of the parent and which is primarily the
  responsibility of the school?

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Results of Interview

• Role of Parent
• Self maximization
• Lovingness
• Decency
• Proper demeanor
• Pre-academic
• Both parents and staff believe the most
  important role for the parent is
• to provide pre-academic activities
• and the next most important role is
• to promote self maximization
• Decency was the least frequently mentioned
  category, although mentioned by staff more than
  parents.

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Results of Interview

• Role of School
• Language arts literacy
• Numeracy
• Experiential learning
• Social development
• Both parents and staff believe the most
  important role for the school is
• to provide experiential learning activities
• and the next most important roles are
• to promote social development and
• to promote language development
• Asian African American families believed
  that social development was a more important
  aspect of the preschool role than did White and
  Latino families.

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Pile Sort Items 15 from National Kindergarten
Study (in order from teachers)

• Is physically healthy, rested, well nourished
• Communicates needs and wants verbally (can tell
  others)
• Enthusiastic and curious about new activities
• Does not disrupt the class
• Takes turns and shares
• Can follow directions
• Sits still and pays attention in group
• Is sensitive to other childrens feelings
• Speaks English
• Finishes tasks
• Can solve problems with friends in play
• Can use crayons, markers or pencils
• Identifies primary colors and basic shapes
• Knows letters of the alphabet
• Counts to 20 or more

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Additional Pile Sort Items Some from West
Hartfords Expectations for Beginning
Kindergarten and some from the cross-cultural
literature

• Enjoys looking at and listening to picture books
• Recognizes own name
• Cuts with scissors
• Can put on a coat without help
• Can use bathroom without help
• Is respectful and obedient
• Is self-confident
• Is helpful and friendly
• Is hardworking and responsible

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Top 10 Items on the Pile Sort(Agreement on 8 of
the top 10)
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Items at the bottom of the list(Agreement on 7
out of 8)
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Parent/Staff Rankings of Readiness Skills

• Parents and staff tend to group the same items at
  the top and bottom of the list.
• There is a great deal of agreement!
• There were some differences
• Staff rated solves problems with friends in
  play as significantly more important than
  parents
• Parents rated knows letters of the alphabet,
• identifies primary colors basic shapes,
  and
• recognizes own name as significantly more
  important than staff

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Comparison with Kindergarten Teachers(Agreement
on 6 of 8 top items)
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Whose Responsibility is it?

• The staff believe these items are primarily
  schools responsibility parents believes same
  item is primarily a parental responsibility
• Recognizes own name Can use crayons, pencils
• Hardworking/responsible Can follow directions
• Cuts with scissors Can put on coat without
• Helpful/friendly help
• Respectful/obedient
• Can finish tasks
• Can solve problems in play

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Parent/Staff Rankings of Readiness Skills

• There were also some differences by
  race/ethnicity for knows letters of the
  alphabet
• White respondents believe this is primarily a
  parental responsibility
• African American and Latino respondents believe
  it is primarily a school responsibility

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Conclusions

• SYC Parents and teachers basically agree on what
  children need to be ready for kindergarten
• Although parents are more focused on pre-academic
  skills and teachers on social skills
• The views of parents and teachers at the SYC are
  fairly consistent with kindergarten teachers
  nationwide
• The top items for all of these groups have more
  to do with being curious, able to sit still and
  follow directions than with what the child knows
• Both parents and teachers feel they have the
  primary responsibility for many readiness skills
• There are some cultural differences

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Implications

• Communication among parents, preschool teachers
  and kindergarten teachers is critical!
• What do you think?