Another Blog Stolen from Another Blog: Parental Conceptions of School Readiness

Featured Abstract: Parental Conceptions of School Readiness
Christina Satkowski -
February 12, 2009 - 11:20am

A recent study in Early Education and Development looks at what skills parents believe their children must have in order to be kindergarten-ready.

Research Findings: This study analyzed the school readiness beliefs of parents of 452 children from public pre-kindergarten and the relations of these beliefs to socio-economic status and children's readiness skills. Parents conceived readiness largely in terms of the ability to name objects, letters, or numbers, but few included inferential skills. Readiness beliefs were related not to socioeconomic status but to ethnicity. Readiness beliefs about the importance of independence, social competence, nominal knowledge, and inferential skills were related in expected ways to children's skills. Practice or Policy: Infrequent inclusion of inferential skills among parents' readiness beliefs may not bode well for children. Informational programs for parents about the critical role of higher order cognitive skills and ways to promote them are needed.

A growing number of states have developed their own standards for early learning and what constitutes "school readiness," but less is known about what parents -- children's first teachers and a key force in their early development -- consider necessary skills for their children to succeed in kindergarten. This survey by researchers from the University of North Carolina, UCLA, and the University of Virginia found that while many parents recognize the value of nominal knowledge (knowing numbers and ABCs), most parents did not cite inferential knowledge (such as the ability to go beyond facts to make comparisons and draw conclusions) as an important part of early childhood learning. When children are able to make inferences, they are gaining a critical skill in understanding words, ideas and narrative progression -- all critical parts of building early literacy skills.

The survey also found that parents from ethnic minority and poor families were more likely to display what the paper's authors call "authoritarian" beliefs relating to a child's ability to behave and follow directions, instead of focusing on the child's autonomous development and ability to get along with other children. The researchers measured children's competencies in related areas and found that children from "authoritarian" families were more likely to have problems with applied problem solving.

More evidence for this relationship between parents' beliefs and children's performance came through in another part of their research too: The study looked at children whose parents placed high importance on nominal knowledge and found those children to have a greater knowledge of letters, numbers, and colors than children from families who placed less importance on those skills.

This research suggests that when it comes to school readiness, children are more likely to gain skills that their parents value. The researchers conclude that as more parents start to emphasize higher-order cognitive skills, "children are more likely to achieve in the domains that policymakers consider important preparation for the academic demands of the kindergarten classroom for early reading skills."