The Relationship Between Preschool Children's School Readiness, Social-Emotional Competence and Student-Teacher Relationships

Abstract

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PRESCHOOL CHILDREN'S SCHOOL READINESS, SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL COMPETENCE AND STUDENT-TEACHER RELATIONSHIPS By Badiyyah I. Waajid, Ph.D. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Conlmonwealth University, 2005 Director: Jill E. Fox, Ph.D., School of Education The purpose of this study was to explore the relations between preschool children's school readiness, young children's social emotional development, and teacher-student relationships. Of interest, was whether social-emotional competence and teacher-student relationships made unique contributions to young children school readiness. Participants were 58 three and four year old children (3 1 boys and 27 girls) who attended 3 inner-city preschool programs. Thirty-five percent of the sample was African American, with the remainder being Caucasian, Asian, or Hispanic. Social-emotional and teacher-student relationship measures collected during the year were associated with school readiness at year's end. Children's emotional competence was assessed using child interviews. Social competence and teacher-student relationships were measured using teacher surveys. After controlling for age, bivariate correlation revealed that emotional competence and social competence were positively related to one another. Emotional competence and close teacher-student relationships were related to school readiness. Regression analyses showed that emotional competence added to the prediction of school readiness after controlling for age. Children more ready for school, were more emotionally competent. Children having close relationships with preschool teachers were also more emotionally