Academic School Readiness Research Articles

Construyendo en la Fuerza: Approaches to learning and school readiness gains in Latino children served by head start

Latino children are the fastest growing minority group in the United States and in order to best serve this population we need research to inform educators on specific cultural strengths that can be fostered and developed. Despite the known academic achievement gap between Latino children and their non-Latino peers, ecocultural strength based research efforts have identified domain general skills like social emotional skills and executive functioning as unique strengths of Latino children. This study used the FACES 2009 dataset to explore approaches to learning as another possible set of domain general skills that may be a strength for Latino children from low-income families. On average, Latino children had higher scores in approaches to learning in the fall and spring of the Head Start year. Additionally, being Latino significantly predicted gains across the Head Start year in approaches to learning (β = 0.153, p = 0.024) (i.e., predicting spring score, controlling for fall), accounting for a constellation of relevant covariates. Conversely, being Latino negatively predicted academic school readiness in the fall (β = −0.175, p = 0.021), yet positively predicted gains in academic school readiness across the year (β = 0.129, p = 0.017), all controlling for the same covariates. However, once approaches to learning is added to the model it became a significant predictor of gains in academic readiness (β = 0.132, p < 0.001), and being Latino no longer was (β = 0.084, p = 0.152). This pattern of results suggests that approaches to learning is a strength that Latino children bring to the early childhood classroom that mediates their gains in academic school readiness. Results lend support for including approaches to learning as an intentional focus in a strength based approach to educating Latino children that leverages their competencies to empower them in the classroom.

Preschool attendance and school readiness for children of immigrant mothers in the United States

We examined the associations between preschool attendance and academic school readiness at kindergarten entry among 5-year-old children of immigrant mothers in the United States using data from a US nationally representative sample (Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Birth Cohort, N = 1650). Comparing children who were in preschool (Head Start, prekindergarten, or other center-based preschool) to children being cared for exclusively at home, analyses using both ordinary least squares regressions with rich controls and with propensity score weighting consistently showed that attending preschool was associated with higher reading and math skills. Analyses focused on specific type of preschool revealed that children attending prekindergarten (but not Head Start and other center-based preschool) had higher reading and math skills than those in parental care. Analyses focused on hours of preschool attendance indicated that children’s reading skills benefited from attending more than 20 hours per week of Head Start or prekindergarten. Attending preschool, especially for full days, increases the school readiness of children of immigrants.

The Role of Authoritative and Authoritarian Parenting in the Early Academic Achievement of Latino Students.

Early academic achievement has been shown to predict high school completion, but there have been few studies of the predictors of early academic success focused on Latino students. Using longitudinal data from 750 Mexican and Dominican American families, this study examined a cultural model of parenting and early academic achievement. While Latino students were achieving in the average range as a whole, certain subgroups (e.g., Dominicans, boys) were at higher risk for underachievement. Results highlighted the protective role of authoritative parenting, which was associated with academic and social-emotional school readiness, both of which predicted higher achievement at the end of first grade. The role of respeto and authoritarian parenting practices in academic achievement at first grade differed between Mexican and Dominican American families. Findings advance understanding of early achievement and parenting among Latino families from a cultural perspective.

How African American Mothers from Urban, Low-Income Backgrounds Support Their Children’s Kindergarten Transition: Qualitative Findings

The transition to kindergarten is a critical milestone in children’s lives, with implications for academic and future life success. The demographic family/parental variables of residence, social class, and race have been associated with children’s adjustment to kindergarten. In particular, children growing up in families from urban, low-income African American backgrounds are at heighted risk for negative academic, cognitive, and socio-emotional outcomes as they transition to kindergarten. Relatively little inductive research exists on the kindergarten transition of this population and how families from urban, low-income African backgrounds positively support their children’s kindergarten adjustment. However, researchers using qualitative methods are increasingly examining the first-hand experiences of families from urban, low-income African American backgrounds to better understand family beliefs and practices that promote children’s successful kindergarten transition. Contributing to this gap in the literature, we utilized qualitative interviews informed by resilience theory to explore how 20 mothers from urban, low-income African American backgrounds facilitated their Head Start preschoolers’ transition to kindergarten. We found that, despite possessing parental/family risk factors associated with ineffective kindergarten transitions, mothers monitored and assessed their children’s academic and socio-emotional school readiness abilities, promoting readiness competencies while addressing readiness weaknesses. One of the ways that mothers supported children’s transition readiness was through one-on-one conversations with preschoolers. Our findings provide recommendations for effective home–school collaborations that support children’s successful kindergarten transition. Collaborating with engaged and motivated parents, Head Start can assist families and children prior to kindergarten and continue to serve as a link between families and children and elementary schools.

Coparenting Conflict and Academic Readiness in Children of Teen Mothers: Effortful Control as a Mediator

Children's exposure to coparenting conflict has important implications for their developmental functioning, yet limited work has focused on such processes in families with diverse structures or ethnically and culturally diverse backgrounds. This longitudinal study examined the processes by which Mexican-origin adolescent mothers' coparenting conflict with their 3-year-old children's grandmothers and biological fathers (N=133 families) were linked to children's academic and social skills at 5years of age, and whether children's effortful control at 4years of age mediated the link between coparenting conflict and indices of children's academic readiness. Findings revealed that adolescent mothers' coparenting conflict with their child's biological father was linked to indices of children's academic and social school readiness through children's effortful control among girls, but not boys, whereas conflict with grandmothers was directly linked to boys' and girls' social functioning 2years later. Findings offer information about different mechanisms by which multiple coparenting units in families of adolescent mothers are related to their children's outcomes, and this work has important implications for practitioners working with families of adolescent mothers.

Epilepsy, birth weight and academic school readiness in Canadian children: Data from the national longitudinal study of children and youth

PurposeBirth weight is an important indicator of prenatal/in-utero environment. Variations in birth weight have been reportedly associated with risks for cognitive problems. The National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY) dataset was explored to examine relationships between birth weight, academic school readiness and epilepsy. MethodsA population based sample of 32,900 children of the NLSCY were analyzed to examine associations between birth weight, and school readiness scores in 4–5-year-old children. Logistic and Linear regression was used to examine associations between having epilepsy and these outcomes. Gestation data was available on 19,867 children, full-term children represented 89.67% (gestation >259days), while 10.33% of children were premature (gestation <258days). There were 20 children with reported epilepsy in the sample. Effects of confounding variables (diabetes in pregnancy, smoking in pregnancy, high blood pressure during pregnancy, and gender of the infant) on birth weight and epilepsy were controlled using a separate structural equation model. ResultsLogistic regression analysis identified an association between epilepsy and lower birth weights, as well as an association between lower birth weight, having epilepsy and lower PPVT-R Scores. Model results show the relationship between low birth weight and epilepsy remains statistically significant even when controlling for the influence of afore mentioned confounding variables. ConclusionLow birth weight appears to be associated with both epilepsy and academic school readiness. The data suggest that an abnormal prenatal environment can influence both childhood onset of epilepsy and cognition. Additional studies with larger sample sizes are needed to verify this relationship in detail.

Pathways to School Readiness: Executive Functioning Predicts Academic and Social–Emotional Aspects of School Readiness

ABSTRACTThe current study specified the extent to which hot and cool aspects of executive functioning predicted academic and social‐emotional indicators of school readiness. It was unique in focusing on positive aspects of social–emotional readiness, rather than problem behaviors. One hundred four 3–5‐year‐old children completed tasks measuring executive functioning, social–emotional readiness, academic readiness, and vocabulary. As expected, age predicted executive functioning components and social–emotional readiness. Moreover, working memory and inhibitory control directly predicted academic readiness, whereas delay of gratification predicted social–emotional readiness. Working memory and inhibitory control predicted delay of gratification, consistent with the notion that simpler executive functions may set the stage for more complex executive functions. Interestingly, social–emotional readiness predicted academic readiness. These findings confirm that hot and cool aspects of executive functioning are related to social–emotional and academic school readiness.

Preschool and Academic School Readiness Among Young Children of Asian and Hispanic Immigrant Mothers

ABSTRACTPreschool is an important developmental context for children of immigrants that can help them succeed in later life. In this study, we examine the association between preschool and academic school readiness among young children of Asian or Hispanic immigrant mothers. A secondary data analysis was conducted using data (n ≈ 1,550) collected in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort. Results show that attending preschool (mostly prekindergarten or other center-based care) was associated with better academic school readiness at the year of participation among children of both Asian and Hispanic immigrant mothers; such beneficial associations were found at kindergarten entry among Asian children, but not Hispanic children. Furthermore, more-pronounced beneficial influences of preschool on academic school readiness were found at the year of participation among children of home language mothers in both groups, but such more-pronounced benefits were gone at kindergarten entry in both groups. These findings suggest that the differences between the two groups in maintaining the benefits from preschool may be associated with different home environments. Future research is needed to look specifically at the mechanisms of how attending preschool is related to academic school readiness among children of immigrants.

Interventions for Increasing Academic School Readiness of Young Children with Developmental Delays in Korea: A Systematic Review

Interventions for Increasing Academic School Readiness of Young Children with Developmental Delays in Korea: A Systematic Review

A population-based analysis of factors that predict early language and cognitive development

Readiness for school learning is an important predictor of subsequent educational achievement, which in turn predicts health and social outcomes into adulthood. This longitudinal study used population-based administrative data from multiple sectors to follow a cohort of children (n=8983) from the prenatal period to kindergarten to examine early childhood development factors associated with academic school readiness as measured on the language and cognitive development domain of the Early Development Instrument (EDI). Structural equation modelling was used to study the complex inter-relationships among the EDI scores and the explanatory variables, which included maternal prenatal health behaviors, child health at birth, family risk factors, and neighborhood socioeconomic status. Our findings suggest that when multiple influences on early childhood development are considered together, family risk factors are the key driver of academic school readiness, and family risk, in turn, is strongly influenced by neighborhood socioeconomic status.

Measuring the Impact of a Summer Pre-Kindergarten Program on Academic Gains and School Readiness: Success by Six!

Early intervention prior to kindergarten is an effective strategy in closing the gaps in pre-readiness skills and appropriate behavior which may occur because of disparity in socioeconomic status, parenting styles, and preschool experience. This current investigation was designed to determine if the pre-kindergarten intervention had an impact on the student success in kindergarten. At the end of the academic year, results reveal that the achievement gap for students who were academically delayed was diminished; no significant differences exist between academically delayed students relative to students not identified as academically delayed. Results reveal that the impact of socioeconomic status was also diminished for participants in the summer pre-kindergarten program. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.11591/ijere.v3i1.5577

Preschool center care quality effects on academic achievement: An instrumental variables analysis.

Much of child care research has focused on the effects of the quality of care in early childhood settings on children's school readiness skills. Although researchers increased the statistical rigor of their approaches over the past 15 years, researchers' ability to draw causal inferences has been limited because the studies are based on nonexperimental designs. The purpose of the present study was to demonstrate how an instrumental variables approach can be used to estimate causal impacts of preschool center care quality on children's academic achievement when applied to a study in which preschool curricula were randomly assigned across multiple sites. We used data from the Preschool Curriculum Evaluation Research Initiative (PCER; n = 2,700), in which classrooms or preschools were randomly assigned to that grantee's treatment curriculum or "business as usual" conditions in 18 research sites. Using this method, we demonstrate how developmental researchers can exploit the random-assignment designs of multisite studies to investigate characteristics of programs, such as preschool center care quality, that cannot be randomly assigned and their impacts on children's development. We found that the quality of preschool care received by children has significant, albeit modest, effects on children's academic school readiness, with effect sizes of .03 to .14 standard deviation increases in academic achievement associated with a 1 standard deviation increase in quality. Applications and potential policy implications of this method are discussed.

Assessment of the Academic Performance of the University Grade School Preschoolers, 2012-2013 University of Bohol, Tagbilaran City

Pre-elementary Education caters to distinct educational programs designed for ages three to six as preparation for formal primary education. This study aimed to assess the school readiness of its current pre-elementary graders and validate how effective the implementation of its curriculum is. The study is descriptive by nature as it sought to describe the present status of the incoming grade 1 pupil of UB, University Grade School. To ensure reliability and validity in the measurements, the researcher made use of the standard competencies for the school readiness assessment from the Department of Education and formulated questions based on those skills and competencies. One-sample t-test of significant difference – for comparing the 1st and 2nd readiness assessment of the respondents and Pearson Product-moment of Correlation as statistical treatments for testing the possible correlation between the academic performance and the readiness assessment scores of the respondents. The results show a higher percentage of respondents are under proficient and advanced levels of proficiency, Pearson r shows that the academic performance and school readiness assessment results were correlated and that the first and second readiness assessment had no significant difference. It can be inferred that the assessment tool, as well as the process of conducting the test, were very reliable for it shows consistent results.

Head Start, Prekindergarten, and Academic School Readiness: A Comparison Among Regions in the United States

ABSTRACT Child care programs (including Head Start, prekindergarten [pre-K], and other center-based care) can differ, with patterns of use based on their location. Yet little research has examined how Head Start and pre-K programs affect children's academic school readiness, including vocabulary and reading skills at school entry, in the South as compared to other regions. To examine this further, secondary data (n = 2,803) collected in the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study were examined. Overall findings suggest, regardless of region, that Head Start and pre-K participants had higher academic skills at school entry than did their counterparts. In addition, when Head Start was compared to other center-based care and pre-K was compared to other care arrangements, both had larger effects on improving academic skills in the South compared with in other regions. These findings imply that Head Start and pre-K programs should target children who otherwise would receive nonparental non-center-based care. Future research should focus on why the effects of Head Start and pre-K vary between the South and other regions.

Goodness of Fit Between Children and Classrooms: Effects of Child Temperament and Preschool Classroom Quality on Achievement Trajectories

Research Findings: The purpose of this study was to examine whether child temperament differentially predicted academic school readiness depending on the quality of classroom interactions for 179 Head Start preschoolers. Teachers rated children's temperament as overcontrolled, resilient, or undercontrolled in the fall and reported on children's language/literacy and math skills continuously throughout the year. Observations of classroom emotional and instructional support were conducted in the spring. Results from multilevel models indicated that overcontrolled children (compared to resilient children) made greater math gains in classrooms with higher instructional support, whereas a trend-level effect suggested that undercontrolled children (compared to resilient children) made lower math gains in classrooms with lower emotional support. Results also showed that resilient children's gains in language/literacy were more positively associated with high emotional support than were the scores of overcontrolled children. Practice or Policy: This study adds to prior findings suggesting that overcontrolled and undercontrolled children need special attention in the preschool classroom. Teachers and administrators may want to carefully consider the effect that classroom interactions and instructional techniques have on individual children and attempt to tailor instruction to meet the individual needs of children within classrooms.

African-American Parenting Characteristics and Their Association With Children’s Cognitive and Academic School Readiness

When compared to risk factors, less is known about family characteristics that enhance developmental outcomes among low-income African-American children. The current study explored elements of African-American parenting and their relationship to early childhood academic readiness. Using a predominantly low-income African-American subsample from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care (N = 105), this investigation examined associations between three maternal factors–beliefs, confidence, and warmth and children’s cognitive and early academic development. We hypothesized that the children of African-American parents who reported more traditional authoritarian beliefs, maternal confidence, and maternal warmth would display higher levels of cognitive development and achievement at school entry. Multiple regression analysis indicated that maternal confidence and warmth were predictive of cognitive development and achievement. Traditional beliefs were found to be inversely related to academic readiness. Together, the predictive variables explained 36% of the variation in cognitive functioning.

Cognitive Flexibility, Approaches to Learning, and Academic School Readiness in Head Start Preschool Children

Research Findings: The purpose of this study was to examine whether approaches to learning significantly mediated relations between cognitive flexibility (a component of executive functions) and school readiness in Head Start preschoolers. A total of 191 children from 22 Head Start classrooms were directly assessed on cognitive flexibility and school readiness. In addition, teachers rated children's approaches to learning in 3 domains (competence motivation, attention/persistence, and attitude toward learning) using the Preschool Learning Behaviors Scale (P. A. McDermott, L. F. Green, J. M. Francis, & D. H. Stott, 2000). Results of multilevel mediation analyses revealed that 1 component of approaches to learning—attention/persistence—significantly mediated the relation between cognitive flexibility and school readiness. These results suggest that part of the effect of cognitive flexibility on school readiness may be related to cognitive flexibility supporting children's approaches to learning. Practice or Policy: This information may be useful to researchers and practitioners attempting to improve school readiness by improving children's cognitive flexibility. The findings suggest, at a very preliminary level, that improvements to children's cognitive flexibility may lead to improved approaches to learning as well as academic school readiness. This information is important to consider as preschool programs increasingly target children's executive functions.

When fathers’ supportiveness matters most: Maternal and paternal parenting and children’s school readiness.

Data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N = 723) were used to test whether the effects of fathers' supportive parenting on children's school readiness are greater when mothers are least supportive. We distinguished between academic and social dimensions of school readiness. Mothers' and fathers' parenting was assessed in dyadic parent-child videotaped sessions during the preschool period. Results for both academic and social outcomes indicated that fathers' supportiveness had larger benefits for children at lower levels of mothers' supportiveness. In fact, fathers' supportiveness was associated with children's school readiness only when mothers scored average or below on supportiveness. Mothers' supportiveness was similarly associated with children's social school readiness when fathers scored average or below on supportiveness. However, mothers' supportiveness was associated with children's academic school readiness even when fathers scored above average on supportiveness. The results suggest that fathers may influence child development most as potential buffers against unsupportive mother parenting. Further research is needed to replicate these analyses in a less socioeconomically advantaged sample.

The development of cognitive skills and gains in academic school readiness for children from low-income families.

This study examined developmental associations between growth in domain-general cognitive processes (working memory and attention control) and growth in domain-specific skills (emergent literacy and numeracy) across the pre-kindergarten year, and their relative contributions to kindergarten reading and math achievement. One hundred sixty-four Head Start children (44% African American or Latino; 57% female) were followed longitudinally. Path analyses revealed that working memory and attention control predicted growth in emergent literacy and numeracy skills during the pre-kindergarten year, and furthermore, that growth in these domain-general cognitive skills made unique contributions to the prediction of kindergarten math and reading achievement, controlling for growth in domain-specific skills. These findings extend research highlighting the importance of working memory and attention control for academic learning, demonstrating the effects in early childhood, prior to school entry. We discuss the implications of these findings for pre-kindergarten programs, particularly those designed to reduce the school readiness gaps associated with socio-economic disadvantage.

Roots of assimilation

This study examines the relationship between children's generational status and their cognitive and social school readiness, paying particular attention to racial/ethnic and national origin differences. This relationship is examined using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998—99 (ECLS-K). Results indicate that, while children of foreign-born mothers tend to have lower levels of school readiness than children of native-born mothers, this disparity is largely due to differences in family context characteristics. After controlling for an array of family background variables, non-Hispanic black, Asian, Mexican, Puerto Rican and other Hispanic children of foreign-born mothers are found to have similar levels of academic school readiness to co-ethnic children of American-born mothers. Analyses also indicate that a substantial portion of the school readiness gaps between minority children of foreign-born mothers and non-Hispanic white children of American-born mothers can be explained by family background differences. The study includes a discussion of the implications for assimilation theory and the study of early educational inequality.