Children's Academic Readiness Research Articles

Differential associations between extracurricular participation and Chinese children's academic readiness: Preschool teacher–child interactions as a moderator

Participation in organized extracurricular activities (EAs) is becoming increasingly prevalent among young children in China and worldwide. As an important microsystem of child development, EA involvement is likely to interact with other microsystems in relation to child outcomes. The current study focused on the interaction between EA participation and the quality of preschool education, specifically the quality of teacher–child interactions, in relation to children's academic readiness. This study included 443 Chinese preschoolers (Mage = 5.08 years) from 49 preschool classrooms. Parents reported children's EA participation. Preschool teacher–child interactions were assessed using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System. Children's academic readiness was measured using one-on-one tasks. The results showed that although EA participation was not related to child academic readiness, the quality of preschool teacher–child interactions (i.e., emotional support and instructional support) moderated the association between EA participation and children's academic readiness (the slope variance reduction was between 12.7% and 17.5%). Specifically, the significant associations found suggest that EA participation could have a small compensatory effect on academic readiness for children experiencing very low emotional support in preschool; however, EA participation had a small negative association with academic readiness when children were already exposed to high emotional or instructional support in preschool. The findings highlight that EA involvement may not always produce beneficial outcomes in young children and that exposing children to high-quality classroom interactions in preschool is a key to fostering positive development.

Fathers’ perceived co-parenting and children's academic readiness among Chinese preschoolers: Longitudinal pathways through parenting and behavioral regulation

Co-parenting quality has frequently been linked to young children's social–emotional functioning, but limited research has focused on the relationship between co-parenting and children's early academic skills, or the underlying mechanisms through which co-parenting influences children's development. Using data collected from urban China, the present study examined how fathers’ perceptions of co-parenting quality was related to their preschool-aged children's academic readiness (i.e., receptive vocabulary, reading, early math; N = 336), and whether father's parenting practices and children's behavioral regulation mediated the link between co-parenting quality and child outcomes. Findings suggested that the relation between co-parenting quality and children's academic readiness was mediated by children's behavioral regulation. However, fathers’ parenting practices were not related to children's academic readiness, nor did fathers’ parenting practices mediate the relations between co-parenting and child outcomes. The present findings were consistent between boys and girls. That is, the mediating process did not differ as a function of child gender. The study highlights the importance of fostering a quality co-parenting relationship to better support children's development of behavioral regulation and academic readiness.

Latina mothers' mental health and children's academic readiness: Moderation by maternal education

We tested a mediated-moderation model examining the association between Latina mothers' parenting stress and depression and children's academic skills approximately 4 years later, prior to kindergarten entry, whether mothers' positive parenting behaviors and children's self-regulation mediated those associations, and whether the mediated associations varied based on mothers' education. Participants were 714 low-income Latina mothers (M age at enrollment = 24 years; 78% Mexican; 59% foreign-born) and children (53% boys). Data were gathered across four time points: when the children were approximately 14, 24, and 36 months of age, and prior to kindergarten entry. Results revealed an inverse association between mothers' parenting stress and depression and children's academic skills mediated via parenting behaviors but only at certain maternal education levels. The findings highlight family processes by which Latina mothers who experience parenting stress and depression may adversely impact children's academic readiness for kindergarten, and how maternal education may buffer that association.

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.

Social and Emotional Learning in Schools: From Programs to Strategies and commentaries

Social and Emotional Learning in Schools: From Programs to Strategies and commentaries

How home gets to school: Parental control strategies predict children's school readiness

At-risk families’ control style (autonomy support and coercive control) was examined in relation to children's school readiness; children's social skills and mastery motivation were hypothesized mediating variables. In two different, low-income samples from diverse ethnic backgrounds, one preschool sample recruited from Head Start (N = 199) and a school transition sample composed of children entering elementary school (N = 344), parental control styles were related to children's academic readiness modestly but significantly in the preschool sample and weakly in the school transition sample. Children's social skills and mastery motivation skills (persistence and goal orientation) were significantly related to the academic measures of school readiness, and fully mediated the association between parents’ use of coercive behavioral control and academic readiness. Such mediation could not be tested for parental support of children's autonomy. The results indicate that a developmental cascade exists between parental control strategies and academic indices of school readiness, emphasizing the importance of family context models of school readiness. Furthermore, strong correlations between the domains of school readiness were found in both samples, reinforcing calls for a multidimensional approach to supporting school readiness in early childhood education programs.

Maternal Self-Efficacy: Does It Explain School Involvement?

ABSTRACT Using a predominantly African American Head Start sample, this study examined whether maternal self-efficacy moderated the relationships between parent involvement (comfort and endorsement of school, school-based involvement, and parent-teacher contact) and children's academic readiness, approaches to learning, and socioemotional development. Mothers rated themselves as highly efficacious, whereas teachers rated mothers as low in their involvement in their children's learning. Regression analyses indicated that children benefited when their highly efficacious mothers were highly involved in school events, whereas when less efficacious mothers were less involved in the school setting, their children were rated as more advanced in their school readiness skills. The findings from this study provide evidence of the importance of self-efficacy and involvement in children's school readiness. In addition, the results emphasize the need to examine activities occurring in the home when mothers may not be ...

An evaluation of curriculum, setting, and mentoring on the performance of children enrolled in pre-kindergarten

An alarming number of American pre-school children lack sufficient language and literacy skills to succeed in kindergarten. The type of curriculum that is available within pre-kindergarten settings can impact children's academic readiness. This work presents results from an evaluation of two language and literacy curricula (i.e., Let's Begin with the Letter People and Doors to Discovery) from a random assignment study that occurred within three settings (i.e., Head Start, Title 1, and universal pre-kindergarten) and included a control group. The design included a mentoring and non- mentoring condition that was balanced across sites in either curriculum condition. A pre and post-test design was utilized in the analyses, with children (n = 603) tested before the intervention and at the end of the year. Multilevel growth curve modeling, where the child outcomes (dependent measures) are modeled as a function of the child's level of performance and rate of growth between pre and post-testing, was used for all analyses. Results indicated that in many key language/literacy areas, the skills of children in classrooms using either one of the target curricula grew at greater rates than children in control classrooms. This was especially true in the Head Start programs. The findings from this study indicate that at-risk children can benefit from a well-specified curriculum. Additionally, findings demonstrate that a well-detailed curriculum appeared to be less important for children from higher income families. The impact of mentoring was less clear and seemed dependent on the type of skill being measured and type of program.

Effects of a Parent-Implemented Intervention on the Academic Readiness Skills of Five Puerto Rican Kindergarten Students in an Urban School

Despite strong research support for the benefits of parent involvement, Hispanic parents typically are less involved with their children's education and perceive more barriers to involvement than many other ethnic groups. Although this low level of involvement has been interpreted by some as reflecting a lack of caring for their children's education, an alternative explanation may be simply that Hispanic parents have limited knowledge of how to help their children. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a parent-implemented academic drill intervention on Puerto Rican children's academic readiness skills. Participants were five individual Puerto Rican parents and their kindergarten children identified by the teacher as having difficulty learning the letters of the alphabet. Results showed that all the parents, regardless of their English proficiency or educational level, were able to consistently implement the drill intervention. In addition, all five children made marked improvements on identifying letters with the parent-implemented intervention.

The Effects of Gender, at-Risk Status, and Number of Years in Preschool on Children's Academic Readiness

While there has been a number of studies examining the effects of preschool as intervention for children of economic poverty and special needs children, there has not been research examining the effects of preschool education for the general population of children. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of years of preschool, gender, and at-risk status on children's readiness for first grade. 4539 children participated in the study. 104 children started public school at three-years-old (K3), 1234started school at age four (K4) and 3201 started at age five. At-risk status was determined using the Cooperative Preschool Inventory (Caldwell, 1974) and first grade readiness was determined using the Metropolitan Readiness Test (MRT; Nurss & McGauvran, 1974). Results of the analyses indicated that children who entered the public school preschool program at K3 or K4 scored significantly higher on the MRT than children who entered at K5. Additionally, the findings indicated that if children started at K3, by the end of kindergarten there was no difference between the at-risk and not-at-risk children's scores on the MRT. This was not true for the K4 or K5 groups. The discussion focuses on two issues. First, the relationship between the benefits of preschool and continuity of programs, and second, that "regular" preschool education may serve as intervention for those children who require it, if attended long enough.