School Readiness

 

…reaching the school readiness goal will require a twofold strategy: one part focused on supporting families in their efforts to help their children get ready for school, and the second on helping the schools to be responsive to the wide range of developmental levels, backgrounds, experiences, and needs children bring to school with them.      Katz, 1991

 

 

S

chools must be organized around the belief that children are always ready to be nurtured and accepted, to learn, and to be successful. Children’s early success in school is the responsibility of parents, communities and schools. Neither schools alone, nor parents alone, nor communities alone can produce students who meet high standards. Positive home and preschool environments and responsive schools are necessary to assure that all children enter school ready to learn and stay that way.

 

Concerns about school readiness in our country arise from a set of socially constructed notions about going to school and not about characteristics inherent in the child (Graue, 1993). In other words, perspectives about readiness have their sources in the particular belief systems parents and educators have about child development and the functions of schooling. Delayed kindergarten entrance results when parents and educators worry that the increasing curricular expectations in the kindergarten will compromise children’s prospects for success.

 

Inequities in the early experiences of children who are poor, who are learning English as a second language, and who otherwise do not have the support for their early development typically available to more affluent groups, are exaggerated when such children are the youngest in a class group. Bringing school entrance ages into harmony with compulsory attendance age would assist in reducing these differences and provide all children with more equitable opportunity for early success in school.

 

Parents continue to focus their worries about school readiness on younger males (Bellisimo, Sacks, & Mergendoller, 1995). This may be explained by other studies that show that girls are more likely to demonstrate literacy skills thought to lead to early achievement (knowing letter names) and small motor skills (buttoning own clothes) earlier than boys (Zill, Collins, West, & Hausken, 1995). Other research on both social adjustment of younger children and on academic and physical skills do not show differences significant enough to warrant holding children back (Spitzer, Cupp, & Parke, 1995).

 

A more productive way to think about readiness is to shift thinking from “Are they ready to enter?” to “What must we do to make sure all children can be successful?” This perspective places responsibilities on adults—parents, educators, and policy-makers—to shape the early home and community environment to support children’s development and learning.

 

The National Education Goals Panel has provided a comprehensive framework to think about the aspects of children’s early development that must be in place to assure success in school. Specific academic skills often thought to be prerequisites for school success can easily be learned by children whose needs in five areas have been met. The areas are: 1) Health and physical well being; 2) Social and emotional well being; 3) Approaches to learning; 4) Language development; and 5) General knowledge about the world around them (Kagan, Moore, & Bredekamp, 1995).

 

Schools can play a major role promoting learning readiness through policies and strategies designed to improve learning climates for young children from preschool through the primary grades.

Ready schools:

§       Smooth the transition between home and school

§       Strive for continuity between early care and education programs and elementary schools

§       Help children learn and make sense of their complex and exciting world

§       Are committed to the success of every child

§       Are committed to the success of every teacher and every adult who interacts with children during the school day

§       Introduce or expand approaches that have been shown to raise achievement

§       Are learning organizations that alter practices and programs if they do not benefit children

§       Serve children in communities

§       Take responsibilities for results

§       Have strong leadership

           (Shore, 1998).

 

References

 

Bellissimo, Y., Sacks, C.H., & Mergendoller, J.R. (1995). Changes over time in kindergarten holding out: Parent and school contexts. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 10(2), 205-222.

Graue, M.E. (1993). Ready for what?: Constructing meanings of readiness for kindergarten. Albany, NY: State University of New York.

Kagan, S.L., Moore, E., & Bredekamp, S. (Eds.). (1995). Reconsidering children’s early development and learning: Toward common views and vocabulary. Goal 1 technical planning group report #95-03. Washington, DC: U. S. Government Printing Office.

Katz, L.G. (1991). Readiness: Children and schools. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 330 495).

Shore, R. (1998). Ready schools. Goal 1 ready schools resource group (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 416 582).

Zill, N., Colling, M. West, J., & Hausken, E. (1995). Approaching kindergarten: A look at preschoolers in the United States. Young Children 51(1), 35-38.