Children who start kindergarten equipped with key math, language, literacy, and social skills are considered ‘kindergarten ready’ and tend to have positive academic trajectories into their future (e.g. McClelland, Acock, Piccinin, Rhea, & Stallings, 2013). Studies of kindergarten readiness have typically focused on urban and suburban children, despite evidence that suggests that rural children tend to perform worse on measures of academic achievement (e.g. Miller & Votruba-Drzal, 2013).
Authors: Laura M. Justice, EHE Distinguished Professor, Ohio State University, Hui Jiang, Senior Research Scientist, Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy, Kiren S. Khan, Assistant Professor, Rhodes College, Jaclyn M. Dynia, Senior Research Scientist, Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy
Original Citation: Justice, L.M., Jiang, H., Khan, K.S., & Dynia, J.M. (2017). Kindergarten readiness profiles of rural, Appalachian children from low-income households. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 50, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2017.02.004
Background: Children who start kindergarten equipped with key math, language, literacy, and social skills are considered ‘kindergarten ready’ and tend to have positive academic trajectories into their future (e.g. McClelland, Acock, Piccinin, Rhea, & Stallings, 2013). Studies of kindergarten readiness have typically focused on urban and suburban children, despite evidence that suggests that rural children tend to perform worse on measures of academic achievement (e.g. Miller & Votruba-Drzal, 2013). This study had two goals: 1) To create profiles of kindergarten readiness among rural Appalachian children from low-income households based on their math, language, literacy, and social skills and learning behaviors; and 2) To determine whether these kindergarten readiness produced are associated with a child’s gender, race, age, household income, maternal education, and pre-K classroom quality.
Sample: In total, 383 children entering kindergarten from small, rural Appalachian communities in two states participated in the study. Most of the children (94%) were white, from families whose annual income was less than $35,000 (71%), and had mothers whose highest degree was a high school diploma (70%). Children’s language, literacy, math, social skills, and learning behaviors were measured when they entered kindergarten. Parents completed a survey on their basic demographic information and researchers observed and rated the children’s pre-K quality.
Results: Researchers identified four distinct categories of children based on their kindergarten readiness: 1) global risk (low scores in all areas); 2) academic risk (below average scores in academic skills); 3) socio-behavioral risk (below average scores in social skills and learning behaviors); and 4) ready (above average scores in all areas).
Children whose mothers had lower education levels were more likely to be classified as global risk. Boys were more likely to be classified as socio-behavioral risk. White children and children from higher-income families were more likely to be ready. Even when taking these other factors into account, children with better pre-K quality were more likely to be ready for kindergarten.
Discussion: This study suggests that there are complex patterns of kindergarten readiness for rural Appalachian children from low-income families. Children who are ready for kindergarten academically may not be ready socially, or vice versa. Academic and social skills are both important for understanding kindergarten readiness, and children may benefit from early interventions targeting social skills in particular. Even among very low-income populations, children most at-risk (global risk) tend to be non-white, boys, and from families with lower household income and lower maternal education. Further, children’s pre-K classroom quality appears to be very important for predicting their kindergarten readiness. Finally, a significant number of low-income children from rural Appalachia appear to be at-risk. Overall, these results suggest the need for further research into other similar populations, and supports continued efforts to improve pre-K access and quality for our nation’s most socioeconomically disadvantaged communities.
References:
- McClelland, M. M., Acock, A. C., Piccinin, A., Rhea, S. A., & Stallings, M. C. (2013). Relations between preschool attention span-persistence and age 25 educational outcomes. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 28(2), 314-324.
- Miller, P., & Votruba-Drzal, E. (2013). Early academic skills and childhood experiences across the urban-rural continuum. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 28(2), 234-248.