Parents' and Teachers' Beliefs About Kindergarten Readiness Skills

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify the beliefs of teachers and parents as to the skills necessary to insure that a child enters school ready to learn. Data was gathered using the CARES survey developed by Chaya Piotrkowski and colleagues (2001) that was given to parents and teachers in English and Spanish at an educational child care program in a Midwestern city. This program is an early learning center that provides an educational environment for children who come from families that are 100% or more of poverty and many of whom have the additional risk factor for school challenges by speaking only Spanish. The research goal for this study was to describe similarities and differences between the school readiness beliefs of teachers and low-income parents from the same educational program for young children. Parents and teachers only agreed on one item that both considered essential to success in school which was that a child is rested, well nourished and has good health care. Parent responses did not match the beliefs of parents a decade ago when several surveys given to parents showed that parents believed cognitive skills were the most important skills necessary for school success. For parents in this survey the mean for the social-emotional subscale was the highest and the understanding of school subscale had the second highest mean. The mean for the physical health and motor development subscale was the highest for teachers with the independence subscale second. There were many discrepancies between the beliefs of parents and teachers when rating the importance of the individual items. These discrepancies provide a starting point for discussion about expectations for children, teachers, parents, and the school curriculum.