Conservación ex situ

Research suggests that school readiness is socially constructed across multiple contexts. This chapter examines meaning making and conceptualization of school readiness across home and school ecological contexts. These findings highlight connections and disconnections between educators’ and African American caregivers’ views of school readiness. The following are presented: (1) school readiness categories and (2) school readiness processes. Eight

categories of skills and competencies were identified from participants’ discussions of what school readiness entailed. Variations within and across educators’ and parents’ conceptions of school readiness suggested that program type and social class ha ve the potential to confer advantages and disadvantages to children upon entering kindergarten. The language primary caregivers used to define school readiness uniquely referenced it as a process and a mundane feature of childhood. Special attention is given to this finding in the second section of this chapter.

School Readiness Categories

Categories of what children need to know prior to kindergarten were not easily discerned because no two descriptions were identical. What school readiness meant and what school readiness entailed were intertwined and interrelated. Definitions of school readiness and related skills were multifaceted and multidimensional. The categories were often embedded within participants’ discussion of school readiness and transitioning into kindergarten. Despite wide ranging responses, analyses revealed common categories of school readiness skills, concepts, and competencies. Participants’ identifications of school readiness skills and competencies were consonant with those identified by existing literature. I drew upon Barbarin et al.’s (2008) clusters and descriptions of school readiness categories to organize these data. Specific skills,

concepts, and competencies identified by study participants were closely aligned with each of these eight categories: (1) general knowledge; (2) nominal knowledge; (3) language/early

literacy; (4) inferential reasoning; (5) social competency; (6) independence; (7) self-regulation of behavior; (8) motor skills. The physical health category was emergent from these data and combined with motors skills. Also emergent were the skills, concepts, and competencies provided herein.

Tables 5-1 and 5-2 identify and describe the school readiness categories, emergent skills and concepts included in each category, and the alignment of each category with educator and parent subgroups. Similarities and differences between educators’ and parents’ views suggest that program type and social class were related to the degree of connection and disconnection across ecological contexts.

General Knowledge

Knowledge of general information was specifically stated as important for children to learn prior to entering kindergarten by several educators and parents. This category refers to a child’s knowledge of “information that the child needs for problem solving, self- identification, and handling situations when away from home and parents” (Barbarin et al., 2008, p. 684). Emergent from these data were children knowing: their names, family members’ names, addresses, phone numbers, and the ability to stay safe without parental supervision.

Educators

Several educators included general knowledge in their conceptions of school readiness and corresponding concepts considered important to learn prior to transitioning into

kindergarten. Within this subgroup, preschool teachers and administrators, particularly those working independent of the school district in community programs highlighted skills within this

category as key. At the kindergarten level, general knowledge concepts were not typically included in their responses, though there was one exception.

Preschool. General knowledge was highlighted most commonly by preschool personnel.

Administrators and teachers working in daycare and learning centers in the Middleton

community directly stated the importance of children learning personal information before the first day of kindergarten. For instance, Faith, an owner and director of Sweetie Pie Learning Center said, “They [children] need to know their names, their addresses, they need to know their parents names….” before entering kindergarten. Katie, a preschool teacher at a local daycare, stated that, in addition to counting, children need to know personal information about themselves and their families. She stated:

First and last name is definitely important, their age, their birthday, their home phone number, addresses, important information like that. Their mom and dad[‘s] name.

According to Katie, general knowledge was considered “important information” to learn prior to entering kindergarten. Bridget, also a teacher at the same daycare, contended that knowing general information was important for helping children transition into kindergarten safely:

I think another good thing is the address, the phone number, the parent’s name is another one and they need to know their address just in case, hoping and pray[ing] nobody get[s] lost....It’s also good to know their address and phone number.

General information emerged as a valuable resource for children to have as they navigate away from home without parental supervision. Bridget’s statement suggests the danger of getting “lost” could be buffered when children ha ve general knowledge.

Though general information was not typically cited among kindergarten level educators, Jackie, a first year kindergarten teacher in the district, explained that when children do not have basic general knowledge of themselves and others, this can limit their ability to learn in school. She stated:

I think that there are some basic things that children need to learn before coming to kindergarten, such as how to write their name, they need to know their parent’s name, where they live….[Not having] some of those basic skills would impede them from learning; so they should have those.

As a novice teacher, Jackie noted that general knowledge was required at a basic level upon entering kindergarten. She noted that having general knowledge could ease children’s transition into school learning. On the other hand, not having these “basics skills” could adversely impact their performance overall.

Possessing general knowledge of self and personal information was considered important, particularly among community preschool teachers and administrators. General knowledge was noted not only because it was a “basic” foundation for early learning, but also as a means of keeping children safe as they transitioned from home into school.

Parents

The theme of “the basics” emerged among parents as central to school readiness and important for children to learn prior to kindergarten. One component of the “basics” was being able to state personal information such as names, names of family members, and addresses. General knowledge was identified as “basic” information. This category appeared in parents’ responses across social class subgroups except among a subgroup of middle class mothers whose children attended private preschool.

Middle-income. A few middle-class parents pinpointed general knowledge as important.

For example, Nicki, a middle-class mother of two preschoolers, said that children need to know “Their name. Their parents name. Know their birthday, their phone number” in preparation for kindergarten. Tina contended that school readiness means being academically and personally aware. She said in addition to academic knowledge:

They need to know how to write their names. They need to know their phone number, they need to know their address. Those are some things I think kids going into

kindergarten need to know.

General knowledge was included in Nicki’s and Tina’s lists of concepts they considered important to know prior to kindergarten. Yet, this category was not stressed as commonly among middle-class parents as it was among poor and working-class ones.

Low-income. Compared to other social class subgroups, poor and working-class mothers

more often described general information as important for children to learn before transitioning into kindergarten. For example, Niecey, a poor parent, noted that the best way for parents to prepare their children for school is to teach them their personal information. She said:

I think the best way is, if the parents ain’t working, that they can stay at home and teach they kids like how to spell they name, make sure they know how old they is, they address, phone numbers, most important stuff like that.

Additionally, Francis, a working-class caregiver, pointed out that, at the least, children need to be able to recite, spell and write some of this personal information. She said, “They need to know how to write their name. They need to know how to spell their name, you know. And a lot of them, they don’t know how to do that.”

Parent data also suggested that having general knowledge is important for keeping children safe from danger as they transition into kindergarten. In fact, working class and poor parents identified safety as a component of school readiness. For instance, in addition to academic preparation, Bonnie’s comment suggests that she is preparing her child for kindergarten with safety in mind. She noted:

Well, we’ve already accomplished her being able to write her name. And she is able to count to fifteen by herself. I’ve prepared her or have been trying to get her ready as far as teaching her how to write her address and be able to say it just in case she’s lost or

Additionally, Niecey suggested that having knowledge of self can limit the chance that her child would be abducted by a stranger. She stated:

I think it’s important for them to learn, by them being kids, they gotta know who is who. Like she know mother, father, sisters, aunts. I just don’t think she will go with a stranger, but you know some strangers be trying to pull kids.

Similarly, Grace talked to her preschooler about strangers in preparation for the transition into kindergarten. She said:

She know she can catch a bus, she knows, I tell her, you know, be mindful, be careful about strangers. [I] had the stranger talk with her. And if she’s uncomfortable, then to [go] to a teacher or elder or somebody who she can trust. And always let me know what’s going on regardless, even if she thinks it’s little or something.

General knowledge emerged among parents as vital preparation for school. As children transitioned into kindergarten, middle class and particularly poor and working-class parents expressed knowing personal information about self and family as important. Some participants’ rationalizations of this preparation centered on providing children with the skills they needed to be safe away from home and in the presence of “s trangers.”

Connections and Disconnections

Community preschool programs and teachers were more likely to describe general knowledge as important to learn prior to kindergarten. Middle- and working-class and poor parents’ inclusion of general knowledge in their descriptions of school readiness was a point of connection between these home contexts and community preschools. Yet, because kindergarten educator responses rarely included general knowledge this suggests some disconnections

between kindergarten level educators and preschool educators, middle-class, working-class, and poor parents.

Nominal Knowledge and Numeracy

Nominal knowledge entails “possession of information that makes it possible to name or label objects in the environment.” Because they typically emerged in concert, I combined nominal knowledge and numeracy, which refers to “beginning skills in mathematics.” These categories were prominently referenced and also were considered a component of children knowing “the basics” in this study. Emergent and listed in order of most often cited were: identify and recite the alphabet; identify numbers and count; identify colors; and identify shapes and objects. These concepts were generally described by participants as pre-academic or

academic components of school readiness.

Educators

Educators acknowledged a shift in early childhood education that resulted in increased focus on “academics” in kindergarten. Consequently, some noted the importance of ensuring children possessed certain knowledge and were exposed to pre-academic concepts prior to entering school. Having some prior knowledge of the alphabet/letters and numbers/counting was considered important to the majority of educators across program type.

Preschool. Preschool teachers considered nominal knowledge as essential for

kindergarten. For instance, Annette, an experienced daycare teacher, described some of the pre- academic concepts children need to learn prior to entering kindergarten. She said, “There’s things that they need to know as far as their letters, their numbers, as far as writing their letters, their numbers, as far as recognizing their name.” Preschool educators’ conceptions of school readiness centered upon preschool-aged children’s abilities to meet and/or exceed kindergarten expectations for nominal skills. Isabelle, a new preschool teacher at a learning center in the community, stated:

The readiness, I figure it means like, when they go to kindergarten I guess the

kindergarten teachers are expecting them to recognize their names and know their letters and just like be aware of things I guess. Like numbers and days and stuff.

Faith, an owner and operator of a learning center, also focused on preparing preschool-aged children for kindergarten expectations:

To me it [school readiness] means taking them one step beyond what is expected…..If they’re going to kindergarten and the kindergarten [curriculum] says that they need to know their ABC’s and they need 1-20, then that means we [learning center staff] need to take them to recognizing your ABC’s, knowing what their letters are going to sound like, knowing some of the words that begin with those [letters].

Faith’s goal was to exceed nominal expectations of kindergarten programs. Her comment suggests that in doing so, early literacy skills and competencies were included in her conceptions of school readiness.

Sally, a pre-kindergarten teacher at the Middleton Pre-K Program, identified several concepts she wanted children in her preschool classroom to learn prior to kindergarten:

I also like for them to be able to recognize their name. Recognize the letters in their names. Hopefully have shapes and colors down. Be able to count, hopefully up to 20 and recognizing numbers from 1-10 and beginning to do some more from that. Sally’s conceptions of school readiness included nominal knowledge and numeracy prior to entering kindergarten. Donna, another prekindergarten teacher at Middleton Pre-K, linked academic knowledge with social consequences. She contended:

And then of course they should be academically ready having the different math and literacy and science and social studies skill[s]. Because if the y don’t have those skills…not only will they have academic problems, they’ll have behavior problems. They wo n’t understand what’s going on. And when they don’t understand they start to act out.

Findings suggest that nominal knowledge was important for promoting early learning and preventing social consequences Donna associated with limited knowledge of nominal skills and concepts.

Elementary. At the kindergarten level nominal knowledge was also pointed out as

important for children to learn. As a new kindergarten teacher, Karla noted that “They’re ready if they know any letters; especially like the first letter in their name. That tells me something good is going on.” Though only minimal nominal knowledge was important to learn prior to kindergarten, being able to identify letters was a “good” sign according to Karla. Nancy, a veteran teacher, suggested students who do not have basic nominal knowledge start kindergarten “behind”:

I think that there are some basic things like colors and shapes that you can teach when they come but the majority of the students come already knowing those things. So if they don’t know their colors or their shapes or to recognize their names they start out

behind…. And so…they can catch up. But they’re already starting their first week of kindergarten behind. And so they’re in a catch up game which no one likes being. To avoid having to “catch up” with other students in the class who come in with basic nominal knowledge, which is generally the case, Nancy suggested teaching children some of these skills and concepts prior to entering school. Possessing nominal skill sets commensurate with their peer group was expected of children upon entering kindergarten.

Pauline, an elementary school principal in another building, discussed the importance of children having previous exposure to nominal knowledge prior to entering kindergarten:

Well I think they [children] need to know their colors and shapes, you know basic shapes. They need to be exposed to that…I think children should pretty much be able to sing their ABCs even though they don’t recognize them. At least they’ve heard ABCs so when they come to school it’s not like a foreign language. It’s like if we’re going to learn our ABCs and the teacher starts this is “A” it says “ah”, they’ve got that background

knowledge to draw on.

Pauline suggested that background knowledge of the alphabet is needed in kindergarten to support emergent literacy practices. Janice, an experienced kindergarten teacher, dispelled what she believed to be a myth and highlighted the importance of having background knowledge before entering kindergarten. She stated:

They really don’t need to know all the letters in the alphabet. That’s a fallacy that’s out there. That’s my job to teach them the alphabet. But what they do need is an

understanding of language. People who have read to them cause just by reading to children they learn about how to hold a book, how to turn the pages. They learn how language sounds, a lot of different languages.

For Janice, exposure to language and literacy was more essential than extended nominal knowledge. Generally, nominal knowledge was included in educator participants’ characterizations of entering kindergarten in this community school district.

Parents

Similar to general knowledge, prevalent among parent participants was the notion that children entering kindergarten required “basic” nominal knowledge. The importance of having nominal knowledge also existed across social class subgroups.

Middle-income. Connie, a middle-class mother sending her oldest child to kindergarten

next fall, provided an example of some of the basic nominal knowledge children need to learn before starting kindergarten. She said, “Definitely the basics—ABC’s, 123’s. You know, you write your name, recognize letters…” According to Connie, children needed to know basic concepts such as recognizing letters of the alphabet and numbers. Vanessa, a middle-class grandmother, included nominal knowledge in her conception of school readiness as well. She stated that “School readiness [means] she should be able to have alphabets, colors, shapes. A lot of those skills should be with them at a[n] early age, three and up. That’s the way I look at it.” Vanessa contended that ensuring such nominal knowledge is an important component of preparing children for the “adventure” of learning in kindergarten at an early age.

Pam, an affluent parent of two, noted that being able to identify colors and shapes were