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Research suggests that school readiness is socially constructed across multiple contexts. School readiness domains are explored first, followed by mothers’ and preschool teachers’ meanings of school readiness. The meanings of school reading among mothers and preschool teachers are divided into two sections. A discussion of the similarities and differences between mothers and preschool teachers’ meanings of school readiness ends this chapter.

School Readiness Domains

Although there is no exact definition of what constitutes school readiness, there is an agreement that school readiness is a multidimensional and developmental construct including cognitive skills, social-emotional/behavioral development, physical development, and health (Graue, 2003). There is general consensus, however, that school readiness is not only dependent upon the qualities that children bring to the learning experience, but also dependent upon the contexts in which learning occurs—contexts which include the home and school environments as well as the larger community (Hair, Halle, Terry-Humen, Lavelle, & Calkins, 2006). Because definitions of school readiness and related skills were multifaceted and multidimensional, I drew upon a number of descriptors of school readiness to organize these data (Barbarin et al.,

2008; Dickinson & McCabe, 2001; Hair et al., 2006; Halle & Churchill, 2016; McDermott, Leigh, & Perry, 2002; NGEP, 1991; Office of Head Start, 2017; Sabol & Pianta, 2017; Sparks & Reese, 2013). The following domains were used in this study: (a)nominal knowledge; (b) literacy/language, which entailed emergent writing, emergent reading, and language; (c) socio- emotional development; (d); approaches to learning; (e) general knowledge; (f) independence; and (g) motor development and physical well-being.

Mothers’ Meaning of School Readiness

This first section explored mother’s view and understanding of school readiness. The following questions guided this section:

1. If someone asked you to define school readiness, how would you define it?

2. How would you describe a child who is ready for school? A child who is not ready? 3. What would you say are the skills and abilities that are most important for your child

to learn before starting kindergarten?

Mothers identified key elements of school readiness that included: a) nominal knowledge; (b) emergent writing; (c) emergent reading; (d) socio-emotional development; (e) approaches to learning; (f) general knowledge; (g) independence (self-care); and (h) motor development and personal well-being (See Table 8).

Table 8. Elements of School Readiness (N = 17) Language/Early Literacy Parent (Target Child) Nominal knowledge Emergent writing Emergent reading Socio- Emotional App. to learning General knowledge Independence MD/PW Total Adriana (Lesley) X X X X X 5 Alexa (David) X X X X X 5 Alicia (Manny) X X X X X X X 7 Amanda (Jax) X X X X X X X 7 Delia (Josue) X X X X 4 Fabiola (Javier) X X X X X X 6 Flor (Lucia) X X X X 4 Ingrid (Nayeli) X X X X X X 6 Irene (Kayla) X X X X 4 Jocelyn (Alma) X X X X X X X X 8 Kristina (Kevin) X X X X 4 Laura (Isa) X X X X X X X 7 Marcela (Daniel) X X X X X X X X 8 Maribel (Diana) X X X X X X 6 Marisol (Jacob) X X X X X X 6 Natalia (Nina) X X X X X X 6 Paulina (Hugo) X X X X X 5 Total 17 16 16 15 11 11 7 5 98

Nominal Knowledge/General Knowledge

Nominal knowledge refers to the possession of information that makes it possible to name or label objects in the environment. It includes responses such as knowing the names of letters, colors, numbers up to 10, numbers greater than 10, and shapes (Barbarin et al., 2008). All 17 mothers mentioned nominal knowledge as an important school readiness skill (See Table 9). Within nominal knowledge, three specific categories emerged: numbers (n = 16), colors (n = 10), and shapes (n = 4).

Table 9. Nominal Skills (N = 17)

Parent (Target Child) Numbers Colors Shapes Total

Adriana (Lesley) X X X 3 Alexa (David) X X X 3 Alicia (Manny) X 1 Amanda (Jax) X 1 Delia (Josue) X X 2 Fabiola (Javier) X X 2 Flor (Lucia) X 1 Ingrid (Nayeli) X 1 Irene (Kayla) X 1 Jocelyn (Alma) X X 2 Kristina (Kevin) X 1 Laura (Isa) X X 2 Marcela (Daniel) X X X 3 Maribel (Diana) X 1 Marisol (Jacob) X 1 Natalia (Nina) X X 2 Paulina (Hugo) X X 2 Total 16 10 3 29

Numbers. Almost all mothers (n = 16) believed that school readiness meant children knowing their numbers. For example, Marcela told us that “if children don’t know their numbers, then they are not ready.” Alicia reported that children should know “the basics, like your

numbers.” For some mothers, it wasn’t enough that preschoolers “knew their numbers.” They also felt, as Flor did, that children should be able to “recognize some numbers…pronounce some numbers.” “Distinguishing your numbers” was a skill that Paula felt was important for children to know. Likewise, Adriana believed that children should be “practicing like their numbers” before starting kindergarten.

Some mothers were more specific and provided a range of numbers that children should know before the first day of kindergarten. The range was between 1 and 100. Two mothers, Delia and Alexa, said that children should know “numbers between 1-100.” Fabiola could not

remember if her son knew the alphabet but was confident that Javier “knows the numbers 1-20 … that’s important.” Although Jax “knew how to count to 12,” Amanda shared that he can “also mention other numbers, but not in order.” Three mothers gave a range of 1-10. For Laura,

children “knowing the numbers, at least 1 to 10” was an important skill they needed to learn before starting kindergarten. Similarly, Kristina reported that “children should identify numbers and count from 1-10” in both English and Spanish.

In addition to knowing their numbers, two mothers felt that “knowing how to add” was an important school readiness skill as well. When asked what Alma needed to learn before kindergarten, Jocelyn replied: “Math and writing … both. I think Alma needs both, but I think the easiest thing is to learn how to add.” In a similar sense, Kristina was doing “kindergarten stuff … like adding” with her son Kevin.

Colors. Ten mothers mentioned that children were ready for school if they “knew their colors.” For example, Alexa believed that children needed to “recognize their colors before going to kindergarten.” Fabiola shared with us that Javier “knows his colors.” Similarly, Jocelyn said that Alma “knows all the colors,” and Marcela described a child who was not ready if “they didn’t know their colors.” In her understanding of school readiness, Natalie included children’s “knowledge of the colors,” while Paulina said that children are ready for kindergarten if they know “how to distinguish the colors.” Adriana also shared with us that children should be “practicing their colors” as they prepare for kindergarten.

Shapes. Three mothers mentioned that children were ready for kindergarten when they knew or recognized their shapes. Adriana shared that “all the things you do in kindergarten are important, including shapes. … Lesley knows her shapes.” Alexa, David’s mother believed that children were ready for kindergarten when they could “recognize their shapes,” and Marcela described a child who was not ready as someone who “doesn’t know his shapes.”

Language/Early Literacy

Emergent or early literacy falls under the broad area of language (NGEP, 1991).Within this category, emergent writing and reading developed. Emergent literacy is composed of skills that are recognized as developmental precursors to reading and writing (Whitehurst & Lonigan, 1998). These skills are thought to develop in an interwoven manner and include phonological awareness, concepts about print, letter knowledge, and emergent writing (Yopp & Yopp, 2009). The literature suggested that the emergent literacy skills children bring to kindergarten predict future reading and writing success and academic success (Cunningham, Zibulsky, & Callahan, 2009).

Emergent writing. Seventeen mothers believed that emergent writing skills were essential for school readiness success. Included in this cluster were the following four items: writes (n = 16); writes own name (n = 15); draws (n = 3); spells (n = 2); and traces (n = 1) (See Table 10).

Table 10. Emergent Writing (n = 17)

Parent (Target Child)

Writes Writes own name