School Readiness
According to a national survey of kindergarten teachers, 35% of children are not ready for school when they enter. A fourth of these children will repeat kindergarten or first grade. The teacher-identified issues most affecting readiness were:
| Language richness | 51% |
| Emotional maturity | 43% |
| General knowledge | 38% |
| Social confidence | 31% |
| Moral awareness | 21% |
| Physical well-being | 6% |
Also on the subject of readiness, the National Education Goals Panel has defined these five dimensions of school readiness (a strikingly similar list):
While most children are endowed with curiosity and a desire to learn, these can be attenuated by negative experiences. Parents who themselves had a bad school experience may transmit their negative feelings to their children. Or they may, with the best intentions, teach their preschoolers letters, numbers, and colors in a way that bores the children and diminishes their motivation to learn.
Language usage is the key component of readiness. Findings from developmental neurobiology support the concept of promoting school readiness from a very early age. The infant brain undergoes significant changes during the years from birth to about age 5, making new synaptic connections and pruning away the connections that are not used. Most of these changes occur well before formal schooling.
Everyone learns by building on what they already know; a child who does not bring much general knowledge into the classroom will have a harder time assimilating what is being taught.
Overcoming the lack of school readiness requires intensive efforts by parents, children, and schools, but even with these efforts, educational outcomes are generally not as good as those of children who are ready for school when they enter.
To stimulate school readiness, the following activities are recommended:
| 18-24 months | Model appropriate language; use singing and rhymes |
| 24 months | Don't limit explorations excessively. Guide the child to learning experiences that are fun. Offer acceptable choices to promote toddler's sense of competence and control: "Do you want to wear the red dress or the blue one?" |
| 36-48 months | Read interactively with the child. Encourage child to tell you about preschool, friends, or observations. Answer the child's questions. Encourage choices: which clothes to wear, what book to read, where to go. Provide opportunities to socialize with other children. |
| 48 months | Visit parks, museums, and other places of interest. |
(Byrd R. School readiness: more than a summers work. Contemp Pediatr 1998; 15(5):39-53)
COMMENT: School readiness is a parental commitment that begins at birth. Talking and reading to children are the most important early activities. Songs and rhymes hold their interest best. Professionals who perform well child check-ups need to encourage language activities with parents. Head Start is great for those who qualify.