Kindergarten Readiness and Its Link to Early Academic Achievement

Introduction

The correlation between early childhood education and development programs and academic achievement in later life is well documented. Children who have attended kindergarten in either public or private settings consistently score at statistically significantly higher rates than children without kindergarten experience on a wide range of standardized tests, including composite ACT scores, math ACT scores, English ACT scores, science ACT scores, and cumulative grade point averages (Prince, Hare & Howard, 2001). Less clear, however, is the precise correlation between children's readiness to make the transition into school at the kindergarten level and their academic performance early on and thereafter.

In an era characterized by schools struggling to satisfy numerous unfunded mandates at the federal, state, and local levels, identifying opportunities to improve the delivery of educational services represents a timely and relevant enterprise. To this end, this study seeks to better understand the correlation between kindergarten readiness and kindergarten achievement in the United States today.

The problem considered by this study concerns the need for improved ways of measuring pupils' readiness to enter kindergarten so that they can be provided with appropriate placement and teachers who possess the requisite training and experience these youngsters will need to succeed in school and in their later lives. While the challenges are great, the need is equally great and the potential payoffs are enormous. According to La Paro, Rimm-Kaufman, and Pianta (2006), "Much attention has been given to the ways in which the transition to kindergarten marks children's entrance into formal schooling and constitutes a change in educational experiences and philosophies for young children. Most existing work on school transition emphasizes the kindergarten year; in fact, kindergarten experiences are reported to set the trajectory for school success" (p. 189).

Problem Statement: Defining and Measuring Kindergarten Readiness

This point is also made by Meyer (2001), who notes that "Many of the earliest kindergartens in the United States served the purpose of easing the acculturation of newly arrived immigrant children. Later, the purpose became easing the child's transition from home to the more formal aspects of the elementary school. For some children, the transition purpose continues to be important" (p. 161). Although many young children entering kindergarten have some experience with similar instructive formats by virtue of their participation in various preschool programs, Dail and McGee (2008) note that even for these children, "Making the transition from preschool to kindergarten is a milestone in a young child's life, and it does not always go smoothly" (p. 305).

Indeed, the growing body of evidence clearly points to the criticality of a successful transition into kindergarten in promoting future academic and social success. According to Dail and McGee:

Transition into kindergarten has long been recognized as one of the most important events in the lives of children and their families. It is a time of change and new opportunities, when children encounter the challenges of learning in a more formal setting. In kindergarten, the expectations for behavior, social interactions, and learning differ from those of home or preschool. For most children, a successful transition from home or preschool to kindergarten is critical because the social and academic competencies established in kindergarten provide the basis for their future success in school. (p. 306)

Besides academic readiness, King and Boardman (2006) emphasize that a number of social skills are also necessary for success in kindergarten. In this regard, King and Boardman note that "Entering school for the first time at kindergarten is a milestone in children's lives and various social skills have been identified as important for children to possess when starting school. Children [should] be able to complete a number of social skills when commencing kindergarten" (p. 15). These social skills include, but are not limited to, the ability to manage individual belongings and trips to the toilet, wash and dry hands, follow rules and routines, persevere to finish a task, cooperate with other children, take turns, express feelings and emotions, ask questions when they do not understand, try new things they are not sure about, and accept feedback from an adult on their learning or behavior (King & Boardman).

In an effort to provide the needed social and academic skills for successful transition into kindergarten, a number of school districts across the country are providing a wide range of activities intended to assist children and their families in preparing to learn in a new environment. These initiatives are clearly money well spent. Clark and Zygmunt-Fillwalk (2008) emphasize that "The extent to which new expectations, new relationships, and new competencies are formed in the transition to school has been linked to lasting effects on children's later development. Success in the kindergarten year (in terms of academic, social, and emotional competence) is predictive of later school success" (p. 287). The majority of preparatory programs used for transition into kindergarten are designed around continuity with the types of approaches used in child care or preschool facilities as well as those used in the early elementary grades, and typically involve children, families, communities, and both preschool and kindergarten teachers collaborating before children's entry into kindergarten (Kraft-Sayre & Pianta, 2000).

Today, there remains a lack of consistency in the manner in which such readiness analyses are conducted. According to Calkins and Bellino (1998), "For decades, schools have tested or screened incoming kindergartners. This marks the beginning of the child's educational testing record, and it usually starts as soon as a child is officially registered to enter kindergarten" (p. 252). These initial screening tests, however, have never been meant to identify comprehensive information concerning the readiness of an individual child to enter kindergarten, but have rather been used to determine any salient handicapping conditions that should be taken into account in the child's placement. Calkins and Bellino emphasize that "The goal [of kindergarten screening] was to ensure that a school would be ready to provide any special support or further evaluation a child might need. The point is, the purpose of a kindergarten screening is not to determine 'readiness' for kindergarten" (p. 253).

More recently, there has been an emphasis across the country toward assessing young children's readiness to enter school in a "ready to learn" state; nevertheless, these methods continue to vary widely from educational jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and even within school districts themselves (Murphey, 2003). As Murphey points out, "The specific forms these assessments take vary widely, from brief 'screening' tests to comprehensive, in-depth child studies. Likewise, the results of assessments may be used to identify individual children as 'ready' or 'not ready' and thus eligible for particular supports or services; or they may serve as indicators, at an aggregate level, of the success of collaborative community efforts to ensure that all children receive high-quality early care and education" (p. 37).

According to Chandler and Lyon (2001), researchers must ensure they use valid measures when seeking to establish correlations. These authors note that "Validity refers to the establishment of evidence that the measurement is actually measuring the intended construct. Measures can be reliable without being valid, but cannot be valid without being reliable" (Chandler & Lyon, p. 101). Likewise, in the assessment of children's readiness to enter kindergarten, whatever factors are used for this purpose must in fact measure what they are supposed to measure. As Murphey emphasizes, "In any case, a challenge for those developing and using 'readiness' assessments is to demonstrate that such measures are in fact valid indices — that they measure what they purport to measure" (p. 37).

There are a wide range of instruments and tests available to help educators assess children's readiness levels for entry into kindergarten. Some of the more common tools in use today are described in the table below.

Table 1: Formal Assessment Instruments for Determining Kindergarten Readiness

Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals — Preschool (CELF-Preschool): The purpose of this test is to assess receptive and expressive language ability and explore language form and content. It consists of six subtests — three receptive language subtests (Linguistic Concepts, Sentence Structure, and Basic Concepts) and three expressive language subtests (Recalling Sentences in Context, Formulating Labels, and Word Structure). The record form includes a "Behavioral Observation Checklist" for recording behaviors observed during testing, as well as an item analysis for each subtest to assist in the review of error patterns.

The Boehm Test of Basic Concepts — Revised: This test surveys the kindergarten through second grade child's understanding of 50 basic relational concepts of position in space, direction, quantity, sequence, time, and size for the purpose of instructional planning. A total score can be obtained, and norms are provided for both Forms C and D. The child's performance on each item serves as the major basis for interpretation, with information presented on items by grade, socioeconomic status, and time of year. The items focus on the child's understanding of the basic concepts being analyzed.

The Bracken Basic Concept Scale: This scale assesses 258 concepts in 11 categorical areas (color, letter identification, numbers/counting, comparison, shapes, direction/position, social-emotional, size, textural/material, quantity, and time/sequence). The screening test, which can be administered individually or in small groups, consists of 30 items to identify children who might benefit from more intensive assessment. Its primary use is with kindergarten and first grade children.

Assessment Instruments and Multi-Step Readiness Approaches

Circus: This test was developed to provide pre-kindergarten and kindergarten teachers with comprehensive assessment information to help them diagnose children's instructional needs and evaluate programs. Circus consists of 17 instruments, six of which assess basic concepts along with other concepts and areas of understanding.

The Cognitive Skills Assessment Battery, Second Edition (CSAB): The CSAB was developed to provide a profile of strengths and weaknesses of the pre-kindergarten and kindergarten child in the cognitive skills area, and simultaneously a profile for the class as a whole. The skills areas covered include orientation to one's environment; large muscle and visual motor coordination; discrimination of similarities and differences; auditory, visual, picture, and story memory; comprehension; and concept formation. Each task area is divided by levels of difficulty, providing teachers with important information for program planning.

Tests of Basic Experiences-2: The purpose of this group-administered test is to assess the child's conceptual understanding in order to plan curricular experiences. It has two overlapping levels — one appropriate for preschool and kindergarten, and the other for kindergarten or grade 1. Each level consists of a battery of four tests: Mathematics, Language, Science, and Social Studies. Throughout, the focus is on the child's conceptual understanding gained through experience rather than on facts.

Developmental Tasks for Kindergarten Readiness II: This test was developed to screen children for purposes of instructional planning. It consists of 15 subtests covering four skill areas: Oral Language, Visual-Motor Skills, Cognitive Skills, and Social Development.

Source: Bracken, 2004, pp. 194–195.

Although each of the foregoing instruments can provide educators with valuable feedback concerning the extent to which children are prepared to make the transition into kindergarten, Boehm (1991) advises that a multiple-step approach may be more appropriate for gauging basic concepts. This multi-step approach includes the following:

1. Standardized testing that covers the broad range of relational concepts and is used as a starting point for interpretation, including those concepts the child knows and may not know.
2. Review of errors to identify patterns.
3. Observation over time of the child's use of concepts in everyday classroom activities.
4. A brief post-test interview to identify the strategies children use to arrive at answers.
5. A mini-teach to help determine how ready the child is to acquire the concept.
6. Observation of children's use of concepts as tools of thinking, such as combining concepts and using them for comparing, classifying, and problem solving (p. 658).

While the construct of "school readiness" remains relatively recent in the relevant literature, there is a growing body of evidence pointing to certain individual characteristics and to the family and community environment in which young children are raised as relating to their readiness for school. The following indicators have been shown to be relevant to children's readiness levels for the transition into kindergarten:

1. Children living in poor families are likely to be less "ready" than children living in non-poor families.
2. Children who have had experience prior to kindergarten in formal, group care (child care center, family day care home, Head Start, etc.), assuming it was of good quality, are likely to be more "ready" than those who did not have such experience.
3. Children who have significant learning-related disabilities are likely to be less "ready" than those who do not (Murphey, p. 37).

Conclusion: Toward Better Transitions and Outcomes

Taken together, the foregoing observations suggest that while the construct of "kindergarten readiness" is both multifaceted and varied, the facilitation of the transition into kindergarten will ultimately devolve to the classroom teacher. Fabian and Dunlop (2002) emphasize that "While children, their families and their teachers are all key players in the transition-to-kindergarten process, teachers hold the ultimate power in the classroom. Therefore, the responsibility regarding ways in which transition can be enhanced inevitably rests with teachers" (p. 87). These educators also note that because the transition into kindergarten is a dynamic and interactive process involving all participants, the role of the teacher cannot be viewed in isolation (Fabian & Dunlop). In this regard, Fabian and Dunlop point out that "Looking at ways in which teachers can facilitate transition needs to take into account the teachers' own perspectives, and the ways in which these are influenced" (p. 87).