School Readiness Skills: Parent and Teacher Perceptions

Abstract

This study examined the differences between parents' and teachers' perceptions of the skills that a child needs to be ready to begin kindergarten and be successful. Specifically, parents and teachers were asked to rate 30 items related to readiness in three categories: (a) academic; (b) social/emotional; (c) items based on national standards for readiness. As hypothesized parents rated the items on the academic scale higher than did teachers. Unlike what was hypothesized there were no significant differences between parents' and teachers' perceptions of social/emotional readiness skills. Parents rated none of the items on the survey as unimportant for kindergarten readiness.