Patterns of School Readiness



Patterns of School Readiness

Introduction

The topic of the research paper to be discussed is “Patterns of School Readiness Among Head Start Children: Meaningful Within-Group Variability During the Transition to Kindergarten.” The paper attempts to explore the behavioral patterns of kids who have just started going to school. The study aims to analyze and investigate the population of children to determine the level to which they have readiness for going to school. The sample that was taken was related to children who go to school and belong to families of the low-income group. Guidance was taken from a developmental framework, making use of the data provided by Family and Children's Experiences Survey of years 2000-2003.

The topic is very relevant to the readers who want to study the behavioral patterns of children related to transition from one type of schooling to another, and will help the school administration, parents, and policy makers in devising better measures that will help in making the children feel more comfortable about their new schooling environment.

Issue and Area of Research

The study was targeted at achieving the answers to three questions related to the patterns that prevail in head start children about going to school. It can be observed that the way children are brought up and the way they social life progresses, has an immense effect on the way they perceive things, including the motivation to go to school. The cognitive skills of the children also exert effects on their behavioral patterns when they enter preschool. Apart from that, another question that needs to be answered is to study the configuration of skills related to school readiness as they predict how the child will adjust to his new school set up after the phase of kindergarten ends. Children thrive on creativity and learn a lot as they grow, taking influence from the surroundings and the situations that prevail around them. It is important to understand that not just one, but many factors manipulate the behavior of children when they are in their transition phase from leaving one type of schooling to enter another type of schooling. Besides the cognitive factors that affect the level of school readiness among children, there are various other factors such as family that shapes up the perceptions of children and contribute to formulating the patterns according to which children work out the beginning of the first year of Head Start. Moreover, factors pertaining to context of classroom also manipulate the results at the end of kindergarten schooling. This is because young children have to go through a variety of experiences while they are in their transition from preschool to kindergarten, and the challenges help shape up their personality and has an effect on how their perceptions are formed about life.

The diverse range of challenges related to development help the children grow in different ways such as mentally and physically, and as they learn to cope up with the new problems they are faced with, it contributes to ...