Santa Barbara School Readiness Scale:
School Readiness Needs of Latino Preschoolers
in Santa Barbara County
Study completed and written by:
Renee Pavelski Pyle, Ph.D.
Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital,
Stanford University
Report compiled by :
Jennifer Greif, Michael Bates, & Michael Furlong
Center for School-Based Youth Development
Gevirtz Graduate School of Education
University of California, Santa Barbara
For:
Santa Barbara School Readiness Scales
School Readiness Needs of Latino Preschoolers in Santa Barbara
Introduction
In the fall of 1989, President George Bush and the
50 governors met for the first Education Summit held in
nearly 100 years (Meisels, 1998) and established eight
“National Education Goals.” First among these goals
was the following: “All children in America will start
school ready to learn” (National Education Goals
Panel, 1991).
Beliefs about School Readiness
Absent generally accepted and empirically
documented criteria of what young children should
know and be able to do when they are 4- or 5-years old
(Bredekamp, 1992), parents and preschool teachers
must rely on their explicit and implicit beliefs regarding
readiness as they prepare children for school.
Few studies have systematically compared the
beliefs of parents, preschool teachers, and
kindergarten teachers about what children should know
and be able to do at school entry (Gredler, 1992). The
few studies examining parents’ and teachers’
readiness beliefs found that the groups had different
concerns. For example, kindergarten teachers were
more likely to emphasize a child’s ability to not disrupt
the class; families and providers emphasized schoollike skills such as knowing English, knowing the letters
of the alphabet, and counting; while childcare providers
were most likely to emphasize problem-solving skills.
Readiness in Diverse Populations
Current research is further limited in helping us
understand readiness in high-need communities
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(Piotrkowski, Botsko, & Matthews, 2000); we lack
information regarding school readiness within lowincome communities (Holloway, Rambaud, Fuller, &
Eggers-Pierola, 1995).
More than 2 million Latino children attend
California schools, outnumbering non-Latino White
students by approximately 90,000 (California
Department of Education, 2000). The growth in the
population of Latino students has been accompanied
by increased awareness of the difficulties many Latinos
experience in school. For Latino children, difficulties in
school are primarily manifest in the lower academic
performance and alarmingly high dropout rates
compared to their non-Latino peers.
Parent Involvement
Current research suggests a strong positive
relationship between student achievement and parent
involvement for Latino families (Lopez & Cole, 1999).
The benefits of parental involvement in the educational
process have been well documented (e.g., Taylor &
Machida, 1994). In addition to promoting children’s
academic achievement, parent involvement has been
shown to have positive effects on related behaviors
such as student self-competence, self-esteem, school
adjustment, and classroom behaviors. Despite strong
empirical support for parent involvement, research has
found that Latino parents are significantly less involved
in their children’s education than Anglo and AfricanAmerican parents (Klimes-Dougan, Lopez, Nelson, &
Adleman, 1992).
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Santa Barbara School Readiness Scales
Consequences of Current Readiness Practices
Kindergarten screening tests have been found to
over identify ethnic minority children and those from
the lower socioeconomic (SES) groups as being
unready for school (Ellwein, Walsh, Eads, & Miller,
1991). Minority students and children from lower SES
backgrounds are much more likely to be retained than
white middle-class students throughout elementary
school, including nonpromotion to first grade (Cosden,
Zimmer, & Tuss, 1993).
Best Practices Approach
A key problem exists in attempts to evaluate the
“whole child.” Current assessments ignore such critical
elements as their environment, context, and conditions.
Readiness has not encompassed critical environmental
variables so that the burden of proof rests on the child
to prove they are “ready” for school (Meisels, 1995).
Exploring these contextual variables in a sample of
Latino children and families is pragmatic for both
practical and theoretical reasons.
Research Questions
1. How are Latino preschool children rated on school
readiness indicators (social emotional development,
language development, and approaches toward
learning)?
- Does Approaches Towards Learning significantly
predict kindergarten success variables?
- Does parental knowledge of who can help them
access educational services significantly predict
kindergarten success variables above and beyond the
child-focused variables?
- Does parental comfort in going to their child’s school
and talking to their teacher significantly predict
kindergarten success variables above and beyond the
child-focused variables?
- Which of these factors best predicts kindergarten
success variables?
Method
Participants were 112 preschool children who
attended a summer immersion, school readiness
program before entering kindergarten in Santa Barbara
County. Eighty-eight percent chose to complete the
questionnaire in Spanish. Mothers completed 73.3%
of the questionnaires, fathers completed 22.5% and
4.2% were completed by both parents. The final
sample included 112 students: 58 males (51.8%) and
54 (48.2%) females. The average age was 5.4 years
at the start of their kindergarten year. Seventeen
teachers (15 female teachers, two male teachers)
participated in this study, 13 were Caucasian and four
were Latino.
Variable
2. How do parents rate their knowledge of who can
help them access educational services for their family,
and how comfortable do they feel going to their child’s
school and talking to his or her teacher?
- How much help do parents report wanting to assist
their child at home with school-related tasks?
3. Can kindergarten success variables be predicted by
a child’s social/emotional development, language
development, approaches towards learning, or their
parent’s knowledge of who can help them access
educational services and comfort level in accessing
these services?
- Does Social Emotional Development significantly
predict kindergarten success variables?
- Does Language Development significantly predict
kindergarten success variables?
UCSB Prop-10 Evaluation Center
Gender (N = 112)
Male
Female
Ethnicity (N = 112)
Latino
Parent’s Education Level (N = 112)
No High School
Some High School
Graduated High School
Some College
Graduated College
Preschool Experience (n = 102)
None
One Year
More than One Year
ESL Status (n = 92)
LEP
FEP
English Only
N
%
58
54
51.8%
48.2%
112
100%
62
3
20
17
10
55.4%
2.7%
17.9%
15.2%
8.9%
32
69
1
31.4%
67.6%
1.0%
85
4
3
92.4%
4.3%
3.3%
Children spent five hours in class each day for the
duration of the program. Teachers provided English
oral language and listening activities (e.g., music,
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Santa Barbara School Readiness Scales
stories, tapes, big books, poetry) and pre-literacy
activities to their students.
They introduced
experiences to prepare children for learning
behaviors appropriate to a kindergarten setting (i.e.,
sitting together in a circle while listening to a story,
how to hold a pencil, turn-taking, etc.).
School Readiness Measures
Santa Barbara County Healthy Start Teacher
Questionnaire
This teacher questionnaire was developed for the
study and asked questions to measure school
readiness domains: physical health, fine and gross
motor skills, approach to learning, socio-emotional
development, and language/communication.
Santa Barbara County Healthy Start Family
Questionnaire
This questionnaire was developed for the study to
measure parents’ perceptions of readiness variables.
It was administered in Spanish and English.
Kindergarten Success Measures
Social Skills Rating System
The Social Skills Rating System (SSRS; Gresham
& Elliott, 1990) is a norm-referenced, nationally
standardized, cross-informant rating scale system
designed to screen children and youth suspected of
having social and academic problems. It measures
three domains: Social Skills, Problem Behaviors, and
Academic Competence.
Oral Reading Assessment Level-Jimerson (ORAL-J)
The Oral Reading Assessment Level-Jimerson
(ORAL-J; Jimerson, 2000) examines pre-reading skills
and also determines how fluently a student reads text
aloud.
School Archival Records Search
The cumulative file (school record) for each student
whose parents gave consent was reviewed in the
spring with the School Archival Records Search
(SARS; Walker, Block-Pedego, Todis, & Severson,
UCSB Prop-10 Evaluation Center
1991). The SARS guides school professionals through
a process of coding and tracking variables designed to
predict future “at risk” status of students, including:
number
of
schools
attended;
demographics,
attendance, achievement test information, school
failure (i.e., retention or failure of school subjects),
disciplinary
contacts,
within-school
referrals,
certification for special education, placement out of
regular classroom, receiving Chapter I services (i.e.,
within school services), out-of-school referrals, and
negative narrative comments.
Findings
Research Question 1: Teacher Ratings of ChildFocused School Readiness Indicators
Teachers rated the sample as significantly higher
on Social Emotional Development than Language
Development and Approaches Toward Learning.
Additionally, teachers rated Approaches Toward
Learning as significantly higher than Language
Development for students in this sample. Approaches
Toward Learning relates to learning behaviors, such as
being curious and enthusiastic about school activities.
This result is consistent with the newly developing
English language skills of these children. Approaches
Toward Learning measures non-verbal behaviors that
facilitate participation and learning in the classroom.
Children can perform well along this domain without
using any verbal language skills.
Research Question 2: Parent Ratings of Knowledge,
Comfort and Need for Help
Most parents (83.2%) reported that they would like
help to assist their child at home across all areas of
educationally related tasks. Yet, almost 54% of
parents noted that they do not know who could help
them find educational services for their family, and
9.1% reported feeling uncomfortable going to school
and talking to their child’s teacher. Although over
90% of parents reported feeling comfortable, only
54.9% have actually met and talked to their child’s
teacher and 46.8% have gone to parent meetings or
workshops at their child’s school.
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Santa Barbara School Readiness Scales
Other studies suggest that parents work schedule
and lack of bilingual communication at school are
significant barriers to parent involvement for Latino
families. Results suggest that there is a disconnect
between parents report of comfort in going to their
child’s school and talking to their teacher and the
frequency with which they have actually met with and
talked to the teacher.
Research Question 3: Predictive Power of Child- and
Family-Focused School Readiness Variables on
Kindergarten Success
Child-focused results. Data indicate that Language
Development was the most significant child-focused
school readiness variable for this sample. Language
Development predicted Academic Competence and
Social Skills standard scores from the Social Skills
Rating System. Social Emotional Development was
not a significant predictor of school readiness.
The significance of Approaches Toward Learning
indicates that basic classroom tasks such as drawing a
story, using pencils and paintbrushes, and expressing
curiosity and excitement about school are significantly
related to teachers’ ratings of readiness for first grade.
This finding suggests that focusing on academic
standards is not necessary for kindergarten students to
be deemed successful. Rather, these students need
support in developing basic learning skills and fostering
positive feelings about their school experiences.
The
non-significance
of
Social
Emotional
Development is surprising considering the research
illustrating its significance in predicting kindergarten
success. However, this sample is unique to the
literature that has focused primarily on Caucasian and
African American samples. Perhaps, for this sample,
the effects of Language Development are preeminent
such that language skills are a necessary precondition
for appropriate social emotional development. These
results suggest that language development should be
a continued focus of future research to better
understand school readiness within the Latino
population.
UCSB Prop-10 Evaluation Center
Family-focused results
Parents’ comfort going to their child’s school and
talking to their teacher emerged as a significant
predictor of both teacher ratings of a child’s reading for
first grade and ORAL-J sounds correct score.
Most of the parents in this sample (88%) completed
the Family Questionnaire in Spanish and 55.4% did not
have any high school education. Research suggests
that parents’ limited English proficiency and lower level
of formal schooling relative to United States standards
may reduce their comfort and ability to help their
children with academic tasks (Edwards, 1990). Data
from this sample suggest that parents’ comfort in going
to their child’s school and talking to the teacher may
impact their child’s performance at the end of
kindergarten. This finding suggests that there are
ways in which schools and communities can intervene
to promote kindergarten success.
At the Start of Kindergarten
Variable
Mean/
Freq.
SD
min
max
Teacher Questionnaire Variables
Approaches Toward
2.73
.33
1.8
Learning
Language Development
2.24
.55
1.0
Social Emotional
2.65
.37
1.5
Development
Family Questionnaire Variables
Find Services
Yes = 46.2% (n = 51)
No = 53.8% (n = 61)
Feel Comfortable
Yes = 90.9% (n = 100)
No = 9.1% (n = 11)
3.0
3.0
3.0
At the End of Kindergarten
SSRS Variables
Social Skills
101.70
14.8
40
Standard Score
Academic Competence
95.76
10.9
62
Standard Score
Problem Behavior
99.68
11.7
84
Standard Score
Yes = 90.9% (n = 100)
Will the child be ready
st
No = 9.1% (n = 11)
for 1 grade?
ORAL-J Variables (one year later)
Letters Correct-Spring
36.7
14.2
1
District Scores for
39.9
16.5
0
Letters CorrectSpring
Sounds Correct-Spring
21.3
6.1
0
District Scores for
22.3
6.5
0
Sounds CorrectSpring
130
115
135
71
100
30
55
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Santa Barbara School Readiness Scales
Implications
There are several implications of recognizing that
school readiness is an outcome of an interactive
process. First, it may be difficult to assess a particular
child’s “school readiness” except when that child is
immersed in the challenges of the primary grade
classroom. Prior assessments of school readiness
outside of the context of school may be poorly
predictive of how children will fare when they reach the
classroom door because the school has a large impact
on how they and their parents adjust to and function
within this environment.
Second, kindergarten and primary grade teachers
should become more aware of the developmental
needs young children retain from the preschool years
that underlie their initial success in school.
By
regarding these early experiences in developmental
(rather than academic) frameworks, educators can
foster the personal qualities that contribute best to
young children’s long-term academic success.
Third, data from Hypothesis 3 suggests the
significance of understanding school readiness as an
interaction of the child with the family, school, and
community and therefore the benefits of relationships
to learning. Because young children's scholastic and
social lives are linked in the early primary grades, it
matters a great deal how parents feel about interacting
with the school, and how children feel about
themselves and the teachers and peers with whom
they share the school day. Moreover, relationships
that parents and children experience with the school
are essential, sometimes because of their continuing
influence on children after they begin school, and
sometimes because of the social and emotional
resources they provide to families to allow them to be
the best resources for their children. In each case, this
positive
connection,
facilitated
by
transition
coordinators and school psychologists, provides young
children and their families with some of their best
resources for school success.
References
Bredekamp, S. (1992). Assessment alternatives in early
childhood. In F. L. Parker, R. Robinson, S. Sambrano, C. S.
Piotrkowski, J. Hagen, S. Randolph, & A. Baker (Eds.), New
directions in child and family research: Shaping Head Start in
the ‘90s (pp. 15-36). Washington, DC: Sage.
California Department of Education, Educational Demographics
Unit. (2000). Enrollment in California Public Schools by Ethnic
Group, 1981-82 through 1997-1998, Dropout Rates in California
Public Schools by Ethnic Group, 1985-86 through 1996-97,
Number of Limited English Proficient Students in California
Public Schools, by Language, 1993-97. Retrieved September
28, 2001, from http//www.cde.ca.gov/ftpbranch/retdiv/demo/
reports/booklets/I6cens97/htm
Cosden, M., Zimmer, J., & Tuss, P. (1993). The impact of age,
sex, and ethnicity on kindergarten entry and retention decisions.
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 15(2), 209-222.
Edwards, P. A. (1990). Strategies and techniques for establishing
home-school partnerships with minority parents. In A. Barona &
E. E. Garcia (Eds.),Children at risk: Poverty, minority status, and
other issues in educational equity (pp. 217-236). Silver Spring,
MD: National Association of School Psychologists.
care? Low-income mothers’ views on preparing their children
for school. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 10, 451-473.
Jimerson, S. R. (2000). Oral Reading Assessment Level –
Jimerson. Author: University of California, Santa Barbara.
Klimes-Dougan, B., Lopez, J. A., Nelson, P., & Adleman, H. S.
(1992). Two studies of low-income parents’ involvement in
schooling. The Urban Review, 24, 185-202.
Lopez, A., & Cole, C. L. (1999). Effects of a parent-implemented
intervention on the academic readiness skills of five Puerto
Rican kindergarten students in an urban school. School
Psychology Review, 28(3), 439-447.
Meisels, S. (1995). The work-sampling system: Reliability and
validity of a performance assessment for young children. Early
Childhood Research Quarterly, 10, 277-296.
Meisels, S. J. (1998). Assessing readiness. (Report No. 3-002).
Ann Arbor, MI: Center for the Improvement of Early Reading
Achievement. Retrieved September 15, 2001, from
http://www.ciera.org/products/meisels-1998/reports32.html
Ellwein, M. C., Walsh, D. J., Eads, G. M., & Miller, A. (1991).
Using readiness tests to route kindergarten students: The
snarled intersection of psychometrics, policy and practice.
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 13, 159-175.
National Education Goals Panel. (1991). The national education
goals report. Washington, DC: Author. Piotrkowski, C. S.,
Botsko, M., & Matthews, E. (2000). Parents' and teachers'
beliefs about children's school readiness in a high-need
community. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 15(4), 537558.
Gredler, G. R. (1992). School readiness: Assessment and
educational issues. Brandon, VT: Clinical Psychology
Publishing.
Taylor, A. R., & Machida, S. (1994). The contribution of parent and
peer support to Head Start children’s early school adjustment.
Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 9, 387-405.
Gresham, F. M., & Elliott, S. N. (1990). Social Skills Rating
System: Manual. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance
Service.
Walker, H. M., Block-Pedego, A., Todis, B., & Severson, H. (1991).
School Archival Records Search: User’s guide and technical
manual. Longmont, CO: Sopris West
Holloway, S. D., Rambaud, M. F., Fuller, B., & Eggers-Pierola, C.
(1995). What is “appropriate practice” at home and in child
UCSB Prop-10 Evaluation Center
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Santa Barbara School Readiness Scales
Development of the Santa Barbara School Readiness Teacher Questionnaire
Development of Scale Items
The Santa Barbara County Healthy Start
Teacher Questionnaire was developed after
reviewing 13 national- and state-level readiness
assessments and recent research relating to
common indicators of school readiness. The author
compiled a list of the most frequently measured
domains and the questions that were asked to
measure each domain; these included: physical
health, fine and gross motor skills, approach to
learning,
socioemotional
development,
and
language/ communication. A list of 35 questions
was developed from this research and brought to
focus group meetings.
Representatives from each of the four Healthy
Start agencies in Santa Barbara County that provide
early intervention services reviewed the questions
and suggested changes according to their needs
and programs.
After three meetings over six
months, a final draft was presented to this group for
review.
Minor changes were made and the
instrument was piloted with three preschool teachers
from three different schools.
Data Collection
At the end of the first week of the summer
program, teachers were given the Santa Barbara
County Healthy Start Teacher Questionnaire and an
instruction sheet completing the assessment.
Scale Analysis
Responses from all 249 preschool students were
used for item analysis and exploratory factor
analysis. A principal components analysis was
completed on the first 15 items. The last six items
UCSB Prop-10 Evaluation Center
were not included in the principal components
analysis because they were developed for the
teachers to “red flag” those children who were
lacking in basic needs (i.e., sleep, nourishment,
appropriate clothes, good physical health). These
items were included to determine the presence or
absence of risk factors. Family advocates followed
up with students whose teachers rated their basic
needs as inadequate.
These analyses indicated that the most
parsimonious and interpretable summation of the
item pool was provided by a three-factor solution
(see Figure 2). A scree analysis showed that the
percentage of variance accounted for by these
factors flattened out after the third factor. Kaiser’s
Measure of Sampling Adequacy was 0.89 and thus
satisfactory. Eigenvalues of the factors were above
1.0. These factors accounted for a substantial
portion of the inter-item variance (67.73%).
Using parallel analysis (Horn, 1965; as cited in
Zwick & Velicer, 1986), the empirically derived results
of the factor analysis were compared to the randomly
generated results from a series of Monte Carlo
simulations of the data. The averaged results of four
Monte Carlo runs indicated that the three-factor
solution was significantly different than what would be
expected by chance and therefore a statistically
meaningful representation of the variables. These
factors, in order of variance explained, were labeled
Social Emotional Development (48.6%), Language
Development (10.3%), and Approaches Toward
Learning (8.5%).
The cohesion of the resultant factors was tested
by examining Cronbach alpha scores that ranged
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Santa Barbara School Readiness Scales
from 0.84 to 0.89. The first factor is the aggregation
of six items relating to social-emotional adjustment
(i.e., initiating with and responding appropriately to
others). The label of Social-Emotional Adjustment
was assigned to this factor and its cohesion was
excellent (alpha = 0.86).
The second factor,
consisting of four items, measures language
development (i.e., communicates verbally, listens to
stories, draws pictures to tell a story; alpha = 0.89).
The label of Language Development was given to
this factor. The third factor is the summation of five
items relating to learning behaviors such as being
curious and enthusiastic about school activities
(alpha = 0.84). The label of Approaches Toward
Learning was assigned to this factor.
Conclusion
In summary, this instrument has emerged as an
adequate measure of the common, child-focused
readiness domains of social/emotional adjustment,
language development, and approaches towards
learning.
References
Teisl, J. T., Mazzocco, M. M., & Myers, G. F. (2001). The utility of
kindergarten teacher ratings for predicting low academic
achievement in first grade. Journal of Learning Disabilities,
34(3), 286-293.
Tramontana, M. G., Hooper, S. R., & Selzer, S. C. (1988).
Research on the preschool prediction of later academic
achievement: A review. Developmental Review, 8, 89-146.
Zwick, W. R., & Velicer, W. F. (1986). Comparison of five rules for
determining the number of components to retain. Psychological
Bulletin, 99(3), 432-442.
Results of Principal Components Analysis for Teacher Scale
FACTORS
ITEMS
I
II
III
Com
Social-Emotional Adjustment
1.
Child plays and works cooperatively and appropriately.
0.81
0.22
0.10
0.72
2.
Child responds appropriately to others.
0.76
0.36
0.13
0.73
3.
Child initiates appropriate interactions with others.
0.72
0.42
0.15
0.71
4.
Child adapts to planned activity changes.
0.69
0.31
0.32
0.68
5.
Child can walk and run with ease.
0.58
-0.20
0.48
0.61
6.
Child is able to separate appropriately from caregivers most days of the week.
0.55
0.01
0.49
0.55
Language Development
7.
Child demonstrates knowledge that print carries the message in a picture book.
0.16
0.82
0.25
0.76
8.
Child orally retells a familiar story.
0.14
0.79
0.36
0.78
9.
Child listens with interest and understanding to stories.
0.34
0.78
0.14
0.75
10.
Child communicates his/her needs and thoughts verbally.
0.34
0.72
0.29
0.71
Approaches Toward Learning
11.
Child draws pictures or symbols to tell a story.
-0.01
0.42
0.72
0.69
12.
Child is able to use objects such as pencils, scissors or paint brushes.
0.19
0.21
0.72
0.59
13.
Child is curious in approaching new activities.
0.26
0.33
0.69
0.65
14.
Child is enthusiastic about coming to school.
0.34
0.21
0.68
0.63
15.
Child can follow simple two-step directions.
0.42
0.39
0.53
0.61
Eigenvalues
7.34
1.55
1.27
a
48.98
10.30
8.48
Percentage variance explained by rotated factors
a
Total variance accounted for by the factor structure was 67.73%.
UCSB Prop-10 Evaluation Center
8