Disparities in School Readiness: How Families Contribute to Transitions into School (Penn State University Family Issues Symposia)

Significant disparities exist in children's behavioral and learning capacities that support successful transitions into school. In this new volume, leading researchers from a variety of disciplines review the latest data on how families influence their children's transitions into school. The inequalities that exist in school readiness, the roots of the inequalities, and the ways in which families exacerbate or minimize these inequalities, are explored. The book concludes with a review of policies and programs that represent the best practices for how families, schools and communities can address these disparities. Each of the following topics is explored through a lead essay followed by three critiques: Inequalities in school readiness and the community, school, and family characteristics that contribute to these inequalities. Family processes and contextual conditions that impact the acquisition of literacy, numeracy, language, and cognitive skills. The role that extracurricular activities play in shaping children's school achievement, including differences based on gender, ethnicity, race, and socioeconomic status. Family processes underlying the development of behavioral control and its impact on school readiness. Disparities in School Readiness paints a compelling, interdisciplinary portrait using a variety of types of data and data sets, including longitudinal data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development's Study of Early Childhood and recent analyses of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study from the National Center for Education Statistics. Interdisciplinary in nature, this new book appeals to researchers in family studies, human development, education, psychology, social work, sociology, economics, and public policy interested in improving children's school transitions.