Early Childhood Education Journal, Vol. 25, No. 2, 1997

Rural Kindergarten Teachers' Perceptions of SchoolReadiness: A Comparison with the Carnegie Study

Linda M. Espinosa,1,2 Kathy R. Thornburg,1 and Michelle C. Mathews1

This study examines the construct of school readiness as understood by rural kindergarten teachers.Kindergarten teachers in 11 rural Missouri communities were surveyed to assess their perceptionsof the readiness levels of their incoming children. These data were then compared to the results ofthe national Carnegie study of 7000 kindergarten teachers' perceptions of school readiness. Therural Missouri sample judged their students as generally more ready than did the national sample;they viewed the incoming kindergarten students as having fewer language, social, and physicalproblems. A greater portion of the rural sample believed that children are more ready now than 5years ago (36% vs. 25%). They attribute the improvement to high quality early preschool programs.The diversity within the rural sample as well as the rural/urban distinctions are discussed.

INTRODUCTION

It is well established that a child's early care andlearning experiences are powerful determinants of futureacademic and life success. A child's cognitive, emotion-al, and physical "readiness" at the time of school entryhave been shown to be strongly related to later academicachievement and school completion (Ladd & Price,1987; Reynolds, 1991; Schweinhart, et al., 1993). Inrecognition of the crucial nature of the early childhoodyears on all future learning, the 1994 US. Congress andPresident Clinton enacted the Goals 2000: EducateAmerica Act that includes as the first national education-al goal:

GOAL 1: BY THE YEAR 2000, ALLCHILDREN IN AMERICA WILL STARTSCHOOL READY TO LEARN

1University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, Missouri.2Correspondence should be directed to Linda M. Espinosa, 301 DTownsend Hall, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia,Missouri 65211; e-mail: cilme@showme.missouri.edu.

Objectives

• All children will have access to high-quality anddevelopmentally appropriate preschool programsthat help prepare children for school.

• Every parent in the United States will be a child'sfirst teacher and devote time each day to helpingsuch parent's preschool child learn, and parentswill have access to the training and support par-ents need.

• Children will receive the nutrition, physical activ-ity experiences, and health care needed to arriveat school with healthy minds and bodies, and tomaintain the mental alertness necessary to be pre-pared to learn, and the number of low-birthweightbabies will be significantly reduced throughenhanced prenatal health systems.

Exactly what "ready to learn" means, how it will bemeasured, and what educational and social policies willbe needed to achieve this goal have sparked discussionand debate within both the early childhood and the larg-er educational community. Some have argued for areconceptualization of "readiness" (Kagan, 1990; Crnic& Lamberty, 1994), while others have lamented our lim-ited ability to accurately assess young children's devel-opmental status (Meisels, 1992), and still others have

1191082-3301/97/1200-0119$12.50/0 C 1997 Human Sciences Press. Inc.

KEY WORDS: Kindergarten; rural schools; reading readiness.

120 Espinosa, Thornburg, and Mathews

argued that we cannot discuss children's readiness forschool without addressing the need for schools to also be"ready" for children (California State Department ofEducation, 1988; Katz, 1991).

This article investigates the construct of schoolreadiness as understood by kindergarten teachers in ruralMissouri. The teachers were asked to rate the readinesslevel of their incoming students along three dimensions,cognitive, social-emotional, and physical development.They were also asked to compare the readiness levels oftheir current students with students from 5 years ago. Theresults were then compared with the Carnegie Founda-tion national survey (1991) of school readiness.

Debate over the Definition of Readiness

Kagan (1990) has criticized the construct of readi-ness as being poorly defined, subjectively interpreted,and frequently misunderstood. She suggests that schoolreadiness, as currently understood, is a "narrow and arti-ficial construct of questionable merit" (p. 272).Nevertheless, states and local communities have adoptedcriteria for determining who is "ready" to enter kinder-garten and who is not. There are both the formal require-ments as stated in official policy and the informal,implicit expectations of the local school system. While,perhaps, never explicitly stated, there is a widely heldbelief among kindergarten teachers that young childrenmust bring certain skills and abilities to the school settingin order to be academically successful.

The most frequently stated requirement for entryinto kindergarten is maturational or chronological age.Most states and local districts require that a child be 5years of age by a certain date (July-December) in orderto be eligible for school entry. In addition, some alsorequest mastery of school-related skills as measured by acriterion-referenced test. Parents and school officials candecide that although a child is age-eligible for kinder-garten, he is just not "ready" and delay entry into kinder-garten for a year. Several researchers, most notablyShepard and Smith (1986) have argued that all childrenwho are age-eligible should be accepted into kinder-garten; normal variability in developmental abilitiesshould be expected and accommodated by a responsive,individualized curriculum.

Although researchers and policymakers agree thatall children entering kindergarten should have an equalopportunity for success, and that it is up to the schoolsystem to create learning environments that foster acad-emic success for all students, it can still be demonstratedthat some children enter school "more ready" than oth-ers. This readiness capacity of the individual child is seen

primarily as a function of the child's early learning expe-riences; the first national educational goal is focused onequalizing early experiences for all children through highquality preschool programs, parent education, andimproved health care. Logic and research tell us that ifmore children have enriched preschool opportunities,responsive and stimulating home environments and prop-er health care, they will be better prepared to successful-ly navigate the demands of formal education.

Currently, the National Education Goal 1 TechnicalGroup is struggling to develop an assessment system thatwill provide meaningful and valid data on the status ofchildren's "readiness." Meanwhile, kindergarten teachersin schools across America are making judgments abouteach student's abilities and potential based on their own(often implicit) expectations. Ernest Boyer in his land-mark report, Ready to Learn: A Mandate for the Nation(1991), asserted that teachers are a good source of infor-mation about children's readiness for school:

Teachers were, it seemed to us, an important point ofreference. After all, they are with youngsters every day,watching their reactions, observing their relationshipswith others, noting their struggles and successes.Teachers, especially the sensitive, seasoned ones, have akeen, almost intuitive, understanding of children'sneeds. (Boyer, 1991, p. 6)

RESULTS OF A NATIONAL SURVEY

The results of a national survey of more than 7000kindergarten teachers conducted by the CarnegieFoundation for the Advancement of Teaching found thatmore than a third, 35% of all entering kindergarten stu-dents were judged as not ready for school. This studyrecorded the opinions of kindergarten teachers regardingthe readiness of children who entered their classes in thefall of 1990. A stratified random sample of all kinder-garten teachers in the 50 states, which used a weightedscheme to adjust for differences in population size,resulted in responses from 7141 teachers. This represent-ed a response rate of 34.5%.

In this survey teachers were asked a general ques-tion about how prepared their children were for formaleducation along with specific questions on physical well-being, self-confidence, emotional maturity, languagerichness, general knowledge, and moral awareness. Theresults ranged from Hawaii teachers reporting 47% toNorth Carolina teachers reporting that 23% of theirincoming students are not ready to participate success-fully in kindergarten. In this national study, the kinder-garten teachers in the state of Missouri reported that 33%of their students were not ready. The teachers were also

Rural Kindergarten Teachers 121

asked how the readiness of their most recent class com-pared to those who enrolled 5 years ago and 42% of thenational sample said that fewer are ready now as com-pared to 5 years ago, 33% said they are the same, andonly 25% said entering kindergarten students are moreready now.

When the teachers were asked to identify the area inwhich the children were most deficient, they most fre-quently cited "lack of proficiency in language" (Boyer,1991, p.7). Most teachers also identified emotional matu-rity, general knowledge level, social confidence, andmoral awareness as moderate or serious problems. Incontrast, 66% of these kindergarten teachers reportedthat physical well-being was either no problem or only aslight problem. Parent education was most frequentlysuggested as a way to improve children's readiness forschool.

School Readiness in Rural America

The readiness status of children who live in ruralAmerica has not been carefully researched. Althoughone-fourth of the population of the United States lives inrural areas, defined by the Bureau of the Census as theopen countryside and those places outside urbanizedareas with less than 2500 inhabitants (Thornburg,Mathews, Espinosa, & Ispa, in press), few researchershave specifically addressed the early learning conditionsand needs of young rural America. There are indirectindicators that rural children may be worse off than theirurban counterparts; they are more likely to be poor, lesslikely to have access to health services, less likely toattend educationally-oriented preschool programs, andare more likely to have teenage mothers. In addition,rural schools spend less per student than metropolitanschools and employ teachers with less experience, lesstraining, and higher rates of teacher turnover (Sherman,1992). However, rural children are slightly more likely tolive in a two-parent household in which the parents hadnever been divorced or widowed (Baden et al., 1988).There is some evidence that rural individuals are moreconservative and value family and community interac-tion, have more traditional gender role ideologies, andvalue kindness, physical development, honesty, religion,self-control, social skills, status and creativity (Bescher-Donnelly & Smith, 1981; Hennon & Photiadis, 1979;Marotz-Baden et al., 1988). Unfortunately, the Carnegiestudy did not distinguish between rural and urban teach-ers, therefore no comparisons could be made between thereadiness status of young rural and urban children.

Based on this complex picture of life in ruralAmerica, it is important to ask how these unique condi-

tions contribute to the academic readiness of young chil-dren; how do teachers in rural communities perceive thereadiness status of their entering kindergarten students?

A Study of School Readiness in Rural Missouri

This investigation was designed to assess ruralkindergarten teachers' perceptions of the readiness levelsof their incoming children and compare the results of thisMidwestern rural sample with the results of the nationalCarnegie study. This study was conducted in 11 Missouricommunities with populations less than 2500; the pover-ty rates and employment rates in these 11 communitiesare representative of communities of less than 2500statewide.

The 11 targeted communities had a total of 46kindergarten teachers, ranging from 1-11 in each com-munity. The principal from each school was contactedand asked to explain the study to the kindergarten teach-ers. Enough questionnaires were sent to the principals foreach teacher to participate. Separate self-addressedreturn envelopes were sent so teachers could return thecompleted questionnaires themselves. Ninety-five per-cent of the kindergarten teachers (44 out of 46) returnedcompleted questionnaires for this study.

Kindergarten teachers were asked to rate how manyof their students did not meet their expectations on 12school readiness items. The questions were an adaptationof the items used in the Carnegie National Survey ofKindergarten teachers (see Appendix). Sample itemsincluded "How many students could not sit and payattention when appropriate?" "How many were notenthusiastic and curious when approaching new activi-ties?" and "How many were not socially competent?"The teachers were also asked about their familiarity withthe children's child care arrangements prior to enteringkindergarten. They were then asked to answer the same12 questions once more, this time specifically regardingthe children whom they knew had been in nonparentalcare during early childhood. Five additional questions onschool readiness concluded the survey: "Do you thinkchild care arrangements prior to kindergarten are relatedto school readiness?," "If yes, please explain," Have younoticed a change in students' readiness for school in thepast five years?," "If yes, in what direction?," and "Whatdo you think is causing this change?"

Comparison of National Data with Rural MissouriData

Tables I and II contain the results of the rural sam-ple compared with the results of the national Carnegie

122 Espinosa, Thornburg, and Mathews

sample. The rural teachers were most likely to rate theirstudents as deficient in problem-solving skills (32% notready), not being able to sit and pay attention (28% notready), not being able to take turns and share (25% notready), and not ready to learn math and literacy concepts(25% not ready). The area of least concern was physicaldevelopment with just 7% of the children judged to benot physically healthy, 8% not well-nourished, and 13%not physically rested. The majority of the Missouri teach-ers felt that children are less ready now than they were 5years ago (55%), although a sizeable minority, (36%),stated they thought children were more ready now than 5years ago. The differences between teachers' perceptionsof the cognitive, social-emotional, and physical readinessof children who had been in child care and those who hadnot was not statistically significant as measured by a T-test procedure.

By contrast, the national Carnegie sample judgedmore of their students to be unready overall (35%), anddramatically more felt the children who were unready tohave problems with language (88%), emotional maturity(86%), general knowledge (83%), and social confidence(80%). Fewer teachers in the national sample viewed stu-dents less ready today than 5 years ago (43%); fewer alsoreported students more ready (25%), with a much largerpercentage judging children to be about as ready as theywere 5 years ago (33% vs. 9%).

DISCUSSION

Kindergarten teachers in rural Missouri appear toperceive fewer of their children as not ready to partici-pate successfully in school. Taken by itself, there are sev-eral plausible explanations for this finding. However,when the complete profile of findings for the rural sam-ple is carefully analyzed, additional inconsistenciesemerge. Most of the Missouri teachers reported that chil-dren are less ready than they were 5 years ago and theyrepeatedly cite parents' unavailability as the primary rea-

son. This theme is clearly articulated in the followingexamples:

• "More parents are working—less time for indi-vidual attention. By the time they get home, cook,clean up, baths, it's time for bed. Many parents'buy' their child now in place of spending timewith them."

• "Parents seem to be spending less time with theirchildren, reading and talking to them less."

• "The kids today get less attention. I think the con-cept of quality time is a myth. Quality time hap-pens in the middle of quantity time. These kidsare not getting the quantity time they need anddeserve."

These teachers have a clear vision of young chil-dren's developmental status being compromised by theinaccessibility of their parents. They perceive that as theamount of time parents spend with their very young chil-dren decreases, their children's readiness for school alsodecreases. However, when asked about the influences ofchild care on children's school readiness, many of thesesame teachers cited a good preschool as important inpreparing children for school.

• "In kindergarten, there is a wide range of back-ground knowledge. If a child has been in apreschool or even a sitter that reads, plays with,and talks to, their background is so much greater."

• "Certain babysitters always send me excellent,well-behaved students who are ready to learn."

• "Social skills are better for kids in day care. Daycare kids are less likely to complete a task in aspecified time."

Table I. Carnegie Kindergarten Teachers' Survey Resultsa,b

Percentage of students not ready to participate successfullyFor those children who entered school not ready to learn:Language richness is a moderate to serious problemEmotional maturity is a moderate to serious problemGeneral knowledge is a moderate to serious problemSocial confidence is a moderate to serious problemMoral awareness is a moderate to serious problemPhysical well-being is a moderate to serious problem

35%

88%86%83%80%60%33%

aReprinted from E. Boyer (1991). Ready to learn: A mandate for thenation. Princeton, NJ: Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement ofTeaching.

bN=7141.

Table II. Missouri Survey of Rural Kindergarten Teachersb

Percentage of children who:

Cognitive developmentDid not have good problem-solving skillsCould not sit and pay attention when appropriateWere not ready to learn expected math and literacy conceptsCould not effectively communicate needs, wants,

and thoughts verballyWere not enthusiastic and curious when approaching

new activities

Social-emotional developmentCould not effectively take turns and share with othersWere not sensitive to other children's feelingsWere not socially competentWere not appropriately compliant with adults

Physical developmentWere not physically restedWere not physically healthy

32%28%25%

15%

13%

25%18%15%15%

13%7%

Rural Kindergarten Teachers 123

• "Nearly all my children have attended Head Startor a preschool and they have an advantage. Butthe child who is not read to or talked to falls evenfurther behind."

Those teachers who believed children were lessready today than 5 years ago all mentioned some type ofneglect or breakdown of the family structure,"Dysfunctional families are very common," "Babies hav-ing babies." They believe children are not receiving thenurturing and early stimulation they need because par-ents are more likely to be stressed, too young, on drugs,or simply unable to adequately parent. The phenomenonof family breakdown with its inevitable negative conse-quences for young children is perceived as a major prob-lem by the majority of rural kindergarten teachers sam-pled.

Those teachers who stated that children are moreready today, frequently mentioned a good preschoolexperience as contributing to the children's academicpreparedness (e.g., "Preschool/Head Start programs helpto better prepare the children both academically andsocially," "They are learning reading and math skills thatare enabling them to succeed at a higher level"). This siz-able minority (36%) perceive kindergarten children bet-ter prepared today because of the benefits of a goodpreschool program. None of the kindergarten teachersmentioned parents as doing a better job today; all whomentioned enhanced readiness attributed it to group edu-cational experiences.

Although most rural kindergarten teachers considertheir students as better prepared for school than thekindergarten teachers sampled in the Carnegie study,they also report that 5-year-olds are less ready today thanthey were 5 years ago. These findings underscore anational trend; while some children are undoubtably suf-fering from neglect and deprivation during their mostformative years, others are benefitting from high qualitypreschool experiences.

Unfortunately, rural America faces a shortage oflicensed child care centers, regulated family child care,and accredited preschool centers (Sherman, 1992). Whilewe now know that most child care in this country is ofpoor to minimally adequate quality (Cost, Quality,Outcomes Study, 1995), the situation appears particular-ly acute in rural America. Rural children are consider-ably less likely than their urban counterparts to beenrolled in formal early childhood programs and ruralchild care may be of inferior quality based on staff train-ing, credentials, child-to-staff ratios, and other measures(Sherman, 1992).

These findings further document the precarious sta-tus of young children in rural America. While teachers

are reporting similar social conditions so often cited byinner city teachers, i.e., parental neglect, drugs, singleparenting, and poverty, they are also recognizing thepromise of high quality preschool programs. One teachersuccinctly represented this situation:

We have 3 very good child care providers in our com-munity. These children are always prepared for schooland their readiness skills are generally above average.

I see a broader gap in the children coming to school.Some children have excellent readiness skills and thenother children have very limited readiness skills.

These data suggest that kindergarten teachers inrural America perceive the readiness status of their stu-dents differently than their urban counterparts. They alsotended to cluster into two groups with one viewing chil-dren's entering abilities as declining over the past 5 yearsdue to a breakdown in family functioning and the othersmaller group viewing children as being better off todaybecause of enriching early educational programs. Itcould be that both groups are right and if the questionswere worded differently, they may have commented onthis growing disparity. Further research should investi-gate whether these two groups of rural kindergartenteachers are different in any important ways such as age,parental status, training, experience, or income.

While there are many similarities between rural andurban social, economic, and educational conditions,there are also many important distinctions. The earlylearning environments of young rural children, theirdevelopmental status at school entry, and their subse-quent educational experiences are of vital concern to allof America. This study reveals some differences inteacher perceptions; further research is needed to moreprecisely profile the complex realities of early childhoodin rural America.

These findings reveal serious concerns kindergartenteachers have regarding the quality of care many youngchildren are receiving in rural communities; they alsoconfirm that kindergarten teachers believe that high qual-ity preschool experiences can enhance young children'sreadiness for school. Taken together, these findingsunderscore the need to address the quality of child careand preschool programs available in rural America. Theearly childhood community needs to both understand thecondition better and work toward improving the qualityand availability of preschool programs for rural childrenand families.

REFERENCESBescher-Donnelly, L., & Smith. L. (1981). The changing roles and sta-

tus of rural women. In R. Coward and W. Smith Jr. (Eds.), The

124 Espinosa, Thornburg, and Mathews

family in rural society (pp. 91-103). Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Boyer, E. (1991). Ready to learn: A mandate for the nation. Princeton,

NJ: Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.California State Department of Education (1988). Here they come:

Ready or not. Sacramento, CA: Author.Cost, Quality, & Outcomes Study Team (1995). Cost, quality, and child

outcomes in child care centers, executive summary (2nd ed.).Denver: Economics Department, University of Colorado atDenver.

Crnic, K., & Lamberty, G. (1994). Reconsidering school readiness:Conceptual and applied perspectives. Early Education andDevelopment. 5, 93-104.

Hennon, C., & Photiadis, J. (1979). The rural Appalachian low-incomemale: Changing role in a changing family. The FamilyCoordinator, 28, 608-615.

Kagan, S. L. (1990). Readiness 2000: Rethinking rhetoric and respon-sibility. Phi Delta Kappan, 72, 272-279.

Katz, L. (1991). Readiness: Children and Schools, ERIC Digest #EDO-PS-91-4.

Ladd, G. W., & Price, J. M. (1987). Predicting children's social andschool adjustment following the transition from preschool tokindergarten. Child Development. 58, 1168-1189.

Marotz-Baden, R., Hennon, C. B., & Brubaker, T.H. (Eds.) (1988).Families in rural America: Stress, adaptation and revitalization.St. Paul, MN: National Council on Family Relations.

Meisels, S. (1992). Doing harm by doing good: latrogenic effects ofearly childhood enrollment and promotion policies. EarlyChildhood Research Quarterly, 7, 155-174.

Reynolds, A. (1991). Early schooling of children at risk. AmericanEducational Research Journal, 28, 392-422.

Schweinhart, L., Barnes, H., & Weikert, D. (1993). Significant benefits:The High/Scope Perry preschool study. Ypsilanti, MI: High/ScopePress.

Sherman, A. Falling by the wayside: Children in rural America.Washington, DC: Children's Defense Fund.

Shepard, L. A., & Smith, M. L. (1986). Synthesis of research on schoolreadiness and kindergarten. Educational Leadership, 44, 78-88.

Thornburg, K., Mathews, M., Espinosa, L., & Ispa, J. (in press).Perceptions of child care in rural America. Journal of Research inRural Sociology.

APPENDIX. KINDERGARTENTEACHER EVALUATION OF SCHOOLREADINESS

1. How many years have you taught?If you teach separate a.m. and p.m. kindergarten classes, answerthe questions with respect to the MORNING class.

2. How many children in your class?3. How many children have special needs and are being

mainstreamed?

After the first few weeks of school, approximatelyhow many of your students did NOT meet yourexpectations with respect to the following character-istics?

How many students (excluding special educationstudents)...4. Could NOT effectively communicate needs, wants,

and thoughts verbally?5. Were NOT enthusiastic and curious when

approaching new activities?

6. Were NOT appropriately compliant with adults?

7. Could NOT effectively take turns and share withothers?

8. Were NOT physically healthy?9. Were NOT physically rested?

10. Were NOT well-nourished?11. Could NOT sit and pay attention when appropriate?

12. Were NOT socially competent?13. Were NOT sensitive to other children's feelings?

14. Were NOT ready to learn expected math and litera-cy concepts?

15. Did NOT have good problem-solving skills?16. How familiar are you with the child care arrange-

ments your students had prior to their entrance intokindergarten? (circle one)No Know for a Know for Know for

Knowledge few children most children all children1 2 3 4Considering the children for whom you do know

child care histories, how many...17. Were cared for almost exclusively by their

parents/stepparents (excluding occasional baby-sit-ting)?

18. Received regular nonparental care (i.e., nanny, HeadStart, nursery schools, day care, preschool)?

Thinking only about the children in your class whoexperienced nonparental care, please respond to thefollowing questions. After the first few weeks ofschool, approximately how many of your studentsdid NOT meet your expectations for a child enteringkindergarten with respect to the following character-istics?

How many of these students (excluding special edu-cation students)...19. Could NOT effectively communicate needs, wants,

and thoughts verbally?20. Were NOT enthusiastic and curious when

approaching new activities? _____21. Were NOT appropriately compliant with adults?

22. Could NOT effectively take turns and share withothers?

23. Were NOT physically healthy?24. Were NOT physically rested?25. Were NOT well-nourished?26. Could NOT sit and pay attention when appropriate?27. Were NOT socially competent?

Rural Kindergarten Teachers 125

28. Were NOT sensitive to other children's feelings?

29. Were NOT ready to learn expected math and litera-cy concepts?

30. Did NOT have good problem-solving skills?31. Do you think child care arrangements prior to

kindergarten are related to school readiness?Not at all Very much so

1 2 3 432. If you circled 3 or 4, please explain

33. Have you noticed a change in your students' readi-ness for school in the past 5 years?Yes No N/A

34. If yes, in what direction?More ready Less ready

35. If yes, what do you think is causing this change?

Thank you for Participating!