Kindergarten readiness : what's important to parents and teachers

The issue of what is important for successful kindergarten readiness has been under debate for many years. This study was designed to examine what parents and teachers consider important when it comes to the successful kindergarten transition of their children and students. A rating scale, comprised of twenty-four skills and behaviors typically considered necessary for kindergarten entry, was developed and distributed to twenty parents and twenty teachers. The participants rated these twenty-four factors on their relative importance. The significance of my study was to explore the core commonalities and differences in the opinions of these parents and teachers. The evidence suggests that in general these parents and teachers are in agreement as to what constitutes kindergarten readiness. In addition, that these participants regarded a majority of the factors as all being important in some measure to a successful kindergarten transition. The hopes of the researchers is that this study and its results can be used as a pilot for future research to be generalized to a larger population, with the ultimate goal of increasing collaboration between parents and teachers of young children, specifically on the topic of kindergarten readiness