Disparities in School Readiness
How Families Contribute to Transitions into School
Edited by Alan Booth, Ann C. Crouter
Psychology Press – 2007 – 320 pages
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:
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.
Preface. Part 1. Inequalities in Children's School Readiness at School Entry. G.Farkas, J. Hibel, Being Unready for School: Factors Affecting Risk and Resilience. M. Lopez, S. Barrueco, In Search of Meaning: Disentangling the Complex Influences on Children's School Readiness. J. McLeod, Explaining the Gap in School Readiness. L. Vernon-Feagans, E. Odom, N. Pancsofar, K. Kainz, Farkas and Hibel, and a Transactional/Ecological Model of Readiness and Inequality. G. Farkas, J. Hibel, Reply to Lopez and Barrueco. Part 2. Effects of Family Processes on Earlybrain Development and Academic Skills Acquisition. S. Landry, K. Smith, Family Processes that Support School Readiness: Specific Behaviors and Contextual Conditions that Set This Process in Motion. C. Blair, Study of the Effects of Parenting on Aspects of Brain Growth and Development Relevant to School Readiness: A Work in Progress. G. Guo, J. Daw, Genetic Source of Reading Disability and a Proposal to Use NLSY-Children to Study Genetic and Environmental Influences on Reading Disability. K. Snow, Proximal Processes in School Readiness. Part 3. Parental Conceptualization and Organization of Non-familial Experiences for Children. A. Lareau, E. Weininger, The Context of School Readiness: Social Class Difference in Time Use in Family Life. D. Hughes, Cultural versus Social Class Contexts for Extra-Curricular Activity Participation. S. Hofferth, Linking Social Class to Concerted Cultivation, Natural Growth and School Readiness. J. Mahoney, J. Eccles, Organized Activity Participation for Children from Low- and Middle-Income Families. Part 4. Effects of Child Risk Characteristics and Family Processes on the Development of Children's Behavioral Control. S. Campbell, C. von Stauffenberg, Child Characteristics and Family Processes that Predict Behavioral Readiness for School. H. Yoshikawa, E. Godfrey, Using Developmental Evidence on Behavioral School Readiness to Inform Prevention and Policy. R. DeV. Peters, D. Ridgeway, Behavioral Unreadiness for School: Issues and Interventions. K. Bierman, R. Nix, K. Makin-Byrd, Using Family-Focused Interventions to Promote Child Behavioral Readiness for School. R. Sanford DeRousie, R. Durham, Processes and Factors Influencing Family Contributions to School Readiness.