What to Say if a Parent Asks...
‘Is My Child Ready for School?’
by Kathy Neary
This month’s Guest Educator is Kathy Neary, an adjunct professor of education at Delaware County Community College and West Chester University. She was a teacher for 28 years in the Chichester School District, Boothwyn, PA.
MetroKids seeks Guest Educators to write this new monthly feature. Written from an educational perspective, articles should be jargon-free and should also inform parents. If you would like to write a Guest Educator article, please e-mail editor@metrokids.com with your idea.
Is my child ready for school? As local school districts publish kindergarten registration schedules, parents often look to teachers for a simple answer where there is none.
No teacher can make this decision for parents, but rather, teachers can offer some factors to consider when making such a decision.
Our American culture of “faster is better” has pushed the expectation of skill acquisition to earlier grades. The material that was taught in late first grade when I started my career in 1974 is now taught in early kindergarten!
Bright Doesn’t Mean Ready
Put parents at ease with this assurance: Being bright and being ready for school are not the same thing. The issue is one of developmental diversity not intellect.
Research by James K. Uphoff, EdD of the College of Education and Human Services, Wright State University in Dayton, OH indicates that children who are less than 51/2 years of age at the time of entrance into kindergarten are much more likely to encounter problems.
Other factors warrant a “readiness reflection”:
Early General Health and Nutrition. Poor nutrition in preschool years, frequent ear infections, allergies, asthma or other similar problems can inhibit learning.
Low Birth Weight. A prematurely born child with a low birth weight often experiences delays in many aspects of development.
Gender. Boys are about 6 months behind girls in physiological development at age 5. Boys need more time than girls to reach the same developmental milestones.
Memory level. If a child has difficulty remembering common phrases, such as in a prayer, an address, or a frequently shown TV commercial, that child can experience problems with the demands of the typical kindergarten curriculum.
Attention span. Research has clearly shown a strong connection between the amount of time a child spends working on a skill and achievement. Disruptive behavior is much more likely to occur when a 5-year-old is asked to sit still for 20 minutes and attend to one activity.
Social Skills. A child with delayed social development will be reluctant to leave the security of a known environment. Plucking a clinging child from a mother, father or caretaker does not make school seem like a safe, secure and welcoming place.
Speaking/Listening Skills. The ability to communicate is closely related to maturity. Children need to be able to express their needs and wants clearly and without “baby talk.” Similarly, children will need to comprehend stories read to them, as well as follow simple one- and two-step directions.
Reading Interest. Children are like adults in that they don’t want to do an activity that holds little interest for them.
If a child does not like to be read to, does not want to watch a TV or video story all the way through or rarely picks up a book to browse through, odds are that such a child will not be well suited to a kindergarten curriculum.
Small Motor Skills. The ability to draw, cut, paste and even write with a #2 pencil are very important in today’s academically-demanding kindergarten classes. The lack of eye/hand coordination to complete these tasks will result in frustration.
Consider the Long Term
Many school districts demand that a child turn 5 before September 1 of the year he enters kindergarten; others place the deadline on January 1, allowing many students to enter kindergarten at the age of 4.
These deadlines were set years ago, long before research indicated that chronologically younger children in any grade are more likely than older children to
• Become dropouts
• Be referred for testing for special services
• Be a discipline problem
• Receive counseling
• Be behind their peers in athletic skill level
• Be slower in social development
• Be more of a follower than a leader
• Earn lower grades
• Score lower on achievement tests
Parents need to consider the long term. Delaying entry to kindergarten might mean the inconvenience and expense of another year in a preschool program. However, a child who is pushed to do too much too soon is more likely never to like school and is likely to have problems all the way through. A child who is eager and ready to learn will be a life-long learner, having had a successful experience with the first step of a 13-year journey.
“Is my child ready for school?” is a question that I have been asked for 30 years by family and friends. In those 30 years I have never heard a word of regret from parents who gifted their children with an extra year to grow and mature. As any parent with grown children will lament, the time from kindergarten to college is just a blink of the eye.