Parent and teacher perceptions of ESL and non-ESL preschoolers’ school readiness

Abstract

In this study, we explore parent and teacher perceptions of school readiness (SR) among 4-year-olds learning English as a second language (ESL) and native English-speaking 4-year-olds and compare these perceptions to child scores. Child assessments focused on letter and numeral knowledge. These data were collected from 387 children (52% boys), including 28% ESL children. Adult perspectives were collected from 141 parents (who rated one child each) and from 30 teachers (who rated 380 children). Findings indicated (a) children’s letter and numeral knowledge did not significantly vary by ESL status; (b) teachers, but not parents, rated ESL children significantly lower on literacy knowledge compared to non-ESL children; (c) teacher and, to a lesser extent, parent perceptions of children’s literacy and numeracy knowledge were positively associated with children’s scores; and (d) teacher perception of numeracy was significantly more aligned with children’s numeral knowledge compared to parent perception. Discussion of these findings is included.

Keywords:

• Parent perceptions
• teacher perceptions
• school readiness
• preschooler
• English as a second language

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge and thank Kelly Moon Allison for her input and suggestions on an earlier draft. We would also like to thank Gail Gregg for her help and support during the development of this project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.