School Readiness Beliefs of Dominican and Salvadoran Immigrant Parents

ABSTRACT

Parents are children’s first teachers, and it is critical that they understand what children need to be successful in school. This study examined the school readiness beliefs of 43 Latinx immigrant parents from the Dominican Republic and El Salvador. Parents participated in semi-structured interviews regarding which skills their children should have before starting kindergarten, how they perceived their role in helping children acquire these skills, and how they learned which skills were necessary for success. Research Findings: Social and language skills were the most commonly identified school readiness skills. Approximately half of the parents mentioned math and general knowledge. Less than a third of the parents named self-care skills, motor development, and interest or motivation. Almost all parents in this study described taking an active role in fostering their children’s school readiness skills. Parents typically described getting information through informal channels: either from friends and family or through experiences with older children. Only a few parents mentioned getting information from schools regarding the skills needed for kindergarten. Practice/Policy: Schools and policymakers should explore ways to provide parents with information about school readiness before children reach the age of five.

Acknowledgments

We thank the parents who participated in this project. We also thank our research assistants for their important contributions to data collection and preparation: Andrea Morales, Idania Ramos, Marisa Padeletti, Tyler Moore, Amanda Ferrante, Jocelyn Godoy, Sophie Goodfellow, Raquel Jouvin, Ying Lu, Isabela Madrigal, Benjamin Quiñones Shepherd, Qinqin Yang, Bing Zhou.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. If participant country of origin was not reported in past studies, we used the term “Latinx.”

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by research grants provided by Lehigh University and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.