Study shows nearly a quarter of kids in Springfield are not prepared for kindergarten:
The Mayor’s Commission for Children’s 2022 Kindergarten Readiness Study found nearly one-quarter of Springfield kids were not prepared for kindergarten.
The commission conducts the study approximately every four years. This year, the study was prepared by Dr. Melissa Duncan Fallone from the Dixon Center for Research and Service at Missouri State University.
- A total of 360 surveys were completed by Springfield Public Schools teachers for a response rate of 80%. 2022 overall readiness results indicate 23.9% of those surveyed were not prepared for kindergarten.
- 36.6% of free and reduced lunch program students were reported as “not ready,” while 13.5% of their non-free and reduced lunch program peers reported as “not ready.”
- 53.8% of students who did not attend a formal preschool were reported as “not ready,” as compared to 20.4% of their preschool-attending peers.
I wondered what kind of hard metrics they used to determine if a child was ready for kindergarten, so I looked at the study itself. At my cursory glance, it looks like the actual hard data is simply a survey of kindergarten teachers who are asked how ready a student is, although the study references the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA) “evaluation” which basically scores conditioning to school conditions and the Developmental Indicators for the Assessment of Learning (DIAL-3 and DIAL-4) which is… well, a quick Internet search doesn’t explain exactly what it measures in children from 4 to 6 (kindergarten age), but I did see extracts of at least one paper disputing its value.
Which means that ready for kindergarten probably tracks pretty closely with has already been conditioned to sit quietly for periods of time and to do directed activities as directed (id est, to not be a pain in the butt to the teacher) and not so much academic performance or preparedness. So, yeah, kids who have already those school-coping skills at pre-school programs that cost money would be better prepared for school than kids who spent their days with their grandparents or moms and had the run of the house or the yard but are suddenly given desks and schedules.
The report does not break down or break out other children’s activities that might accustom them to the organized activities of school, such as day care, Sunday school at church, or Vacation Bible School. Nor does it explore whether children would be more ready for school at age 6 rather than as soon as possible.
Because it’s not so much science as it is lobbying for more money and to extend the state schools’ reach in childhood.
