DescriptionThis study examined the relationships between socio-demographic risk, ecologically based resources and kindergarten readiness skills to investigate if the presence of ecologically based resources increases the likelihood of successful kindergarten readiness skills for disadvantaged children. An ecological and resilience framework was used to conceptualize that differences in kindergarten readiness can result from differences in resources in the multiple contexts in which the child is nested. The analysis used existing data from the nationally representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99. The sample used a subset of children who were all first-time kindergarteners without a diagnosed disability (N=14,918).
The results of this study found that one or more socio-demographic risks was associated with weaker kindergarten readiness skills, one or more ecologically based resources was associated with stronger kindergarten-readiness skills, and the presence of some ecologically based resources reduced the negative effects of socio-demographic risks on kindergarten readiness skills. The findings of this study support the notion that kindergarten readiness may be understood as a function of resiliency, rooted in access to a variety of resources at multiple ecological levels. The implications and recommendations for policy, practice, theory building and research are discussed.