Early Childhood

School Readiness Seen To Hinge On Social, Emotional Adjustment

By Linda Jacobson — September 13, 2000 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

As states continue to increase early-childhood-education opportunities with the goal of getting children ready for school, a new report argues that it’s more important for youngsters to be confident, friendly, and able to follow instructions than to know their numbers, colors, and letters.

Children who are socially and emotionally unhealthy will not only have a tough time making the transition into kindergarten, but they could also be headed for school failure, according to the report released last week by the Child Mental Health Foundations and Agencies Network, a consortium including both government agencies and philanthropic organizations.

For More Information

“A Good Beginning: Sending America’s Children to School With the Social and Emotional Competence They Need to Succeed” is available online from the National Institute of Mental Health. (Requires Adobe’s Acrobat Reader.)

“Social and emotional school readiness is critical to a successful kindergarten transition, early school success, and even later accomplishments in the workplace,” says the report, “A Good Beginning: Sending America’s Children to School With the Social and Emotional Competence They Need to Succeed.”

Drawing from neuroscience, the authors stress that such competence begins in infancy as babies develop secure attachments to their parents or another primary caregiver. From that foundation, children are then able to learn the cognitive skills they’ll need in school, the report argues.

The report cites recent research showing that children who couldn’t follow directions were a bigger problem for kindergarten teachers than those who lacked academic skills. Many new students also had trouble working independently or with a group and had difficulty communicating with teachers and other children.

Besides social and emotional problems, the report says, a wide range of factors put children at risk of school failure. Those include low birth weight and other medical problems, a family’s low socioeconomic status, child abuse, low levels of maternal education, and immigrant or minority status, it says.

Research Needed

More research is needed, the report says, to understand how various risk factors affect school outcomes and how those factors are related to one another. Finding the answers to those questions could generate “more effective preventive and treatment strategies,” it suggests.

Factors that serve to safeguard children against difficulties in school include self-confidence, an easy temperament, living with both parents, having an organized home environment, and having a large number of classroom friends, according to the report. It concludes that, for at-risk children, “parents can play a key role in developing the social and emotional competence of their young children.”

Barbara T. Bowman, the president of the Erikson Institute, a Chicago graduate school for child development, said the report demonstrates “the pendulum swing that is so common” in the field of early- childhood education.

While social and emotional health is important, she said, “that doesn’t mean you ignore the content.”

In fact, Ms. Bowman, who chaired the committee that produced a recent report titled “Eager To Learn: Educating Our Preschoolers,” said that when children reach school age, their confidence stems from “doing the tasks that have been assigned to you by society.”

“By age 4, children are very aware of their performance and how they measure up to other children,” she said.

Dr. Beatrix A. Hamburg, a visiting professor of pediatrics and child psychology at Cornell University’s medical school in New York City and a consultant to the network, said that the growing emphasis on test results and educational accountability may have been “in the back of people’s minds” as the report was being prepared. But the real goal was to focus on improving the mental health of children who come from high-risk backgrounds.

“A Good Beginning” also includes a review of the many federal programs and policies focusing on the health, development, and welfare of young children, such as the Children’s Health Insurance Program, Head Start, and child-nutrition programs.

Like past reports, this one recommends better coordination of programs as well as the expansion of programs that are based on research. “While the federal government is investing substantial resources in this area,” the report says, “policy, practice and research need to be more interwoven.”

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Early Childhood Preschool Studies Show Lagging Results. Why?
Researchers try to figure out why modern preschool programs are less effective than the landmark projects in the 1960s and 70s.
7 min read
Black female teacher and group of kids coloring during art class at preschool.
iStock / Getty Images Plus
Early Childhood What the Research Says A New Study Shows How Schools Can Maximize Full-Day Pre-K's Benefits
Researchers said principals played a key role in students' academic success through 3rd grade.
6 min read
Teacher Honi Allen, right, supervises as children test how far they can jump at the St. John's Preschool in American Falls, Idaho, on Sept. 28, 2023.
Teacher Honi Allen, right, supervises as children test how far they can jump at the St. John's Preschool in American Falls, Idaho, on Sept. 28, 2023.
Kyle Green/AP
Early Childhood What's Behind the Gaps in Early Intervention Services—And What It Means for K-12 Schools
The GAO says better data could help remove barriers to accessing early intervention services.
3 min read
Close crop of the back of a pre-school girl's head showing her playing with foam puzzle pieces of shapes and numbers.
iStock/Getty
Early Childhood What the Research Says 6 Challenges for Early Educators as Preschool Growth Halts
School enrollment for the nation’s youngest learners has nosedived—and could cause long-term problems.
4 min read
Close crop of the back of a pre-school girl's head showing her playing with foam puzzle pieces of shapes and numbers.
iStock/Getty