The social aspects of learning: The role of theory of mind, children's understanding of teaching and social-behavioral competence in school readiness

Despite a proliferation of federal policies suggesting that school readiness is a key component of early childhood education, readiness is still primarily defined by outcomes rather than strategies. In order to achieve a more process oriented perspective on school readiness, it is important to identify the developmental tasks that are most relevant for a child's ability to effectively participate in a classroom. This may be most crucial in Head Start classrooms, as an ever-present achievement gap threatens the academic success of low-income ethnic minority children. This dissertation took an initial step in exploring the specific components of socio-cognitive development that relate to early math and literacy skills in preschool and Kindergarten children. Specifically, theory of mind was proposed as a mechanism of impact on children's school readiness. Theory of mind may be relevant to school readiness through two pathways: children's understanding of teaching and children's social competence. The main goal of this project was to examine the development of, and relations among, theory of mind, the understanding of teaching, and social-behavioral skills in the prediction of academic outcomes among Head Start and Kindergarten children. A short-term longitudinal design was employed to examine skills across the year. Results are discussed in terms of the contributions that each variable made to the prediction of academic skills, the reliability of new scales of children's understanding of teaching and theory of mind development and the state of, and developmental change in, socio-cognitive constructs in a low-income African American population. Implications for future research on the process oriented variables relevant to school readiness, the impact of social development on academic skills and a framework for thinking about instructional practice in preschool and Kindergarten are discussed.