| Recent research and teacher reports have highlighted the importance of early behavior skills for children's school readiness and academic success in elementary school. Significant school readiness and achievement gaps exist between children in poverty and those who are more affluent. Children living in poverty are also more likely to exhibit behavior concerns than their more financially advantaged peers. Helping low-income children improve their behavior skills prior to school entry may be one strategy to help them be more ready for school and more successful once there. The current study examined the importance of behavioral skills at age four for school readiness and academic achievement in elementary school among an ethnically-diverse sample of 2,258 low-income children (62% Latino, 35% Black, 3% White/other) attending center-based child care. Associations between different child care characteristics (teacher-child interactions, child-adult ratio, teacher education, observed quality) and children's behavior problems were also investigated. Analyses revealed that children's behavior problems at age four helped predict children's school readiness and school outcome, even above and beyond cognitive and language skills at age four, providing support for targeting behavior problems prior to school entry as a strategy to help increase the likelihood of low-income children's school readiness and success. Attending a child care center with a staff:child ratio of 1:8 or lower was associated with lower behavior problems at the end of the child care year, just prior to entering kindergarten. Implications for practitioners and funding agencies are discussed. |
