The effects of parental involvement on children's school readiness skills

The purpose of this dissertation is to test a number of models that examine the effects of parental involvement on kindergartners' school readiness skills and whether the models differ for race/ethnic groups. The National Center for Early Development and Learning's (NCEDL) Multi-State Study of Pre-Kindergarten dataset was used for the current study. Data were collected on parental intentional teaching and socialization practices, the quantity of parental involvement in school-based activities, the quality of the parent-teacher relationship, and children's school readiness as indexed by early academic skills (i.e., receptive vocabulary, expressive vocabulary, letter identification skills, and math skills) and social competence. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to investigate the effects of intentional teaching and socialization practices on children's school readiness skills (N = 179). Structural equation modeling was used to investigate the effects of the quantity of parental involvement at school and the quality of the homeschool relationship on children's school readiness skills (N = 742).;The results revealed that greater use of discourse practices by parents was associated with children's significantly higher receptive and expressive vocabulary scores. However, intentional teaching practices were associated with children's significantly higher letter identification scores. Neither intentional teaching nor socialization practices predicted math or social competence skills. Race/ethnicity moderated the relationship between parental criticism and children's expressive vocabulary skills. The quantity of parental involvement in school-based activities was not associated with children's outcomes. However, the quality of the home-school relationship was positively associated with children's letter identification skills and social competence. Race/ethnicity moderated the relationship between the quantity of parental involvement and the quality of the home-school relationship. Additionally, race/ethnicity moderated the relationship between quantity of parental involvement and children's expressive vocabulary scores, and between quality of the home-school relationship and expressive vocabulary scores.;The present findings extend previous research by demonstrating the differential effects of socialization and intentional teaching practices on children's early academic outcomes. In addition, this study provides preliminary evidence that close and trusting relationships between parents and teachers can foster children's school readiness skills. The results can be used to develop more effective school readiness interventions for families of young children.