Inequity Well Before the Starting Gate

Every year, more than three million children enroll in a public kindergarten program.  A momentous time in their young lives, each child enters with different strengths, weaknesses, skills and needs.  Some differnces are to be expected as normal variations in development, but unfortunately, socioeconomic factors appear to contribute significantly to a school readiness divide.    For decades, studies have revealed that a child's home environment has a profound influence on his/her development and reaidness for school.  Hart & Risley (1995), in their now clasic study found that by the age of three, children in families receiving welfare had vocabularies that were half as large as those of their more affluent peers, with these disparities persisting through childhood. 

Early Childhood Intervention Programs and School Readiness Programs are in place to assist these young children in meeting their developmental milestones.  I attended a Head Start Quarterly Meeting today and learned that in their curriculum they are implementing a school readiness curriculum.  They are working with children in Early Head Start and Head Start be ready for when they start their first day in kindergarten.  They are making sure that each one of the children in their classrooms have a book and that they learn to read this book and understand what they are reading.  So what can we do in order to work on these inequities for all children to start school at the same level as their peers?  The ECLS-K data also provides evidence regarding how some of these inequalities might be reduced.  Children who attend center-based preschool perform better in kindergarten when compared with peers who did not attend preschool.  These effects were larger for lower income children and the effects in reading and math were sustained as the children moved into first grade (Magnuson, Meyers, Ruhm, & Wadlfogel, 2004).,

I believe that we should provide the same level of education to all children no matter what their socioeconomic status is.  Every child is entitled to the same level of quality education in order to not leave any child behind.  In attending the Head Start Quarterly Meeting I heard the message from a speaker where in his school's curriculum they teach the students in their native language.  They set aside one day to speak in Spanish, however, an English speaking student is paired with a Spanish speaking student in order for them to help each other out.

I am saddened by the fact that the School Readiness Program did not receive continued funding from the State and had to be terminated.  What we need to do is make sure that our policy makers are aware of how important it is to continue with programs which are going to make a difference in a young child's life.


Kagan, S. L. (2009). American early childhood education: Preventing or perpetuating inequity? (Equity Matters: Research Review No. 3). Retrieved from Campaign for Educational Equity website: http://www.equitycampaign.org/i/a/document/9833_EquityMatters_Kagan_Final.pdf

  Daily, S., Burkhauser, M., & Halle, T. (2010). A review of school readiness practices in the states: Early learning guidelines and assessments. Child Trends: Early Childhood Highlights, 1(3), 1–12. Retrieved from http://www.childtrends.org/Files//Child_Trends-2010_06_18_ECH_SchoolReadiness.pdf