Parental Notions of School Readiness: How Have They Changed and Has Preschool Made a Difference?

The authors examined school readiness from the parental perspective, focusing on parents’ efforts and expectations for kindergarten in conjunction with their child's academic development. Using self-reported survey data from two waves of the National Household Education Surveys, the authors tested for changes in school readiness between 1993 and 2007 and related these changes to the expansion of preschool enrollment. Over the 14-year period, there was a significant increase in parental reports of child development and a heightened set of expectations for what parents viewed as essential for entry into kindergarten, but results indicated only modest changes in parent effort. Preschool enrollment was strongly associated with child development, and although preschool has expanded, the association was stronger in the more recent period. Preschool enrollment did not displace parental effort—they were moderately positively correlated—nor did it appear to play a strong role in shaping parental expectations of kindergarten readiness.