Investigated relationship between temperament and school readiness scores among 152 kindergarten children. All correlations between Temperament Assessment Battery for Children (TABC) scales and Metropolitan Readiness Test (MRT) scores were significant when effects of receptive vocabulary were removed. Results showed that, once TABC persistence…

This study examines the degree of correlation between the age of a child on entering kindergarten and the child's academic achievement. A review of literature provides evidence that premature learning may actually create a block to later learning. One study reported that many chronologically young children who had a higher than average I.Q. failed…

Supports articles in this "Educational Leadership" issue by Robert Salzer and by Lorrie A. Shepard and Mary Lee Smith concerning overtesting for developmental maturity and school readiness. Underlines differences between screening and readiness tests and sets out criteria for selection and usage--to determine appropriate services for young…

For a successful kindergarten experience, children need to develop certain social and learning skills before entering school. Social skills include cooperation, responsibility, perseverance, and independence. Auditory and visual discrimination and motor and language skills are important for a positive learning experience. (DF)

This document describes domains to be covered by the Work Sampling Assessment of the Delaware Student Testing Programs Kindergarten and First Grade assessment. It contains guidelines to the skills children should demonstrate at these grades. It also describes indicators of these skills in terms of specific achievements. For Kindergarten, the first…

This study examined the ability of the Listen and Look (LL) test of cross-modal perception and the Metropolitan Readiness Test (MRT) to predict reading achievement. Data from 79 first-grade pupils were analyzed. Both the LL and MRT demonstrated predictive validity. (Author/BW)

Compared school readiness as understood by kindergarten teachers in 11 rural Missouri communities with results of national Carnegie study of 7,000 kindergarten teachers. Found that Missouri teachers judged their students as more ready than did the national sample, and a greater portion believed that children are more ready now than five years ago.…

Summarizes school readiness and retention research issues, including youngest first graders' performance, entrance age policies, voluntary decisions to wait an extra year, assessment of children's readiness, and the negative effects of kindergarten and first-grade retention. Concludes that age disadvantages are seldom serious and usually disappear…

The validity of the Lollipop Test: A Diagnostic Screening Test of School Readiness was examined using the Metropolitan Readiness Test (MRT), Level I, Form Q, as the criterion. Appreciable concurrent validity was found across test batteries. Implications for school readiness screening are discussed. (Author/BS)

Investigated the factor composition of the Metropolitan Readiness Test, using first-grade subjects (N=1,241). A total battery score was supported, as well as a second factor believed to represent a language dimension of the test. None of the MRT's other content areas or a distinct prereading measure were identified. (Author/JAC)

The authors, while supporting the view expressed in EC 124 402 that decisions on school readiness should not be determined by birthdate, express concern over statistics used in the study. (CL)

A transitional "pre-first-grade" program (for kindergarten "graduates" judged unready for first grade) has been operating in the Irving (Texas) Independent School District since the early 1980s. This evaluation, comparing three sets of students (participating pre-first-grade students, nonparticipating refusers who entered first…

Data from this ethnographic study of kindergartens in three communities suggest that teachers, parents, and the school as an institution interacted to develop a social interpretation of school readiness. This interpretation framed children's kindergarten experience in each community. (BC)

Almost all 3- and 4-year-olds in Scotland now experience some form of pre-school provision prior to school entry. Given such high rates of participation, the impact of pre-school experiences on children's readiness for primary school has become an important issue for those involved in the early stages of compulsory schooling. Teachers in early…

This review discusses the literature on developmental readiness for school. Specifically included are annotations of articles on the following topics: academic failure and grade retention, failure and retention for immaturity alone, the concept of developmental readiness, chronological versus developmental age, testing of developmental readiness,…