Background: Policymakers' use of high-stakes exams to improve students' academic achievement affects teachers and their tenure in the field at all levels of schooling. Novice teachers now being inducted into the field have been educated almost exclusively in these high-stakes learning environments. Yet, how their familiarity with these contexts…

This qualitative interview-based study compares beliefs about kindergarten readiness and about the roles of preschools in readiness among parents and preschool teachers in three early childhood programs in the northeastern and southwestern United States. Interviews focused on beliefs concerning meanings of kindergarten readiness and the role of…