The study explored teachers' perceptions of how district provided prekindergarten influences academic and social emotional school readiness for first grade students in a low socioeconomic school district in Southern Arkansas. Piaget's "Theory of Cognitive Development" and "Erikson's Theory of Psychosocial Development" were the guiding theories. A qualitative case study design was employed. Data was collected through two-round interviews with seven teachers who teach first grade students in a low socioeconomic district in south Arkansas. The interview questions were derived from the "Arkansas Child Development and Early Learning Standards." The interviews were transcribed and then coded to derive themes. Findings showed that teachers do perceive that participation in district provided prekindergarten does positively influence social emotional and academic school readiness of first grade students in this low socioeconomic district in southern Arkansas. However, it was not conclusive whether the district provided prekindergarten is the best or only way for children to achieve academic and social emotional school readiness. The implications of these findings on practice, policy, and research were discussed. Implications for practice follow. Teachers may use the "Arkansas Kindergarten Readiness Checklist" to assess academic and social emotional school readiness of first grade students to create individualized goals to help students advance their readiness skills while providing data that could influence change in the district. This could potentially encourage the district to provide prekindergarten for all eligible students in the district. The implications for policy include districts committing to sharing the importance of prekindergarten through promotion of their program or social media campaigns; or hosting an open house for potential students' parents. Districts may disseminate the readiness checklist to parents as well. Furthermore, districts would look at inequities across the state and use access to district provided prekindergarten to address those when possible. Finally, research implications include a need for a cost analysis to determine the returns on providing prekindergarten to students to avoid later, costly behavior and academic interventions. Further research may be conducted about various preschool experiences and their comparative effectiveness perhaps including more than one district to shed light on a systemic concern for much of Arkansas. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]