Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

Some Guiding Clarifications

Of late, it is frequently preached by some ill-informed people against paying respect, regard or reverence to Alams, Zarees, Mimbers, Imambadas or any such things dedicated to the sacred memory of the members of the Holy Ahlul Bayt, terming it, 'Shirk' or 'Bid'at or 'Kufr'. Since there is the possibility of some innocent and ignorant Muslims and Non-Muslims alike, not knowing the difference between 'Mawaddat'(i.e., love or faithfulness), and, 'Oboodiat' (i.e., Worship), getting astray, it has become necessary to issue the following clarifications.

Be it known that the move to criticise the expressions of Respect, Regard and Reverence to the Holy Ahlul Bayt and the things dedicated to their sacred memory, is nothing new. Such criticisms and accusations against the devotees of the holy ones, the Shias, have been in vogue since centuries having their start immediately following the departure of the Holy Prophet.

'Mawaddat' (i.e., love or devotion) practised by those attached to the Holy Ahlul Bayt has always been misrepresented as 'Oboodiat' (i.e. worship), just to condemn attachment to the Holy Family, terming the love and the devotion to the Holy ones, as 'Shirk' (i.e., Polytheism) or 'Kufr' (i.e., infidelity). This was done to stop people’s attachment to the Ahlul Bayt, and to enlist strength against those who, inspite of the vicious propaganda against them and even suffering the miserable persecution, remained devoted to the Holy ones of the Prophet's family. The first of such a cry, motivated with the vicious object mentioned above, was raised by some opportunists aspiring for power and authority, immediately as the Holy Prophet departed from this world, saying:

“Man kana Ya'budu Muhammadun faqad maat.”

‘Let everyone who was worshipping Muhammad now know that he is dead (and gone).'

This satiric cry was raised against the devotees of the Holy House, to declare them as 'Kafirs' Infidels i.e., those who worshipped the Holy Prophet instead of God, terming their 'Mawaddat' to the holy ones, which means only love and devotion, as 'Oboodiat' i.e., worship, and thus to declare the attachment to the Ahlul Bayt as 'Shirk' or 'Kufr', whereas only the devotees to the Ahlul Bayt are Muslims in the true and the strict sense of the term, as they worship none but the One and the Only True God, and love the Holy Prophet and his Ahlul Bayt and remain devoted to them under the divine ordinance:

“Say unto the people O' Apostle Muhammad!'I seek not of you any 'Ajr' (compensation) for it (the service of the apostleship) save love of my relatives.” (Holy Qur’an 42:23)

Under the above ordinance from the Lord, none who does not pay the Holy Prophet the 'Ajr' (i.e., recompense) in the love and devotion to the Ahlul Bayt, demanded him, can never be a Muslim at all.

In short, 'Mowaddat' i.e., the love towards the Holy Ahlul Bayt, is purposefully termed as 'Oboodiat', i.e., worship, to blackmail their devotees, the Shias as 'Musrikeen' (i.e., the Polytheists) and 'Kuffar' (the infidels), and to dissuade people from attachment to the Holy Ones.

It must first be remembered that 'Shirk' means associating anything with God and these things which are held sacred by the Shias are never at all held as God, or gods, or in place of God, or that of holy ones to whose memory they are the dedicated. They are mere Emblems and Memorials, dedicated to their memory. This fact has already been made clear and it is once again repeated here for the information of the new uninformed or misinformed critics.

The move against respecting these sacred memorials of the dedicated tokens is only to dissuade the public from their devotion to the Ahlul Bayt, in the guise of preaching 'Tauheed', i.e., the Unity of God, and warning against 'Shirk' which is the most abhorred thing in Islam, particularly in Shia’ism which is the Islam-Original.

Let the misinformed advocates of 'Tauheed' and the Warners against 'Shirk' rest assured that the Shias, in particular when they pray for any divine boon or mercy in the name of the Holy Imams, they never imagine for a while that the actual giver or the bestower of the boon or the giver of the help prayed for, is anyone other than the Almighty Lord of the Universe, and the prayer in the name of the holy ones is only to invoke the mercy of the Lord through the medium of these holy souls who have been declared as God's chosen ones and the nearest and dearest ones to Him.

The misleading question which the critics raise, in that way should not one seek the help he needs directly from God? This question has in itself the answer that when such great devotees of God (i.e., the critics) get ill, why do they go to the doctor? Who is the actual Curer, God or the doctor? Why not they depend upon God for the cure and avoid the means of the doctor, when the doctor is not the actual curer? No, they do it because they have to seek a means or a medium and they do it for they cannot avoid it. This is quite in accordance with the divine guidance from the Lord:

“Seek ye the means to reach Him” (God). (Holy Qur’an 5:35)

None can reach God without the proper means to the end. God Himself has enjoined the Holy Prophet to seek his 'Ajr' or recompense in the love and devotion to his Ahlul Bayt (See 42:23) and the 'Ajr' in the love and devotion to the Holy Ahlul Bayt has been made the way to the Lord (See 25:57).

I ask not any 'Ajr' (recompense) for it (i.e., apostleship) save ye take the way to the Lord (25:57).

And what the 'Ajr' (recompense) is has been mentioned in 42:23.

The reverence and the regard for things dedicated to the sacred memory of the holy ones, is clearly warned by the verse 2:158 in which the Muslims have been ordained to run between the hillocks 'Safa' and 'Marwa' while performing the 'Hajj'. And the following verse of the Holy Qur'an clearly declares the regard for any signs of God (i.e., anything by means of which man remembers God's Glory, His Authority or His Existence) as the piety of the heart of the individual:

“And whosoever respects the signs of God, it surely is of the piety of the heart.” (Holy Qur’an 22:32)

Shias go to the 'Imambadas', the 'Mahfils', the 'Mimbers' and recite there 'Fateha' (i.e., 1st Sura of the Holy Qur'an), and the masterly edited prayers of the great divines viz., Ameerul-Momineen Ali ibnul Husayn and the other Imams. Let the advocates of 'Tauheed' and the warners against 'Shirk' go through the 'Dua' al- Mashlool' or the 'Dua al-Komail’ or the 'Joshan al-Kabeer' or the 'Joshan al-Sagheer' or any other prayers 'Dua' prescribed by the Holy Imams and then say if there can be a greater and a surer source of approaching God or invoking His mercy, than these mediums. People ignorant of these great things, are those who speak against the heavenly means to get nearer to the Lord to be blessed by Him.

It is also necessary to inform the advocates of 'Tauheed' and the warner against 'Shirk' that it is the declared faith and the conviction of every Shia that nothing without the compulsory Salat or Salat, duly performed, can ever benefit any one in approaching God or getting any boon or help from Him or from any one of the holy ones, and the Mosque is the holiest place with nothing to be compared to it.

Sajdah

Who said sajdah or prostration in obeisance to any one besides God is allowed? Sajdah to 'Ghairallah' or 'Masiwallah' (i.e.,other than God) is 'Haram', i.e., strictly prohibited, and Shia'ism the Islam-Original, more than any other school of faith, abhors it, and guards its adherents against it, both from the pulpit and the press. The critic should first know that Sajdah to God differs from the act of merely laying the head on the ground which also is termed as Sajdah.

The Sajdah to God is not only laying the head on the ground, but submitting one's self wholely to God with the realisation of one's negation of his finite existence granted to him, before the infinite. Almighty and the Absolute Existence of the Only Self Existing One, with the intention of worshipping Him as the only Creator, Sustainer, Lord of the Universe.

Mere laying of the head on the ground before any one in any ceremonial way of paying any conventional regard or formal reverence to any one other than God, can never be the 'Sajdah al-Oboodiat' (the prostration of subservience). It will be a 'Sajdah al-Tazeemi' (i.e., the prostration or regard) which was demanded of the angels for Adam:

“(Sajdah) (Prostration) to Adam, they did offer (Sajdah) Prostration save 'lblees' (the Devil)?” (Holy Qur’an 2:37 and 7:11)

This is what God Himself ordered the angels to do:

“When I have made him (Adam) complete and breathe into him spirit of Me, fall ye all down (offering Sajdah) Prostration to him.” (Holy Qur’an 15:29)

If Sajdah in any sense whatsoever was prohibited save to God, the stars would not have been caused to appear to Joseph in his vision, offering 'Sajdah' or prostration to him.

“When Joseph said to his father, 'O' My father: verily I saw eleven stars and the sun and the moon, I saw them, offering Sajdah (prostration) to me.” (Holy Qur’an 12:4)

And why did Yacoob (Jacob) an apostle of God, offer 'Sajdah' to his son Joseph:

“And he (Joseph) raised his parents to the throne and they offered Sajdah (Prostration) to him.” (Holy Qur’an 12:100)

It is sufficiently clear if one wants only to know the truth that Sajdah by way of worship to any object besides God, is strictly prohibited as 'Haram' and abhorred by Shia'ism which is Islam- Original, whereas the act of mere laying of head before anybody in any conventional or ceremonial way of paying the regard, or expressing one's humility to any greatness, or excellence particularly the case of any divine object, which was expected of the angels even by God Himself, and was practised even by a prophet of God like Jacob, is not worship, and hence not objectionable.

Prayer before Any Object

In shia'ism, Salat (or prayer or worship) is due to none but to God and God alone. If any one prays before any object of His worship, it is not objected by Islam. One can offer his prayers before anything even a grave, if the individual does not mean the object as the object of his worship. It is in this spirit and with this point of the faith in view that prayers in the Holy Shrines of Najaf, Karbala, Mashhad etc., are offered, and offering prayers in such sacred places, though they are not mosques, or in places sanctified by dedication to the memories of the godly ones, is definitely commendable and has its 'Fazeelat' or the Grade of Excellence, is without the least opposition or prejudice to the excellence of the prayers offered in a mosque.

Dedication of any Place as Memorial with Regard for it

Erecting a mosque or any such premises in memory of any sacred object or event, has been allowed by the Holy Qur'an. See about the Mosque commanded to be raised at the spot where lay the 'Ashaabe-Kahf' the Sleepers of the Cave (18:21). Holding such places in sanctity with regard and reverence for them, is certainly the sign of piety of the heart, and devotion to God Himself. To preach against offering prayers before graves or in any shrines quoting the Hadith or the saying of the Holy Prophet prohibiting making any grave or a shrine a mosque, without the context in which it was said is nothing short of betraying one's ignorance of the Islamic History. Umm Salma the virtuous wife of the Holy Prophet on her return from the Abyssinian Exile, reported to the Holy Prophet that she had seen in Abyssinia the Christians worshipping the images of Jesus and Mary and the graves of their saints.

The Holy Prophet issued the ordinance or the Hadith prohibiting prayers on the graves as the object of worship. The point underlying in the saying is against a prayer being offered before or around any grave or graves. This point is clarified in the verse 18:21 which commands building of mosque on the grave by which the object is not to start worship of the grave but to consecrate the place by dedicating it to the worship of the Lord, to Whom the departed soul had been devoted, and had itself surrendered.

Remembrance of the Righteous Ones

Remembrance of the holy personalities for their righteousness has been ordained by God, vide 38:48.

Every educated and awakened mind knows that the remembrance of the godly ones by every possible means is remembering God Himself and such a remembrance is highly commendable, rather essential to keep the models of the various aspects of godliness always in view to be imitated or copied by one, for himself or herself to become godly. The object of the Holy ones having been sent into this World was only to set up the models necessary for the guidance of man, for man to copy them and thus get himself qualified and fit for the higher levels of the life of eternal bliss.

The secret is that the ill-informed or the misinformed critics have not at all understood the Most Exalted position of God. They do not know that God is too Great, too Exalted, too Just, too Gracious, too Merciful and too Excellent to be only on the watch to catch hold of every one and chastise him, judging merely the actions or the external appearances, irrespective of the intention or the real object latent in man. It is man who cannot probe into the secrets of the heart of another man that accuses another man basing his accusation merely on his limited and defective knowledge of the outward appearances or the external outlooks. It must be remembered that man's actions are judged by God, the All-Knowing Lord, by his intention.

Let every Muslim remember the well-known declaration of the Holy Prophet:

“An act is naught but with its intention and 'Verily the the actions are judged only by the intentions'.”

'Seena-Zani' or the Chest-Beating

The Shia young, in mourning for the great Martyrs of the Holy Ahlul-Bait, particularly for the First Holy Imam Ameerul-Momineen Ali and the Holy Imam Husayn, the King of Martyrs, beat their breasts, sometimes to the extent of bleeding themselves. Hurting of ones self is of course not allowed in Islam. Shia'ism the Islam- Original knows it and recognises it fully and has no sanction against it.

But when it is a matter for a godly cause, it contents itself with exhortations from the pulpit and the press, and if the uncontrolled emotion of any of its enthusiasts in his extreme love and devotion to the godly cause, helplessly gives expression to it in beating his breast, the law has to be considerate and tolerable in view of the intention of the action not being any defiance of the law, but the helplessness to the love for the godly ones who suffered the miseries, tortures and the most cruel death in the way of the Lord. In such cases, mere common sense will say that the All-Merciful Lord will not only tolerate the well intentioned excess but love the expression of the extreme devotion to His cause.

Thus the breast-beating in mourning for the great martyrs in the way of the Lord, is not condemnable but tolerably commendable, for hurting of one's self is prohibited if that be for any worldly cause besides God's and when it is in the cause of the Lord Himself, the Shia Ulema do not spare exhorting the enthusiasts to control their emotions while expressing their love and devotion in this regard, and since the action does not affect any of the fundamentals of Islam and the intention is not to violate any law which rather in a way strengthens the bias for devotion to a godly cause, it is not stopped by force.

Such toleration is illustrated in the historic event popularly reported about the great devotee of the Holy Prophet Uwais al-Qarani, who, with his own hands pulled out his teeth and this action is praised by the Ulema from the pulpit while they speak of the love and devotion to the Holy Prophet. Why should the same and identical action by the Shias for the Ahlul Bayt be seriously considered and unsparingly criticised instead of issuing a similar to admiration the one given to Owais.

There is an apt example in the practical and everyday life of man to know how far such actions are ingrained in the native endowments in man.

What is an Alam?

The alam wrongly called, the 'Panja' in Southern India, is an emblem or the copy of the Holy Banner of the Holy Imam. It is installed in the houses of the devotees of the Holy Imam and also in separate apartments called the 'Ashurkhanas' or the Imambadas and is respected and honoured as the standard of a king, loyal, respected and honoured by his faithful subjects. The Brute Yazid lowered the one standard of Truth which the Holy Imam held in Karbala but today God alone knows how many millions of such token standards of the Holy Imam are made and honoured in the world by his devotees.

It should be remembered that the Alam is not at all an idol it, any sense of the word. It is never held either in the place of God or in the place of even the Holy Imam. It is only a copy of the Holy Standard of Truth carried by the Holy Imam when he fought against Falsehood. The 'Alam' is held in high esteem and honour as stated above and it is never in any way worshipped. Worship in Islam is due only to God and not even to the Holy rophet who is next only to God in authority over his followers. About the Holy Imam Husayn, Khawaja Moinuddin Chisti one of the great mystics of India has said:

“Husayn is King, the King of Kings,

He is Faith, Defence of Faith from him springs.

Beheaded though

He never bowed to Yazeed

By God, God's unity by him is established”

In which grave is his throne and his crown where is it

'O' Earth! Show us where the might of Yazid is today.’

(Josh Malehabadi)

Let Muslim remember the well-known declaration of the Holy Prophet:

“And act is naught but with its intention” and “Verily the actions are judged only by the intentions.”

Take for instance, when a man dies, the nearest of his relatives particularly his own children, and even among his children, they who love him the most will naturally feel the separation from the departed soul, more than anybody else. One of the sons may be violent in the expression of his grief, hurting himself in an uncontrollable state of behaviour, while the other son may be quietly shedding tears, and others who may also be sorrowful remains suppressing their grief. At the same time such of the relatives and selfish friends, who were only waiting for the death of the man, to have a share in the property left over by him, or to occupy the post or position which he may be vacating, will naturally feel happy though appearing quiet on the occasion.

The same is the case in regard to the degree of expression of the grief for the 'Ahlul Bayt' by the Shias, and the rejoicing made at their martyrdom by others. The fact is that those who are not sorry for the sufferings of the holy ones, seek an excuse for their hard hearted inimical attitude towards the family of the Holy Prophet, and take shelter under the guise of abiding by the law, and since they are not sorry for calamities inflicted on the holy ones, they do not want others to express their sorrow for the holy victims, for it discloses the devilish character and conduct of the assassins whom they regard as their religious leaders.

Alam or the Emblem

'The Alam' which is installed in the Imambadas, is another target of attacks from our ignorant friends who not knowing its actual significance and criticize it as 'Bid'at’ i.e., an unwarranted innovation. Be it known to the critics that the Alam is only the Emblem of the Holy Standard of Islam of which, All the Ever Victorious Lion of God was the Bearer on behalf of the Holy Prophet, and which was held also by ‘Abbas the lion hearted son of Ali the Lion of God on behalf of the Holy Imam Husayn, the grandson of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, against the devilish forces of Yazid in Karbala, when the Yazidian power and authority wanted to destroy the original teachings of Islam.

Since the devilish forces disrespected the Holy Standard of Islam and the Holy Prophet Muhammad, every sincere Muslim today, particularly those attached to the Holy Ahlul Bayt the Shias, instal an emblem of the Holy Standard and pay respect and regard to it, as they would have done, had they been with the Holy Imam in Karbala.

Every lover of Islam and the Holy Prophet would certainly like to do it with all the sincerity and devotion at his command, for as a Royal Banner represents the King and respect to Banner is respect to the King himself. This tokcn or the emblem, the Alam, represents Islam and the Holy Prophet, respect for the Alam is respect to Islam, and respect to Islam is respect to the Holy Prophet himself.

Before criticising the respect or regard for the Alam or the Zarees, i.e., the models of the shrines of the Holy Ahlul Bayt let the critics remember the vacant model of the Mahmil of Hazrat Ayesha the wife of the Holy Prophet, which until yesterday was brought in a Ceremonial way to Mecca every year on the occasion of Hajj, attended by the Ulema walking solemnly along with it. Was Hazrat Ayesha actually sitting in it? If any empty Mahmil without an occupant in it could be respected and solemnly followed by the Ulema how could the emblem of the Standard of Ali Husayn or ‘Abbas or any of the Holy ones of the Ahlul Bayt, become a 'Bid at' and the respect to it be deemed, objectionable.

Majlis al-Aza or the Mourning Congregations

When the tyrannes and the torturous death inflicted on the Holy Ahlul Bayt, could not be denied, the other course adopted to hide the most disgraceful and most brutal and heinous deeds is to declare the Majlis al-Aza or the mourning congregation for the Martyrs of the Ahlul Bayt who are the authentic custodians of the Holy Qur'an and its teachings as 'Bid'at and 'Kufr'. The Majlis al-Aza is the 'Sunnat al-Zainabi', i.e. what was inaugurated in Damascus itself by Hazrate Zainab the sister of the Holy Imam Husayn, the Great Martyr of Karbala as soon as she was out of the prison in Damascus.

And what the Shias do today is only In the footsteps of the Holy Sister of the King of Martyrs, Lady Zainab who was one of the members of the family of the Holy Prophet, the daughter of Ali and Fatimah, one of the great sufferers at Karbala, Kufa and Damascus and who herself was martyred in the way of the Lord was buried in Damascus. This action of the Holy Lady Martyr Zainab has been regularized by the decree of the Holy Imam thus it has become a prescribed duty of every true Muslim to carry out the godly command.

When the Majlis al-Aza for the mourning of the Martyrs is criticised, what about the 'Meelaf' and the 'Gyarwin Sherif' celebrated every year which had their origin only recently. Can anyone prove from any historic record of accepted authenticity like Tabari etc., that any such celebrations were ever held in the ancient days even a century ago anywhere in the world? Why then this innovation now?

And if such celebrations are commendable for the Holy Prophet or any other person held as Holy what objection can there be against a similar commemoration for the Holy Ones of the Ahlul Bayt?

The objection can no doubt be if it is to stop the narration of the torturous sufferings inflicted on the holy ones, which automatically disclose as to whom the devils of the tyrants were, who enacted the heartless massacres of the godly ones of the Ahlul Bayt of the Holy Prophet.

The fundamental or the basic point underlying the mourning by the Shias for the great martyrs of the Holy Ahlul Bayt is, not merely for the death of those holy ones for, death is there for everyone except God. The Shias know it fully well that those who die in the way of the Lord, are not dead but alive (2:154, 3:168).

The great martyrs of the Holy Ahlul Bayt have reached the glorious heavenly destination of the life, of the highest eternal bliss exclusively reserved for them by their Lord. Any one, be he a Muslim or a non-Muslim, and a friend or even a foe, if he is only a human being and not a brute, will naturally feel for the miserable sufferings and the painful death of another human being, particularly when the sufferers are godly ones surrendering their selves for the Truth. Only those who are void of the basic human qualities of feelings will remain effectless and unmoved under such circumstances.

The mourning by the Shias is mainly for the heartless and inhuman treatment inflicted on the Holy ones by those who, professing themselves to be Muslims, have caused such shameful and disgraceful blots on the pages of the history of the conduct and character of man on Earth, that it can never be erased and for which every member of the human family will certainly be unceasingly grieved, and will be ever cursing the brutes in the human forms until the end of the world.

The Majlis al-Aza has also been declared 'Bid'at' i.e., an unwarranted innovation saying that mourning for the dead is forbidden by Islam. The hollowness of this allegation against the natural act of expressing fellow feelings has already been dealt with above. Even granting for a while that mourning for the dead is forbidden, none can show any objection from Islam to the oppressed or the aggrieved protesting against the miseries inflicted on them. The Majlis al-Aza is a congregational protest against the brutal atrocities inflicted on the godly members of the family of the Holy Prophet as revenge against Islam itself. None will object to such protests excepting those responsible for the brutal actions or those who support the devilish conduct and character of those who are temperamentally identical with the brutes possessing the same devilish tendencies.

The actuating factor behind all this mischievous move to mislead the Muslims and to create dissensions among them, is only Satan who, during the lifetime of the Holy Ones, instigated his disciples the tyrants, to inflict the most painful miseries and the torturous death on God's commissioned guides to humanity, and now the same Devil is busy beguiling the ignorant ones among the Muslims by inspiring in their minds all sorts of doubts and false notions against the truth and those who have been successfully converted by Satan are employed by him as his missionaries spreading the falsehood.

By God's grace, all the awakened minds in the ranks of Islam be the Shias or Sunnis or of any other school of thought, are unanimous in paying the due regard and reverence to the Holy Ahlul-Bait, particularly in the matter of Husayn all Muslims are united. Each one of the sincere lovers of Islam today is ready to surrender his all for the Holy Prophet and the Holy Ahlul Bayt, more particularly for Husayn, the King of Martyrs.

'Taqleed.' The only, the greatest and the best protection afforded in Shia'ism, against the continuous as well as the occasional raids by Satan and his disciple missionaries is the ordinance about 'Taqleed' (16:43) or to always abide by the 'A'lim' or the Most learned one, called the 'Mujtahid'. This course guides one always to the right or the correct way of the practice of the faith and protects him from committing any excess and from shortcomings, and at the same time the individual from being exploited by the instigations of the satanic forces.

'Taqleed' has also been misinterpreted into the innovated institution of the 'Mureeds' blindly following the 'Pirs’. Be it known that being guided by a Mujtahid in matters of doubt about the practice of the Faith, has nothing in common with it, and can never he compared to any such unwarranted blind following Taqleed is only being attached to any one of the greatest scholars who has reached the level of 'Ijtehad' (i.e., the ability to derive the required correct inference from the Holy Qur'an or the genuine traditions of the Holy Prophet) in matters of doubt about any articles of the practice of the Faith 'Furu al-Deen.' Taqleed or any kind of following anyone in the articles of faith i.e., 'Usool al-Deen' is 'Haram' (i.e., prohibited).

As every one of the adherents of the Faith cannot be expected to know all the minutest details about the practice of the Faith, or be able to draw the correct inference about any doubts, from the Word of God, the Holy Qur'an, and the Hadith or the Sayings of the Holy Prophet, the divinely prescribed course to keep a Muslim always on the right course of his practical life, as well as to protect him from getting astray by the misgivings from the ill-informed or less-informed one is 'Taqleed' by which one chooses of his own independent discretion any one of the accredited scholars who in his considered opinion is the greatest one of the most learned and the most pious ones of the age, and is always guided by the directive of such a scholar in all matters of the individual's doubts regarding any matter of the practice of the Faith.

By this course one is not only assured of the best possible guidance in the right course, by the highest intellect of the age but also of the safety against his getting deluded by the unqualified, misqualified or purposeful misgivings by any one.

Since the practice of the Faith by any adherent, unbounded by this course of, 'Taqleed', it cannot doubtlessly be free from irregularities; hence it will naturally be unacceptable.

The question of following the highest authority in knowledge and piety is only in the case of 'Fatawa' or the opinion of the Scholar about the law and not about the application of the law for which 'Ijtehad' is sufficient. The caution that Shia'ism, the Islam-Original, has sounded against the ruinous effects of unqualified administration of justice is worthy of note here for the information of the sincere adherents of Islam, i.e., the special importance Shia'ism attaches to Justice being meted out in the proper manner, and to the extraordinary care taken against any unqualified and defective administration of it. The following is the decree of the Sixth Holy Imam, Ja’far Ibn Muhammad al-Sadiq (as) the Regulator of the Shia faith:-

None shall take this seat save a Prophet of God, the successor to the prophet or the evil one.

This declaration clearly warns any unqualified one without any authority from the Holy Prophet and the Holy Imam, who assumes the seat of 'Qazaiat' or (Justice), will be none but the evil one. Hence a 'Qazi' (a judge) can be none but a 'Mujtahid' who gets himself qualified under the declaration of the Imam reported above.

While condemning the yielding to the rule of 'Taghoot' i.e., an authority without the divine sanction, the Sixth Holy Imam Jafar-Ibn Muhammad As-Sadiq said that 'instead of submitting to such tyrant seek the greatest of the scholars among you, Who has learnt our traditions and gained deep insight into our sanctions and prohibitions and who knows our rulings well and accept him as your Judge (i.e. Qazi) and your Ruler, as I have appointed him to rule over you. And if he gives a ruling and if it is not accepted by any one, it will be the contempt of God's Sovereignty which is almost 'Shirk' i.e., the recognition of an authority beside God's.

The definition and the requirements of 'Ijtehad' and 'Taqleed' given below, are those that have been prescribed by the 'Masoom' i-e., the Twelfth Holy Imam, as ordained by the Holy Qur'an and the Sunnat as a part and parcel of the whole system of the Divine Sovereignty and the Absolute Theocracy which is implemented in the very term 'Islam' which means acceptance of the Absolute Sovereignty of God and complete submission to His will. It is on this basis that the institution of apostleship is established. God communicates His will to mankind through the chain of the apostles, which was consummated in the apostleship of the Holy Prophet of Islam through whom was presented the Final Word of God in the form of the Holy Qur'an, and his own apostolic sayings. And in the continuation of that sovereignty and the institution of apostleship, the Holy Prophet declared Ali and the Eleven Imams in his descent, as the authority joined with the Holy Qur'an representing his as well as God's will.

When the period of the codification and the consolidation of the 'Kitab' and 'Sunnat' was completed, the age of the Imamat for that legislative purpose came to its conclusion. Hence the seclusion of the Twelfth Imam was effected though his hidden existence continues as a necessity, as a medium factor between God and His Creatures, in the process of the Creative administration of the universe. The Imams declared the institution of 'Ijtehad' as given below, as the sole directive authority on their behalf, in leading mankind on the right path of submission to the sovereignty and the will of God, in all the practical aspects of the covenant which the 'Kitab' and the 'Sunnat' had already dealt with.

In short, 'Ijtehad' and 'Taqleed' are the supplementary institutions to 'Imamat' which in turn is supplementary to 'Risalat' (Apostleship) which as a whole is the manifestation of the Divine Sovereignty. There is no room left for any individual view or choice except that the door is left open for every human being irrespective of any racial or geographical bias or restriction, to qualify one's self in knowledge and piety to the level of 'Ijtehad.' The decree of the Holy Imam about the institution of 'Ijtehad' is as follows:

“Amma Hawadisal Waqi' aat, Farijeoo ila ruwate Ahadeesena, fa innahom hujjati alaikum wa ana Hujjatullah.”

'In all the events of life, refer ye to those who bear our traditions, they are the authority over you on my behalf, and I am the authority on behalf of God.'

The Decree of the Holy Imam

The above decree of the the Masoom (i.e., the Sixth Holy Imam) in this respect which is about 'Ijtehad,' is not the only tradition but there are many undisputed traditions also of the other Imams establishing the institution of 'Ijtehad' prescribing the minutest details of its functioning, only a very brief outline of which is given below: Of the many declarations of the other Imams in this respect, two of them are the most outstanding. One from Hazrate- Imam Ja’far As-Sadiq, known as the 'Maqool-el-Umar bin Hanzala' (the tradition of Umar Ibn Hanzala) and the other is from the Eleventh Holy Imam, Hasan Al-Askari.

The Definition of 'Ijtehad'

'Ijtehad' literally means an all-out effort to interpret and explain explicitly the divine orders, rules and regulations from the denotations, the connotations and the implications contained in the Holy Qur'an and the authentic sayings of the Holy Prophet and the apostolic Imams. 'Ijtehad' does not mean the use of one's discretion in the findings, parallel to the Qur'an or the Sunnat, but it means the use of one's discretion and sound reasoning in understanding the contents of the Holy Qur'an and the Sunnat.

Anyone who has the capacity of understanding the details of the Divine Laws, Rules and Regulations from the Qur'an and the Sunnat of a 'Masoom' as given above, is a 'Mujtahid' provided he is of outstanding learning, knowledge and piety. Any one short of that standard of knowledge and piety be he a good scholar in certain branches of the Islamic literature, is termed as a layman in regard to the field of religion. A man who has not reached the stage to take decisions in every detailed point of the Laws of Islam, on the authority of the Holy Qur'an and the Sunnat, is a layman, and he has to follow a person who has definitely reached that standard, and whoever has reached that standard has to follow his own decision, and it is forbidden for him to follow anyone else.

In case there are several men of equal standard, and they differ in their decision, the layman has the choice to follow any one of them and in case the 'Mujtahids' differ in the degree of their accomplishments the best among them is to be followed. In case one is better in knowledge and the other in piety, the latter is to be followed.

As to how to find the best one among the 'Mujtahids' the layman should refer to the evidence of the competent pious scholars of Islamic Theology who have no claim to 'Aalamiat' or to the evidence of the 'Mujtahids' of the approximate standing about the best next to them. By the collection of all these evidences, one can easily consider for himself as to who is the best. This is the best method followed throughout the history of the 'Niabat' of the Imam after the 'Ghaibat.'

There is no room for any election or the counting of votes of any class or group to appoint one as the ecclesiastical head as used in the Papal system of Christianity, nor is it the 'Peeri' and the 'Mureedi' practised in the mystic system which is an unwarranted innovation among the Muslims, carried as a counter section or parallel to the institution of Imamat. Be it known that the qualifications for 'Ijtehad' are known, recognised and measurable and the qualifications for a 'Peeri' is only fanciful heresy blindly accepted and neither fixed nor measurable.

It is to be noted that the question of following the opinion of the best in knowledge and piety is confined to such questions where the 'Mujtahids' differ, and the question of following any 'Mujtahid' does not arise in matters unanimously accepted by all 'Mujtahids.' It is to be noted that for the administration of the theological centres and the other religious and ecclesiastical services, any pious 'Mujtahid' is competent for the undertaking, and if any pious 'Mujtahid' offers himself to shoulder the task the other 'Mujtahid' should not stand in his way, on the other hand he must help him.

Consolidated View of the Account as a Whole and the Co-relation of the Events

We have gone through a few of the various events of the life of the Holy lmam and the Great Wholesale Slaughter at Karbala. Now let us take a consolidated view of the accounts as a whole and co-relate the events and find out what is the mean or the norm and where the arc or co-relation ends.

If we take the isolated parts of a monotype printing machine separated from each other and study each one of the parts for ages together we wiIl never be able to know the maker or the deviser's mind or wisdom in it. Nor we will ever be able to know neither the purpose it serves nor the enormous use of the implement to the human life unless all the parts are duly put together and see how they work together and what result they produce.

Similarly, if we take the words of a heavenly scripture separated from the sentences and isolated from each other, spend ages together on the various meanings each word gives we will never know those individual words work together in a sentence to give a sensible meaning and unless the sentences are duly arranged none can ever know the heavenly guidance endowed in their proper combinations.

Unless we put together all the events of the life of the Holy ones of the Ahlul Bayt, particularly Husayn, the personality of our concern in this brief treatise on him we will never be able to have a proper view of the divine purpose of the Almerciful Alwise Creator Lord in the creation of this holy soul and sending him on the earth and the fulfilment of the purpose for the benefit of man in this world.

Let us recapitulate in brief the whole matter of this brief work into a consolidated compact whole to have the overall view of it from God's given heights of intelligence to realise the glorious grandeur of the heavenly sight of the Great Event in a harmonious whole, with the data at our disposal vouched by history and illustrated by the words of the holy scriptures.

1. It is a fact known to one and all of the educated ones in the world that man is a created being by the Creator who is acknowledgly EverLiving, Alwise and Omnipotent Absolutely Supreme Authority.

2. Man in the primitive stages of the life of his specie, led a wild life in the jungles without any morals to control or law to bind his thought or action with Might as the Right to survive.

3. The Almerciful Lord Creator of the Universe with His gracious will to educate man and train him for the higher object of his creation and to qualify him for the glorious heights of the heavenly bliss sent apostle after apostle from Him.

4. Apostles of God were sent in every part of the earth to the people inhabiting it. Some were sent as mere preachers and some with scriptures, some were for a limited zone and some for a wider area - some superior to the others. Some as law givers as Moses and some as the renewers of the already given law like Jesus. Most of them prophesying the advent of the Last or the Final of God's Apostles and prophets.

5. Of the children of Adam God had chosen a particular lineage, and the Lineage was particularly blessed to be progenitors of the selected apostles of His. Abraham was given the Imamat to be perpetuated in his seed but teaching only those free from iniquity.

6. The Divine device was to present a pathetic sight of sacrifice in the way of the Lord, depicting the sublime submission to the Divine Will, which is the only source or the only Royal Road to the heavenly bliss in store for man who earns it.

7. A rehearsal of the divinely destined drama of the sacrifice was made employing Abraham and his son Ishmael for the trial.

8. Abraham and Ishmael proved true the selection but the event was not to be as it was temporarily enacted only as a trial. The aim behind its proper enactment was too high, too great and too grave. There was yet no demand for them to be presented on a mount unseen by any man and it was not unknown to the human world. Just to make Abraham pass the knife that a living body was placed under it.

9. Abraham was told by the Lord that the divinely designed event was a Great Sacrifice.

10. Abraham was promised that God's Covenant will be establisbed with him and his seed. Abraham had two Sons Ishmael (through Lady Hagar) and Isaac (through Lady Sarah) but the promise to Abraham even according to the Bible of the Christian Church does not mention the name of any of the two sons, but only it was said that the Covenant will be with Abraham and his seed.

“And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and in thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant.” (Old Testament, Genesis 16:7)

The divinity of the purity, physical as well as spiritual endowed in Abraham flew in both the channels of his seed, Ishmael and Isaac and Twelve Princes (Imams) were promised in the seed of Ishmael (Old Testament, Genesis 18:20).

12. The race that sprang of Isaac called the Israelites got corrupt and rebellious and violated the Covenant of God-the prophets that were raised among them either they killed them (.....) or they deified them and worshipped them as the Sons of God and those of the apostles they did not follow, they blackmailed them with horrible charges to create hatred against them (.....) The Israelites who hated Jesus charged the Holy Virgin Mary of adultery for having given birth to Jesus, without a male partner to her. At last the Kingdom of God was taken away from the seed of Isaac and given to another nation (the seed of Ishmael). Jesus informed them of it:

“Therefore say I unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken front you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits threreof.” (Matthew 21:43)

13. The higher truth about the life divine of the process of the complete submission to the Absolute to attain the glorious heights of eternal bliss could not be given in its fullness to man in his mental evolutionary stages. It has to be administered gradually. Jesus clearly announced that he could give out to the people many things for they could not bear it then (.......) and prophesied about the advent of the Spirit of Truth who would fill the world with righteousness and truth (........)

14. Moses was told by the Lord about the Prophet to come in whose mouth will the Lord put His words whom everyone would hearken (.........)

15. The great sage of India Buddha had prophesied of the advent of the Last Buddha called 'Maetrea' in the Pali language which in Arabic means 'Rahmat' the title with which the Holy Prophet Muhammad has been addressed in the words of God (. . .).

16. At last came the Last of the apostles of God-the Prophet prophesied to Moses- The Spirit of Truth, the Holy Ghost prophesied by Jesus and the Maetrea prophesied by Buddha the Holy Prophet Muhammad in the seed of Abraham through his son Ishmael to give out the truth in its fulness about the Kingdom of God-preaching the truthfulness and the purity physical and spiritual of the personalities of all the preceding prophets who had been blackmailed by the Israelites-Preaching the Absolute Unity of God and brotherhood of man and the commitment of man to his Lord-with a final code in the Last Revealed Word of God the Holy Qur'an as the final code of discipline for human life on earth-Since all the previous scriptures were either made extinct or corrupted this Final Word of God came with a challenge that it will be preserved by God Himself for it had to remain current forever for there was no prophet had to come after the Holy Prophet.

17. To preserve the purity of the Final Word from God to man and to maintain the originality of its teachings and its practice, the institution of the Imamat was started to succeed the Last Apostle of God for the guidance of man against his getting astray after being guided aright. The Imams had to be brought forth from the family of the Holy Prophet himself hence the holy family was sent into this world duly purified by God Himself ((Holy Qur’an, 33:33).

18. The Holy Prophet had taken all possible steps to introduce the position of his Ahlul Bayt, particularly of Ali identified with the Holy Prophet in his purity, physical and spiritual, At the very outset of the apostolic mission and also at the conclusion of it Ali was declared in clear cut words as the Caliph Vicegerent, Brother, and the Master or the Maula, or the Amir, in the place of the Holy Prophet.

19. On the very first day of his advent into this world, Husayn's mission in this world and the fate in store for him was declared out by the Holy Prophet.

20. As misfortune would have it, immediately as the Holy Prophet departed from this world, the Ahlul Bayt were alienated from their position preached by the Holy Prophet, and the people forgot all that was said about Ali and Ali’s appointment in the place of the Holy Prophet.

21. The final word of the Holy Prophet to the people was that he had left Two important things behind him; the Book of God the Holy Qur’an and his Ahlul Bayt and the people would be attached to these Two.

22. With alienation of the Holy Ahlul Bayt, the religion got gradually corrupted and by the time of Yazid son of Mu’awiyyah son of Abu Sufyan, the disbelief in the Holy Qur’an being the revealed word of God and the Holy Prophet Muhammad being the Apostle of God was openly pronounced from the throne and people had become irreligious and the teachings of Islam were openly defied, the Religion of Islam was on the verge of being annihilated for ever, and the Holy Qur’an had practically lost its original value as the Word of God.

The question or rescuing the Holy qur‘an and its faith, Islam, arose demanded the one like the Holy Prophet to defy the falsehood and even to offer the greatest sacrifices it may need. None but one from the family of the Holy Prophet, the one purified by God Himself (Qur’an 33:33) could do it and from among the divinely purified ones only Husayn was now left in the world, to face the situation. The sacrifice the task needed was the Greatest One, i.e., the ‘Zibhe Azeem'.

Volume 15 Number 1

©The Author(s) 2013

Predictors of School Readiness in Literacy and Mathematics: A Selective Review of the Literature

Sandra M. Linder, Ph.D.

M. Deanna Ramey

Serbay Zambak

Clemson University, School of Education

Abstract

This paper presents findings from a selective review of the literature related to predictors of school readiness in literacy and mathematics. School readiness was defined as what children are expected to know and do in a variety of academic domains and processes of learning prior to entering a formal classroom setting. Seven themes emerged, based on a review of selected empirical research published over a sixteen-year period. Twenty-four predictors of success for school readiness were categorized under these themes. Implications for practice and recommendations for future research are presented.

Introduction

Young children are increasingly entering academically rigorous school settings where an emphasis on accountability and standards has replaced an emphasis on child development. However, many young children enter school unprepared for both academic and social expectations. Research suggests (Aunola, Leskinen, Lerkkanen, & Nurmi, 2004) that if students enter kindergarten at a disadvantage, early gaps in understandings of literacy or mathematics tend to be sustained or widened over time; this appears to be particularly true for children of poverty (McLoyd & Purtell, 2008). It is imperative for the field to identify strategies that move young children toward becoming independent and reflective learners, to increase the likelihood of their school success in later years.

In order to achieve this vision, we must first identify the specific characteristics or factors that enable certain children to enter formal schooling at an advantage while others enter at a disadvantage. Since the 1950s, researchers have investigated how external factors can influence or predict student success in school, and particularly school readiness (Milner, 1951), but a comprehensive list of factors that may affect cognitive, social, emotional, or language development in the school-age years has yet to be compiled. This literature review focuses on school readiness in the areas of literacy and mathematics. Its purposes are to provide stakeholders such as parents, caregivers, and teachers with insight into factors that research has identified as possibly contributing to children’s successful entry into formal schooling and to enable them to identify whether particular children are affected by these factors.

Many definitions of school readiness can be found in the research literature. For some, school readiness relates to students’ cognitive abilities (Nobel, Tottenham, & Casey, 2005). For others, readiness is more related to maturational, social, and emotional domains of development (Ray & Smith, 2010) or to whether or not students have the tools necessary to work effectively in a classroom setting (Carlton & Winsler, 1999). For the purposes of this study, school readiness was defined as children’s preparedness for what they are expected to know and do in academic domains and processes of learning when they enter a formal classroom setting. Rather than focusing on specific activities such as counting to ten or saying the alphabet, this definition considers such components as children’s social-emotional characteristics, cognitive processes related to conceptual understanding, and their ability to communicate about their understandings.

Methods

A systematic review of the literature was conducted over three months during the spring of 2011. The question guiding the literature review was: What predictors of school readiness in mathematics and literacy have been identified by empirical research in education?

Data Collection and Analysis

The research team determined parameters for conducting searches by first examining already published literature reviews or meta-analyses relating to early childhood literacy or mathematics and relating to issues of school readiness. Four criteria emerged for articles to be included: (1) publication after 1995; (2) publication in a reputable peer-reviewed journal; (3) grounding in empirical research; and (4) use of rigorous research methods. These criteria are similar to those used in examples found in the preliminary review of the literature (Justice, 2003; La Paro & Pianta, 2000); however, many previous analyses were limited to large scale quantitative studies. During the preliminary review, meta-analyses of this literature published in 1995 or before were identified (Bus, Ijzendoorn, & Pellegrini, 1995). Therefore, this literature review focused on research following those publications to determine if any changes have occurred.

Having established parameters, the research team searched the literature to compile articles relevant to the research question. Both criterion and snowball sampling methods were used to identify literature. For criterion sampling, the research team conducted electronic searches of a variety of databases and search engines to identify articles that met the established parameters. Snowball sampling involved examining reference sections from theoretical articles related to school readiness, school achievement, early childhood mathematics, and early childhood literacy to find empirical research relevant to the research question. Snowball sampling was also conducted on the reference sections for each empirical study identified in the review to determine if additional sources could be included.

Finally, the research team conducted preliminary readings of the articles to obtain an overall understanding of the data. Following this analysis, articles were clustered based on similarity of findings. After clustering, articles underwent a secondary analysis to establish predictors of school readiness in mathematics and literacy.

Results

In general, literature relating to predictors of success in early childhood literacy was more prevalent than literature relating to early childhood mathematics. Therefore, more predictors of success relating to literacy were identified in this review. It is likely then that the findings do not encompass all potential predictors of school readiness in mathematics.

Seven themes emerged from the literature review regarding factors associated with school readiness in mathematics and literacy: (1) child care experience; (2) family structure and parenting; (3) home environment; (4) learning-related skills; (5) social behavior; (6) mathematical and literacy-based tasks; and (7) health and socioeconomic status. The sections that follow describe findings relating to each of these themes.

Child care experience. Several studies reviewed noted correlations between children’s exposure to high-quality child care and their performance on measures of school readiness in literacy and mathematics. In a longitudinal study conducted by the NICHD Early Child Care Research Network (2002), participation in high quality, center-based child care was associated with higher language performance (NICHD, 2002). However, increased time spent in child care did not increase language performance, and a higher number of hours spent in child care was associated with increased behavior problems, as reported by caregivers (NICHD, 2002).

Ramey and Ramey (2004) reported the results of multiple randomized controlled trials investigating experiences in preschool education and their connection to school readiness. The authors identified seven types of experiences that are “essential to ensure normal brain and behavioral development and school readiness” (2004, p. 474). These experiences should: “(1) encourage exploration, (2) mentor in basic skills, (3) celebrate developmental advances, (4) rehearse and extend new skills, (5) protect from inappropriate disapproval, teasing, and punishment, (6) communicate richly and responsively, and (7) guide and limit behavior” (Ramey & Ramey, 2004, p. 474).

The authors indicate that children’s exposure to high-quality child care built around these types of experiences can better prepare children for school. Magnuson and colleagues (2004) also examined the relationship between quality of care and school readiness and, in particular, how different types of preschool experiences may affect children of economically advantaged and disadvantaged families. Child care was categorized as parental care, center-based care, Head Start, or other non-parental care. Using a sample from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class (ECLS-K), the authors found that children who attended center-based programs before kindergarten performed better in math and reading than children who experienced only parental care. Having attended center-based programs was associated with greater benefits for children from “disadvantaged” families than for those with higher economic status, including enhancement of mathematics performance (Magnuson, Meyers, Ruhm, & Waldfogel, 2004).

High quality child care was not always defined in the literature reviewed for this study, but some of the literature did examine aspects of high-quality care. Klein, Starkey, Clements, Sarama, and Iyer (2008) examined the effects of a preschool mathematics curriculum on children’s levels of school readiness. Their findings suggest that use of high-quality curricula implemented with fidelity can lead to higher levels of school readiness in mathematics (Klein, Starkey, Clements, Sarama, & Iyer, 2008). Bracken and Fischel (2007) examined the impact of a supplementary literacy-based curriculum on Head Start preschoolers’ mathematics and literacy achievement and social and behavior skills. More students displayed positive behavior and social skills when engaging with the supplementary curriculum; these skills were associated with higher levels of performance on literacy tasks (Bracken & Fischel, 2007). Characteristics of instruction have also been considered in determining child care quality. Chien and colleagues (2010) investigated the types of engagement young children could encounter in child care settings (free play, group or individual instruction, and scaffolded learning). Children in settings with more free play showed smaller gains than their peers on literacy and mathematics indicators at the preschool level. Individual instruction tended to be a stronger predictor of success on preschool assessments (Chien, Howes, Burchinal, Pianta, Ritchie, Bryant, Clifford, Early, & Barbarin, 2010). However, that study focused only on the types of engagement as predictors of achievement success and did not discuss the potential positive implications of free play and group instruction on other domains of development.

Parenting Style and Family Structure. Parenting styles, parent and child relationships, and family structure were considered as factors potentially related to school readiness in some of the studies in this literature review. Hill (2001) examined the relationship between parenting styles and kindergarten children’s school readiness in African-American and Euro-American families with comparable socioeconomic status. Maternal warmth or acceptance was found to be positively related to children’s performance on a pre-reading measure, while “short temper” and lack of patience were associated with lower scores. Also positively related to children’s performance were teachers’ perception of the extent to which parents valued education, and the quality of parent involvement (high quality was characterized by primarily parent-initiated involvement; lower quality by primarily teacher-initiated parent involvement). Mothers’ expectations for grades were positively related to children’s performance on the pre-reading measure. Hill (2001) also compared parenting styles to kindergarten children’s performance on a measure of quantitative concepts. Again, maternal warmth and high expectations for good grades were associated with higher scores on the pre-mathematics measure, while lack of patience was connected to lower scores. However, no significant relationship was found between children’s performance and teacher-parent contact; the teacher-parent relationship alone did not predict better performance.

Wu and Qi (2006) examined the relationship between parenting styles and African American children’s achievement in the areas of reading, math, and science. They found that parents’ perceptions of children’s abilities and expectations for good grades were strong predictors of success for students at all grade levels. These predictors were just as strong as parents’ socioeconomic status (Wu & Qi, 2006). While parental involvement is commonly cited in the literature as a strong predictor of success, in this study, parental involvement was not shown to have a large impact on student achievement. Wu and Qi (2006) reported that their study “found limited positive effects of school-based parental involvement and, in addition, some negative effects of home-based parental involvement on achievement test scores” (p. 426). Lahaie (2008) found parental involvement to be a predictor of success for children of immigrants; that study’s analysis of data from the ECLS-K indicated a correlation between higher levels of parental involvement and young children’s higher proficiency in English and mathematics.

Family structure has also been cited as an important predictive factor relating to school readiness in mathematics and literacy. For example, Entwisle and Alexander (1996) investigated the relationship between children’s literacy and mathematics school readiness and parent configuration, or family type, in a random sample of Baltimore children. Mothers who were single parents were found to have lower expectations for their children’s grades in both reading and mathematics than mothers in two-parent families. However, regardless of family type, children in families with greater economic resources and who had a parent or parents with high expectations for success “consistently outperformed other children in reading and math” (Entwisle & Alexander, 1996, p. 341).

Home Environment. The research literature on school readiness includes several studies of the relationship between daily home activities and school readiness. Clarke and Kurtz-Costes (1997) examined the educational quality of the home environment and the influence of television-watching on readiness. They interviewed children and caregivers of low-income, African-American families and compared these data to school readiness assessments. Negative correlations were found between the amount of time spent watching television and number of books in the home, and between television viewing time and amount of parent-child instructional interactions. More television viewing time also predicted lower scores on readiness assessments (Clarke & Kurtz-Costes, 1997). Wright and colleagues (2001) investigated the relations between young children’s television viewing experiences and their performance on tests of school readiness and vocabulary. Television programming was divided into 4 categories: (1) child-audience, informative or educational; (2) child-audience, fully animated cartoons with no informative purpose; (3) child-audience, other programs (neither of the above); and (4) general-audience programs. According to the authors, “for very young children [2-3], viewing informative programming designed for children was associated with subsequent letter-word skills, number skills, receptive vocabulary and school readiness” (Wright, Huston, Murphy, St. Peters, Pinon, Scantlin, & Kotler, 2001, p. 1361). The authors found this difference to be stable across the study; young children who frequently watched educational television at ages 2 and 3 performed better on a battery of tests at age 3 than did infrequent viewers. However, children who were frequent viewers of non-educational cartoons or general-audience programs at ages 2 and 3 had lower scores than infrequent viewers.

A longitudinal study of children’s reading abilities and the literacy environment in the home (Burgess & Hecht, 2002) found that the home literacy environment (HLE) was significantly related to young children’s oral language ability, word decoding ability, and phonological sensitivity. The authors define the home literacy environment in two ways: (1) Passive HLE, or “those parental activities that expose children to models of literacy usage (e.g., seeing a parent read a newspaper)” (2002, p. 413), and (2) Active HLE, or, “those parental efforts that directly engage the child in activities designed to foster literacy or language development (e.g., rhyming games, shared readings)” (2002, p. 413). In a study in the Netherlands, Leseman and de Jong (1998) examined three issues related to home literacy: the potential influence of affective factors, such as cooperation, co-construction, or social-emotional constructs; the influence of contextuality, or cultural or social background factors; and causality, the impact of home literacy on language development. They found that home literacy environment factors determined children’s school literacy achievement when controlling for confounding factors. Their findings suggest that combining exposure to literacy in the home with co-construction opportunities increased the predictive value of home literacy in relation to early literacy achievement.

Learning-related characteristics. “Learning-related characteristics” include children’s behaviors and dispositions related to engaging in tasks as well as their strategies for completing tasks. McClelland, Morrison, and Holmes (2000) studied the relationship between work-related social skills and student performance in kindergarten classrooms and again in second grade. Examples of children’s work-related social skills included the ability to follow directions, take turns in group activities, and stay on task. When child demographic information (e.g., IQ, entrance age, ethnicity, parental education level, and home literacy environment) was controlled, findings showed that work-related skills contributed to children’s academic success in mathematics. Children with poor work-related skills performed significantly worse in mathematics upon school entry and at the end of second grade (McClelland, Morrison, & Holmes, 2000). McClelland, Acock, and Morrison (2006) later examined the influence of learning-related skills in kindergarten on academic math and reading success in elementary school. In this study, the math and reading abilities of children rated as having poor learning-related skills were compared to children rated as having high learning-related skills. Findings suggested that learning-related skills such as self-regulation and social competence predicted math and reading achievement between kindergarten and sixth grade. These effects were strongest between kindergarten and second grade but were still significant through sixth grade (McClelland, Acock, & Morrison, 2006).

Social behavior. Connections between school readiness and children’s temperament, or the innate aspects of their personality, have been addressed in the research literature. A child’s tendency to display characteristics such as being active or sociable may be correlated with school readiness; Chang and Burns (2005) examined the connection between temperament and attention skills for children attending Head Start. Findings from their multiple regression analysis indicate that temperament and motivational development are related to levels of attention in young children, similar to findings from research conducted with older children (Chang & Burns, 2005).

Konold and Pianta (2005) examined the predictive value of particular cognitive processes and social behaviors related to self-regulation on typically-developing children’s kindergarten and first grade achievement. The authors developed six normative profiles of patterns of school readiness: (1) attention problems; (2) low cognitive ability; (3) low-to-average social and cognitive skills; (4) social and externalizing problems; (5) high social competence; and (6) high cognitive ability and mild externalizing (Konold & Pianta, 2005). Findings suggest that cognitive ability and social skills should be considered predictors of school readiness, and that although these factors are interrelated, they can operate independently of each other in terms of their predictive value. For example, children with high cognitive abilities performed better on achievement measures, regardless of social skills, while students with average cognitive ability and higher social competence also tended to perform at higher levels than did those with average to low cognitive ability and average social competence (Konold & Pianta, 2005).

Normandeau and Guay (1998) investigated the relationship between cognitive self-control and prosocial behaviors such as collaboration and effective communication in kindergarten-age children. Cognitive self-control was correlated with increased student achievement, which was evidenced when following these children to the end of first grade. Aggressive behaviors were negatively correlated to cognitive self-control while prosocial behaviors had a positive correlation. Children who displayed more aggressive behaviors tended to have less self-control when attempting to complete school tasks, which led to poorer student achievement (Normandeau & Guay, 1998). Dobbs and colleagues (2006) examined the relationship of prosocial behaviors to mathematics skills in preschoolers. The authors found that when students participated in an early math intervention, which consisted of over 85 mathematical tasks that their teachers could select to implement, they were less likely to display negative behaviors such as aggression or a lack of attention.

Performance on mathematical and literacy-based tasks. Correlations between young children’s readiness-related literacy and mathematics skills and their experience with mathematics- and literacy-based tasks were explored in some of the literature reviewed during this study. Tasks might include such activities as examining concepts about print (literacy) and playing number games or block building (mathematics). Siegler and Ramani (2008) examined the role that playing numerical board games could play in preparing children in low-income families for school. They found that the numerical ability of children from affluent families was significantly higher than the numerical ability of children from impoverished families; however, the gap between groups in terms of their understanding of numerical magnitude was closed as a result of the intervention (Siegler & Ramani, 2008). Following this study, Ramani and Siegler (2008) sought to determine if playing linear numerical board games had an impact on a broader range of mathematical topics and whether this impact was stable over time by exploring informal board game play in the home environment (Ramani & Siegler, 2008). They reported the positive connection between informal board game play in the home environment and numerical ability. Playing card games and video games did not have the same results (Ramani & Siegler, 2008).

Building spatial sense through block play has also been considered as a potential predictor of success in terms of school achievement in the elementary years and beyond. Hanline, Milton, and Phelps (2009) examined the relationship between block play at the preschool level and later school success in math and reading. Although no significant relationships were identified in this study between block play and later math achievement, a significant relationship was identified between block play and later reading ability. Higher levels of sophistication in young children’s representations through block construction correlated with greater success in reading during the early elementary years (Hanline, Milton, & Phelps, 2009). While block play may not be a predictor of mathematics success at the early elementary level, it has been found to be a predictor of success for later school achievement in mathematics. Wolfgang, Stannard, and Jones (2001) reported the positive predictive relationship of levels of preschool block play (as determined by the Lunzer Five Point Play Scale) and mathematics achievement during middle and high school. Similar findings were reported regarding construction-type play with LEGOs and later school achievement (Wolfgang, Stannard, & Jones, 2001).

Health and socioeconomic status. Characteristics of child and parent health have long been cited in the literature as possible correlates of children’s school readiness, and are sometimes included as confounding variables when authors are attempting to identify alternative predictors (such as child care or parent-child interactions). Janus and Duku (2007) examined five constructs they identified as having a potential impact on school readiness: (1) socioeconomic status, (2) family structure, (3) parent health, (4) child health, and (5) parent involvement. Their Early Development Instrument, an assessment of school readiness, was built around these five factors in an effort to determine which of the five factors would be most relevant in predicting school readiness. Based on this assessment, health (including current health and low-birth weight) and gender of the child (boys are twice as likely to struggle with school readiness compared to girls) were the strongest predictors. In addition, children from low-income families were twice as likely to have difficulty with school readiness as children from middle- or high-income families.

Patrianakos-Hoobler and colleagues (2009) also examined risk factors related to health of premature infants in relation to the children’s eventual school readiness. They found that boys born premature were twice as likely as girls to display lower school readiness levels. Lower readiness was also identified for premature “infants born to black mothers” as compared to “infants born to nonblack mothers” (Patrianakos-Hoobler, Msall, Marks, Huo, & Schreiber, 2009, p. 4). Socioeconomic status emerged as the “strongest barrier to achieving school readiness” (Patrianakos-Hoobler, et al., 2009, p. 5).

Low socioeconomic status has been consistently negatively correlated to school readiness in the research literature. In 1997, Stipek and Ryan studied the cognitive differences and motivation of economically advantaged and disadvantaged children at school entry. Significant cognitive differences were found relative to number skills, problem solving, and memory. Economically disadvantaged children had as much motivation for learning as economically advantaged children. However, economically advantaged children showed higher levels of concern regarding performance and decreased levels of enjoyment as the study progressed (Stipek & Ryan, 1997).

Discussion and Recommendations

Definitions of school readiness have long been under contention, and it is unclear whether the view that students should be ready for school rather than schools being ready for children is developmentally appropriate. This systematic review of empirical research literature published after 1995 and before 2013 identified seven themes for which correlates of school readiness could be categorized. Table 1 describes the 24 predictors that were categorized under each of these themes.

Table 1

Predictors of school readiness in literacy and mathematics

While the above table describes factors that hold potential for predicting young children’s school readiness, risk factors were also identified in the literature. These factors include health risks such as low birth weight, prematurity, or general health issues, as well as demographic criteria such as gender (some studies have indicated that boys are more likely to struggle than girls), family structure (single mothers tend to have lower grade expectations for their children), maternal education level (not finishing high school) or the occupation of the head of household (due to the level of income associated with this occupation). In addition, low parental income or socioeconomic status and belonging to a minority group (including African American and Hispanic ethnicities) have often been identified as risk factors for school success.

Parents, caregivers, and teachers of young children as well as the children themselves are the primary stakeholders who would benefit from early interventions designed to enhance school readiness for young children. Initiatives focusing on building positive parent-child relationships and enhancing readiness-related aspects of the home environment have the potential to influence students’ readiness and later school achievement. Future research is needed on the roles parents play in children’s academic success. Specifically, little research can be found regarding parent involvement at the early childhood and primary levels and the influence of role models on children’s positive behavior and dispositions relative to school readiness. Research on the home environment is also necessary, including the increasing role of digital technologies and how they may influence family dynamics and, in turn, children’s future school success. Further investigations of the effects of implementing literacy- and mathematics-based tasks in the home, such as increasing math talk or encouraging children to build structures in a variety of shapes, may enhance what is currently understood about how home environments affect readiness.

Given the apparent correlation between child care quality and children’s school readiness, initiatives to improve early childhood teacher quality and the overall quality of public and private child care programs could have the potential to promote children’s school readiness in literacy and mathematics. The research identified in this review did not yield consistent definitions for high-quality child care. Future studies comparing types of child care settings could help to clarify what is high-quality care, considering such components as teacher quality and instructional practices, classroom environments, and curricula (e.g., presentation of mathematical and literacy-based tasks), and the longitudinal effects of such factors on student success.

The research included in this review was not consistent regarding types of assessments used to measure children’s school readiness. Many studies indicated that an effective tool for measuring school readiness has yet to be developed (Kilday & Kinzie, 2009). Recommendations for future research include the development and validation of a school readiness assessment that measures constructs across domains of development. Once such an assessment has been validated, it could be used for further investigation of the factors identified in this review.

Finally, initiatives specifically focused on young children could include interventions that enhance prosocial behaviors, motivation toward learning, and academic skills. Such interventions could occur in the context of the home, community, or child care setting. Some factors in school readiness and success that are specifically related to demographics (e.g., socioeconomic status, entrance age, belonging to a minority group) or health (e.g., birth weight) are difficult to isolate for the purposes of interventions that might enhance or reduce their influence on children’s school readiness and success. Often these factors occur simultaneously with additional factors within the child, parent, or teacher as described above; thus, future research on ways that some predictors may mediate the effects of demographic or health-related risk factors could be particularly helpful to the field.

Given the importance attached to children’s school readiness, any research that sheds further light on its components and processes is likely to enable adult stakeholders to better discern what constitutes the best possible environments and experiences for children. These environments and experiences can provide young children with the foundation for success on whatever paths they choose in the future.

References

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Author Information

Dr. Sandra M. Linder is an assistant professor of early childhood mathematics education at Clemson University. Her research centers on improving early childhood teacher quality and student understandings in mathematics.

Sandra M. Linder, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Mathematics Education

Coordinator of Early Childhood Education

Clemson University, School of Education

407F Tillman Hall

Clemson, SC 29634-0705

864-656-5102

sandram@clemson.edu

M. Deanna Ramey is a Ph.D. student in curriculum and instruction at Clemson University, studying literacy and early childhood education. Her research interests include young children's experiences with informational text, motivation and engagement, and self-regulation.

V. Serbay Zambak is a Ph.D. student in curriculum and instruction at Clemson University with an emphasis on mathematics education. He has taught mathematics in İstanbul and Amsterdam and has supported practicing teachers' instructional technology skills for mathematics education.

Volume 15 Number 1

©The Author(s) 2013

Predictors of School Readiness in Literacy and Mathematics: A Selective Review of the Literature

Sandra M. Linder, Ph.D.

M. Deanna Ramey

Serbay Zambak

Clemson University, School of Education

Abstract

This paper presents findings from a selective review of the literature related to predictors of school readiness in literacy and mathematics. School readiness was defined as what children are expected to know and do in a variety of academic domains and processes of learning prior to entering a formal classroom setting. Seven themes emerged, based on a review of selected empirical research published over a sixteen-year period. Twenty-four predictors of success for school readiness were categorized under these themes. Implications for practice and recommendations for future research are presented.

Introduction

Young children are increasingly entering academically rigorous school settings where an emphasis on accountability and standards has replaced an emphasis on child development. However, many young children enter school unprepared for both academic and social expectations. Research suggests (Aunola, Leskinen, Lerkkanen, & Nurmi, 2004) that if students enter kindergarten at a disadvantage, early gaps in understandings of literacy or mathematics tend to be sustained or widened over time; this appears to be particularly true for children of poverty (McLoyd & Purtell, 2008). It is imperative for the field to identify strategies that move young children toward becoming independent and reflective learners, to increase the likelihood of their school success in later years.

In order to achieve this vision, we must first identify the specific characteristics or factors that enable certain children to enter formal schooling at an advantage while others enter at a disadvantage. Since the 1950s, researchers have investigated how external factors can influence or predict student success in school, and particularly school readiness (Milner, 1951), but a comprehensive list of factors that may affect cognitive, social, emotional, or language development in the school-age years has yet to be compiled. This literature review focuses on school readiness in the areas of literacy and mathematics. Its purposes are to provide stakeholders such as parents, caregivers, and teachers with insight into factors that research has identified as possibly contributing to children’s successful entry into formal schooling and to enable them to identify whether particular children are affected by these factors.

Many definitions of school readiness can be found in the research literature. For some, school readiness relates to students’ cognitive abilities (Nobel, Tottenham, & Casey, 2005). For others, readiness is more related to maturational, social, and emotional domains of development (Ray & Smith, 2010) or to whether or not students have the tools necessary to work effectively in a classroom setting (Carlton & Winsler, 1999). For the purposes of this study, school readiness was defined as children’s preparedness for what they are expected to know and do in academic domains and processes of learning when they enter a formal classroom setting. Rather than focusing on specific activities such as counting to ten or saying the alphabet, this definition considers such components as children’s social-emotional characteristics, cognitive processes related to conceptual understanding, and their ability to communicate about their understandings.

Methods

A systematic review of the literature was conducted over three months during the spring of 2011. The question guiding the literature review was: What predictors of school readiness in mathematics and literacy have been identified by empirical research in education?

Data Collection and Analysis

The research team determined parameters for conducting searches by first examining already published literature reviews or meta-analyses relating to early childhood literacy or mathematics and relating to issues of school readiness. Four criteria emerged for articles to be included: (1) publication after 1995; (2) publication in a reputable peer-reviewed journal; (3) grounding in empirical research; and (4) use of rigorous research methods. These criteria are similar to those used in examples found in the preliminary review of the literature (Justice, 2003; La Paro & Pianta, 2000); however, many previous analyses were limited to large scale quantitative studies. During the preliminary review, meta-analyses of this literature published in 1995 or before were identified (Bus, Ijzendoorn, & Pellegrini, 1995). Therefore, this literature review focused on research following those publications to determine if any changes have occurred.

Having established parameters, the research team searched the literature to compile articles relevant to the research question. Both criterion and snowball sampling methods were used to identify literature. For criterion sampling, the research team conducted electronic searches of a variety of databases and search engines to identify articles that met the established parameters. Snowball sampling involved examining reference sections from theoretical articles related to school readiness, school achievement, early childhood mathematics, and early childhood literacy to find empirical research relevant to the research question. Snowball sampling was also conducted on the reference sections for each empirical study identified in the review to determine if additional sources could be included.

Finally, the research team conducted preliminary readings of the articles to obtain an overall understanding of the data. Following this analysis, articles were clustered based on similarity of findings. After clustering, articles underwent a secondary analysis to establish predictors of school readiness in mathematics and literacy.

Results

In general, literature relating to predictors of success in early childhood literacy was more prevalent than literature relating to early childhood mathematics. Therefore, more predictors of success relating to literacy were identified in this review. It is likely then that the findings do not encompass all potential predictors of school readiness in mathematics.

Seven themes emerged from the literature review regarding factors associated with school readiness in mathematics and literacy: (1) child care experience; (2) family structure and parenting; (3) home environment; (4) learning-related skills; (5) social behavior; (6) mathematical and literacy-based tasks; and (7) health and socioeconomic status. The sections that follow describe findings relating to each of these themes.

Child care experience. Several studies reviewed noted correlations between children’s exposure to high-quality child care and their performance on measures of school readiness in literacy and mathematics. In a longitudinal study conducted by the NICHD Early Child Care Research Network (2002), participation in high quality, center-based child care was associated with higher language performance (NICHD, 2002). However, increased time spent in child care did not increase language performance, and a higher number of hours spent in child care was associated with increased behavior problems, as reported by caregivers (NICHD, 2002).

Ramey and Ramey (2004) reported the results of multiple randomized controlled trials investigating experiences in preschool education and their connection to school readiness. The authors identified seven types of experiences that are “essential to ensure normal brain and behavioral development and school readiness” (2004, p. 474). These experiences should: “(1) encourage exploration, (2) mentor in basic skills, (3) celebrate developmental advances, (4) rehearse and extend new skills, (5) protect from inappropriate disapproval, teasing, and punishment, (6) communicate richly and responsively, and (7) guide and limit behavior” (Ramey & Ramey, 2004, p. 474).

The authors indicate that children’s exposure to high-quality child care built around these types of experiences can better prepare children for school. Magnuson and colleagues (2004) also examined the relationship between quality of care and school readiness and, in particular, how different types of preschool experiences may affect children of economically advantaged and disadvantaged families. Child care was categorized as parental care, center-based care, Head Start, or other non-parental care. Using a sample from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class (ECLS-K), the authors found that children who attended center-based programs before kindergarten performed better in math and reading than children who experienced only parental care. Having attended center-based programs was associated with greater benefits for children from “disadvantaged” families than for those with higher economic status, including enhancement of mathematics performance (Magnuson, Meyers, Ruhm, & Waldfogel, 2004).

High quality child care was not always defined in the literature reviewed for this study, but some of the literature did examine aspects of high-quality care. Klein, Starkey, Clements, Sarama, and Iyer (2008) examined the effects of a preschool mathematics curriculum on children’s levels of school readiness. Their findings suggest that use of high-quality curricula implemented with fidelity can lead to higher levels of school readiness in mathematics (Klein, Starkey, Clements, Sarama, & Iyer, 2008). Bracken and Fischel (2007) examined the impact of a supplementary literacy-based curriculum on Head Start preschoolers’ mathematics and literacy achievement and social and behavior skills. More students displayed positive behavior and social skills when engaging with the supplementary curriculum; these skills were associated with higher levels of performance on literacy tasks (Bracken & Fischel, 2007). Characteristics of instruction have also been considered in determining child care quality. Chien and colleagues (2010) investigated the types of engagement young children could encounter in child care settings (free play, group or individual instruction, and scaffolded learning). Children in settings with more free play showed smaller gains than their peers on literacy and mathematics indicators at the preschool level. Individual instruction tended to be a stronger predictor of success on preschool assessments (Chien, Howes, Burchinal, Pianta, Ritchie, Bryant, Clifford, Early, & Barbarin, 2010). However, that study focused only on the types of engagement as predictors of achievement success and did not discuss the potential positive implications of free play and group instruction on other domains of development.

Parenting Style and Family Structure. Parenting styles, parent and child relationships, and family structure were considered as factors potentially related to school readiness in some of the studies in this literature review. Hill (2001) examined the relationship between parenting styles and kindergarten children’s school readiness in African-American and Euro-American families with comparable socioeconomic status. Maternal warmth or acceptance was found to be positively related to children’s performance on a pre-reading measure, while “short temper” and lack of patience were associated with lower scores. Also positively related to children’s performance were teachers’ perception of the extent to which parents valued education, and the quality of parent involvement (high quality was characterized by primarily parent-initiated involvement; lower quality by primarily teacher-initiated parent involvement). Mothers’ expectations for grades were positively related to children’s performance on the pre-reading measure. Hill (2001) also compared parenting styles to kindergarten children’s performance on a measure of quantitative concepts. Again, maternal warmth and high expectations for good grades were associated with higher scores on the pre-mathematics measure, while lack of patience was connected to lower scores. However, no significant relationship was found between children’s performance and teacher-parent contact; the teacher-parent relationship alone did not predict better performance.

Wu and Qi (2006) examined the relationship between parenting styles and African American children’s achievement in the areas of reading, math, and science. They found that parents’ perceptions of children’s abilities and expectations for good grades were strong predictors of success for students at all grade levels. These predictors were just as strong as parents’ socioeconomic status (Wu & Qi, 2006). While parental involvement is commonly cited in the literature as a strong predictor of success, in this study, parental involvement was not shown to have a large impact on student achievement. Wu and Qi (2006) reported that their study “found limited positive effects of school-based parental involvement and, in addition, some negative effects of home-based parental involvement on achievement test scores” (p. 426). Lahaie (2008) found parental involvement to be a predictor of success for children of immigrants; that study’s analysis of data from the ECLS-K indicated a correlation between higher levels of parental involvement and young children’s higher proficiency in English and mathematics.

Family structure has also been cited as an important predictive factor relating to school readiness in mathematics and literacy. For example, Entwisle and Alexander (1996) investigated the relationship between children’s literacy and mathematics school readiness and parent configuration, or family type, in a random sample of Baltimore children. Mothers who were single parents were found to have lower expectations for their children’s grades in both reading and mathematics than mothers in two-parent families. However, regardless of family type, children in families with greater economic resources and who had a parent or parents with high expectations for success “consistently outperformed other children in reading and math” (Entwisle & Alexander, 1996, p. 341).

Home Environment. The research literature on school readiness includes several studies of the relationship between daily home activities and school readiness. Clarke and Kurtz-Costes (1997) examined the educational quality of the home environment and the influence of television-watching on readiness. They interviewed children and caregivers of low-income, African-American families and compared these data to school readiness assessments. Negative correlations were found between the amount of time spent watching television and number of books in the home, and between television viewing time and amount of parent-child instructional interactions. More television viewing time also predicted lower scores on readiness assessments (Clarke & Kurtz-Costes, 1997). Wright and colleagues (2001) investigated the relations between young children’s television viewing experiences and their performance on tests of school readiness and vocabulary. Television programming was divided into 4 categories: (1) child-audience, informative or educational; (2) child-audience, fully animated cartoons with no informative purpose; (3) child-audience, other programs (neither of the above); and (4) general-audience programs. According to the authors, “for very young children [2-3], viewing informative programming designed for children was associated with subsequent letter-word skills, number skills, receptive vocabulary and school readiness” (Wright, Huston, Murphy, St. Peters, Pinon, Scantlin, & Kotler, 2001, p. 1361). The authors found this difference to be stable across the study; young children who frequently watched educational television at ages 2 and 3 performed better on a battery of tests at age 3 than did infrequent viewers. However, children who were frequent viewers of non-educational cartoons or general-audience programs at ages 2 and 3 had lower scores than infrequent viewers.

A longitudinal study of children’s reading abilities and the literacy environment in the home (Burgess & Hecht, 2002) found that the home literacy environment (HLE) was significantly related to young children’s oral language ability, word decoding ability, and phonological sensitivity. The authors define the home literacy environment in two ways: (1) Passive HLE, or “those parental activities that expose children to models of literacy usage (e.g., seeing a parent read a newspaper)” (2002, p. 413), and (2) Active HLE, or, “those parental efforts that directly engage the child in activities designed to foster literacy or language development (e.g., rhyming games, shared readings)” (2002, p. 413). In a study in the Netherlands, Leseman and de Jong (1998) examined three issues related to home literacy: the potential influence of affective factors, such as cooperation, co-construction, or social-emotional constructs; the influence of contextuality, or cultural or social background factors; and causality, the impact of home literacy on language development. They found that home literacy environment factors determined children’s school literacy achievement when controlling for confounding factors. Their findings suggest that combining exposure to literacy in the home with co-construction opportunities increased the predictive value of home literacy in relation to early literacy achievement.

Learning-related characteristics. “Learning-related characteristics” include children’s behaviors and dispositions related to engaging in tasks as well as their strategies for completing tasks. McClelland, Morrison, and Holmes (2000) studied the relationship between work-related social skills and student performance in kindergarten classrooms and again in second grade. Examples of children’s work-related social skills included the ability to follow directions, take turns in group activities, and stay on task. When child demographic information (e.g., IQ, entrance age, ethnicity, parental education level, and home literacy environment) was controlled, findings showed that work-related skills contributed to children’s academic success in mathematics. Children with poor work-related skills performed significantly worse in mathematics upon school entry and at the end of second grade (McClelland, Morrison, & Holmes, 2000). McClelland, Acock, and Morrison (2006) later examined the influence of learning-related skills in kindergarten on academic math and reading success in elementary school. In this study, the math and reading abilities of children rated as having poor learning-related skills were compared to children rated as having high learning-related skills. Findings suggested that learning-related skills such as self-regulation and social competence predicted math and reading achievement between kindergarten and sixth grade. These effects were strongest between kindergarten and second grade but were still significant through sixth grade (McClelland, Acock, & Morrison, 2006).

Social behavior. Connections between school readiness and children’s temperament, or the innate aspects of their personality, have been addressed in the research literature. A child’s tendency to display characteristics such as being active or sociable may be correlated with school readiness; Chang and Burns (2005) examined the connection between temperament and attention skills for children attending Head Start. Findings from their multiple regression analysis indicate that temperament and motivational development are related to levels of attention in young children, similar to findings from research conducted with older children (Chang & Burns, 2005).

Konold and Pianta (2005) examined the predictive value of particular cognitive processes and social behaviors related to self-regulation on typically-developing children’s kindergarten and first grade achievement. The authors developed six normative profiles of patterns of school readiness: (1) attention problems; (2) low cognitive ability; (3) low-to-average social and cognitive skills; (4) social and externalizing problems; (5) high social competence; and (6) high cognitive ability and mild externalizing (Konold & Pianta, 2005). Findings suggest that cognitive ability and social skills should be considered predictors of school readiness, and that although these factors are interrelated, they can operate independently of each other in terms of their predictive value. For example, children with high cognitive abilities performed better on achievement measures, regardless of social skills, while students with average cognitive ability and higher social competence also tended to perform at higher levels than did those with average to low cognitive ability and average social competence (Konold & Pianta, 2005).

Normandeau and Guay (1998) investigated the relationship between cognitive self-control and prosocial behaviors such as collaboration and effective communication in kindergarten-age children. Cognitive self-control was correlated with increased student achievement, which was evidenced when following these children to the end of first grade. Aggressive behaviors were negatively correlated to cognitive self-control while prosocial behaviors had a positive correlation. Children who displayed more aggressive behaviors tended to have less self-control when attempting to complete school tasks, which led to poorer student achievement (Normandeau & Guay, 1998). Dobbs and colleagues (2006) examined the relationship of prosocial behaviors to mathematics skills in preschoolers. The authors found that when students participated in an early math intervention, which consisted of over 85 mathematical tasks that their teachers could select to implement, they were less likely to display negative behaviors such as aggression or a lack of attention.

Performance on mathematical and literacy-based tasks. Correlations between young children’s readiness-related literacy and mathematics skills and their experience with mathematics- and literacy-based tasks were explored in some of the literature reviewed during this study. Tasks might include such activities as examining concepts about print (literacy) and playing number games or block building (mathematics). Siegler and Ramani (2008) examined the role that playing numerical board games could play in preparing children in low-income families for school. They found that the numerical ability of children from affluent families was significantly higher than the numerical ability of children from impoverished families; however, the gap between groups in terms of their understanding of numerical magnitude was closed as a result of the intervention (Siegler & Ramani, 2008). Following this study, Ramani and Siegler (2008) sought to determine if playing linear numerical board games had an impact on a broader range of mathematical topics and whether this impact was stable over time by exploring informal board game play in the home environment (Ramani & Siegler, 2008). They reported the positive connection between informal board game play in the home environment and numerical ability. Playing card games and video games did not have the same results (Ramani & Siegler, 2008).

Building spatial sense through block play has also been considered as a potential predictor of success in terms of school achievement in the elementary years and beyond. Hanline, Milton, and Phelps (2009) examined the relationship between block play at the preschool level and later school success in math and reading. Although no significant relationships were identified in this study between block play and later math achievement, a significant relationship was identified between block play and later reading ability. Higher levels of sophistication in young children’s representations through block construction correlated with greater success in reading during the early elementary years (Hanline, Milton, & Phelps, 2009). While block play may not be a predictor of mathematics success at the early elementary level, it has been found to be a predictor of success for later school achievement in mathematics. Wolfgang, Stannard, and Jones (2001) reported the positive predictive relationship of levels of preschool block play (as determined by the Lunzer Five Point Play Scale) and mathematics achievement during middle and high school. Similar findings were reported regarding construction-type play with LEGOs and later school achievement (Wolfgang, Stannard, & Jones, 2001).

Health and socioeconomic status. Characteristics of child and parent health have long been cited in the literature as possible correlates of children’s school readiness, and are sometimes included as confounding variables when authors are attempting to identify alternative predictors (such as child care or parent-child interactions). Janus and Duku (2007) examined five constructs they identified as having a potential impact on school readiness: (1) socioeconomic status, (2) family structure, (3) parent health, (4) child health, and (5) parent involvement. Their Early Development Instrument, an assessment of school readiness, was built around these five factors in an effort to determine which of the five factors would be most relevant in predicting school readiness. Based on this assessment, health (including current health and low-birth weight) and gender of the child (boys are twice as likely to struggle with school readiness compared to girls) were the strongest predictors. In addition, children from low-income families were twice as likely to have difficulty with school readiness as children from middle- or high-income families.

Patrianakos-Hoobler and colleagues (2009) also examined risk factors related to health of premature infants in relation to the children’s eventual school readiness. They found that boys born premature were twice as likely as girls to display lower school readiness levels. Lower readiness was also identified for premature “infants born to black mothers” as compared to “infants born to nonblack mothers” (Patrianakos-Hoobler, Msall, Marks, Huo, & Schreiber, 2009, p. 4). Socioeconomic status emerged as the “strongest barrier to achieving school readiness” (Patrianakos-Hoobler, et al., 2009, p. 5).

Low socioeconomic status has been consistently negatively correlated to school readiness in the research literature. In 1997, Stipek and Ryan studied the cognitive differences and motivation of economically advantaged and disadvantaged children at school entry. Significant cognitive differences were found relative to number skills, problem solving, and memory. Economically disadvantaged children had as much motivation for learning as economically advantaged children. However, economically advantaged children showed higher levels of concern regarding performance and decreased levels of enjoyment as the study progressed (Stipek & Ryan, 1997).

Discussion and Recommendations

Definitions of school readiness have long been under contention, and it is unclear whether the view that students should be ready for school rather than schools being ready for children is developmentally appropriate. This systematic review of empirical research literature published after 1995 and before 2013 identified seven themes for which correlates of school readiness could be categorized. Table 1 describes the 24 predictors that were categorized under each of these themes.

Table 1

Predictors of school readiness in literacy and mathematics

While the above table describes factors that hold potential for predicting young children’s school readiness, risk factors were also identified in the literature. These factors include health risks such as low birth weight, prematurity, or general health issues, as well as demographic criteria such as gender (some studies have indicated that boys are more likely to struggle than girls), family structure (single mothers tend to have lower grade expectations for their children), maternal education level (not finishing high school) or the occupation of the head of household (due to the level of income associated with this occupation). In addition, low parental income or socioeconomic status and belonging to a minority group (including African American and Hispanic ethnicities) have often been identified as risk factors for school success.

Parents, caregivers, and teachers of young children as well as the children themselves are the primary stakeholders who would benefit from early interventions designed to enhance school readiness for young children. Initiatives focusing on building positive parent-child relationships and enhancing readiness-related aspects of the home environment have the potential to influence students’ readiness and later school achievement. Future research is needed on the roles parents play in children’s academic success. Specifically, little research can be found regarding parent involvement at the early childhood and primary levels and the influence of role models on children’s positive behavior and dispositions relative to school readiness. Research on the home environment is also necessary, including the increasing role of digital technologies and how they may influence family dynamics and, in turn, children’s future school success. Further investigations of the effects of implementing literacy- and mathematics-based tasks in the home, such as increasing math talk or encouraging children to build structures in a variety of shapes, may enhance what is currently understood about how home environments affect readiness.

Given the apparent correlation between child care quality and children’s school readiness, initiatives to improve early childhood teacher quality and the overall quality of public and private child care programs could have the potential to promote children’s school readiness in literacy and mathematics. The research identified in this review did not yield consistent definitions for high-quality child care. Future studies comparing types of child care settings could help to clarify what is high-quality care, considering such components as teacher quality and instructional practices, classroom environments, and curricula (e.g., presentation of mathematical and literacy-based tasks), and the longitudinal effects of such factors on student success.

The research included in this review was not consistent regarding types of assessments used to measure children’s school readiness. Many studies indicated that an effective tool for measuring school readiness has yet to be developed (Kilday & Kinzie, 2009). Recommendations for future research include the development and validation of a school readiness assessment that measures constructs across domains of development. Once such an assessment has been validated, it could be used for further investigation of the factors identified in this review.

Finally, initiatives specifically focused on young children could include interventions that enhance prosocial behaviors, motivation toward learning, and academic skills. Such interventions could occur in the context of the home, community, or child care setting. Some factors in school readiness and success that are specifically related to demographics (e.g., socioeconomic status, entrance age, belonging to a minority group) or health (e.g., birth weight) are difficult to isolate for the purposes of interventions that might enhance or reduce their influence on children’s school readiness and success. Often these factors occur simultaneously with additional factors within the child, parent, or teacher as described above; thus, future research on ways that some predictors may mediate the effects of demographic or health-related risk factors could be particularly helpful to the field.

Given the importance attached to children’s school readiness, any research that sheds further light on its components and processes is likely to enable adult stakeholders to better discern what constitutes the best possible environments and experiences for children. These environments and experiences can provide young children with the foundation for success on whatever paths they choose in the future.

References

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Author Information

Dr. Sandra M. Linder is an assistant professor of early childhood mathematics education at Clemson University. Her research centers on improving early childhood teacher quality and student understandings in mathematics.

Sandra M. Linder, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Mathematics Education

Coordinator of Early Childhood Education

Clemson University, School of Education

407F Tillman Hall

Clemson, SC 29634-0705

864-656-5102

sandram@clemson.edu

M. Deanna Ramey is a Ph.D. student in curriculum and instruction at Clemson University, studying literacy and early childhood education. Her research interests include young children's experiences with informational text, motivation and engagement, and self-regulation.

V. Serbay Zambak is a Ph.D. student in curriculum and instruction at Clemson University with an emphasis on mathematics education. He has taught mathematics in İstanbul and Amsterdam and has supported practicing teachers' instructional technology skills for mathematics education.

Volume 15 Number 1

©The Author(s) 2013

Predictors of School Readiness in Literacy and Mathematics: A Selective Review of the Literature

Sandra M. Linder, Ph.D.

M. Deanna Ramey

Serbay Zambak

Clemson University, School of Education

Abstract

This paper presents findings from a selective review of the literature related to predictors of school readiness in literacy and mathematics. School readiness was defined as what children are expected to know and do in a variety of academic domains and processes of learning prior to entering a formal classroom setting. Seven themes emerged, based on a review of selected empirical research published over a sixteen-year period. Twenty-four predictors of success for school readiness were categorized under these themes. Implications for practice and recommendations for future research are presented.

Introduction

Young children are increasingly entering academically rigorous school settings where an emphasis on accountability and standards has replaced an emphasis on child development. However, many young children enter school unprepared for both academic and social expectations. Research suggests (Aunola, Leskinen, Lerkkanen, & Nurmi, 2004) that if students enter kindergarten at a disadvantage, early gaps in understandings of literacy or mathematics tend to be sustained or widened over time; this appears to be particularly true for children of poverty (McLoyd & Purtell, 2008). It is imperative for the field to identify strategies that move young children toward becoming independent and reflective learners, to increase the likelihood of their school success in later years.

In order to achieve this vision, we must first identify the specific characteristics or factors that enable certain children to enter formal schooling at an advantage while others enter at a disadvantage. Since the 1950s, researchers have investigated how external factors can influence or predict student success in school, and particularly school readiness (Milner, 1951), but a comprehensive list of factors that may affect cognitive, social, emotional, or language development in the school-age years has yet to be compiled. This literature review focuses on school readiness in the areas of literacy and mathematics. Its purposes are to provide stakeholders such as parents, caregivers, and teachers with insight into factors that research has identified as possibly contributing to children’s successful entry into formal schooling and to enable them to identify whether particular children are affected by these factors.

Many definitions of school readiness can be found in the research literature. For some, school readiness relates to students’ cognitive abilities (Nobel, Tottenham, & Casey, 2005). For others, readiness is more related to maturational, social, and emotional domains of development (Ray & Smith, 2010) or to whether or not students have the tools necessary to work effectively in a classroom setting (Carlton & Winsler, 1999). For the purposes of this study, school readiness was defined as children’s preparedness for what they are expected to know and do in academic domains and processes of learning when they enter a formal classroom setting. Rather than focusing on specific activities such as counting to ten or saying the alphabet, this definition considers such components as children’s social-emotional characteristics, cognitive processes related to conceptual understanding, and their ability to communicate about their understandings.

Methods

A systematic review of the literature was conducted over three months during the spring of 2011. The question guiding the literature review was: What predictors of school readiness in mathematics and literacy have been identified by empirical research in education?

Data Collection and Analysis

The research team determined parameters for conducting searches by first examining already published literature reviews or meta-analyses relating to early childhood literacy or mathematics and relating to issues of school readiness. Four criteria emerged for articles to be included: (1) publication after 1995; (2) publication in a reputable peer-reviewed journal; (3) grounding in empirical research; and (4) use of rigorous research methods. These criteria are similar to those used in examples found in the preliminary review of the literature (Justice, 2003; La Paro & Pianta, 2000); however, many previous analyses were limited to large scale quantitative studies. During the preliminary review, meta-analyses of this literature published in 1995 or before were identified (Bus, Ijzendoorn, & Pellegrini, 1995). Therefore, this literature review focused on research following those publications to determine if any changes have occurred.

Having established parameters, the research team searched the literature to compile articles relevant to the research question. Both criterion and snowball sampling methods were used to identify literature. For criterion sampling, the research team conducted electronic searches of a variety of databases and search engines to identify articles that met the established parameters. Snowball sampling involved examining reference sections from theoretical articles related to school readiness, school achievement, early childhood mathematics, and early childhood literacy to find empirical research relevant to the research question. Snowball sampling was also conducted on the reference sections for each empirical study identified in the review to determine if additional sources could be included.

Finally, the research team conducted preliminary readings of the articles to obtain an overall understanding of the data. Following this analysis, articles were clustered based on similarity of findings. After clustering, articles underwent a secondary analysis to establish predictors of school readiness in mathematics and literacy.

Results

In general, literature relating to predictors of success in early childhood literacy was more prevalent than literature relating to early childhood mathematics. Therefore, more predictors of success relating to literacy were identified in this review. It is likely then that the findings do not encompass all potential predictors of school readiness in mathematics.

Seven themes emerged from the literature review regarding factors associated with school readiness in mathematics and literacy: (1) child care experience; (2) family structure and parenting; (3) home environment; (4) learning-related skills; (5) social behavior; (6) mathematical and literacy-based tasks; and (7) health and socioeconomic status. The sections that follow describe findings relating to each of these themes.

Child care experience. Several studies reviewed noted correlations between children’s exposure to high-quality child care and their performance on measures of school readiness in literacy and mathematics. In a longitudinal study conducted by the NICHD Early Child Care Research Network (2002), participation in high quality, center-based child care was associated with higher language performance (NICHD, 2002). However, increased time spent in child care did not increase language performance, and a higher number of hours spent in child care was associated with increased behavior problems, as reported by caregivers (NICHD, 2002).

Ramey and Ramey (2004) reported the results of multiple randomized controlled trials investigating experiences in preschool education and their connection to school readiness. The authors identified seven types of experiences that are “essential to ensure normal brain and behavioral development and school readiness” (2004, p. 474). These experiences should: “(1) encourage exploration, (2) mentor in basic skills, (3) celebrate developmental advances, (4) rehearse and extend new skills, (5) protect from inappropriate disapproval, teasing, and punishment, (6) communicate richly and responsively, and (7) guide and limit behavior” (Ramey & Ramey, 2004, p. 474).

The authors indicate that children’s exposure to high-quality child care built around these types of experiences can better prepare children for school. Magnuson and colleagues (2004) also examined the relationship between quality of care and school readiness and, in particular, how different types of preschool experiences may affect children of economically advantaged and disadvantaged families. Child care was categorized as parental care, center-based care, Head Start, or other non-parental care. Using a sample from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class (ECLS-K), the authors found that children who attended center-based programs before kindergarten performed better in math and reading than children who experienced only parental care. Having attended center-based programs was associated with greater benefits for children from “disadvantaged” families than for those with higher economic status, including enhancement of mathematics performance (Magnuson, Meyers, Ruhm, & Waldfogel, 2004).

High quality child care was not always defined in the literature reviewed for this study, but some of the literature did examine aspects of high-quality care. Klein, Starkey, Clements, Sarama, and Iyer (2008) examined the effects of a preschool mathematics curriculum on children’s levels of school readiness. Their findings suggest that use of high-quality curricula implemented with fidelity can lead to higher levels of school readiness in mathematics (Klein, Starkey, Clements, Sarama, & Iyer, 2008). Bracken and Fischel (2007) examined the impact of a supplementary literacy-based curriculum on Head Start preschoolers’ mathematics and literacy achievement and social and behavior skills. More students displayed positive behavior and social skills when engaging with the supplementary curriculum; these skills were associated with higher levels of performance on literacy tasks (Bracken & Fischel, 2007). Characteristics of instruction have also been considered in determining child care quality. Chien and colleagues (2010) investigated the types of engagement young children could encounter in child care settings (free play, group or individual instruction, and scaffolded learning). Children in settings with more free play showed smaller gains than their peers on literacy and mathematics indicators at the preschool level. Individual instruction tended to be a stronger predictor of success on preschool assessments (Chien, Howes, Burchinal, Pianta, Ritchie, Bryant, Clifford, Early, & Barbarin, 2010). However, that study focused only on the types of engagement as predictors of achievement success and did not discuss the potential positive implications of free play and group instruction on other domains of development.

Parenting Style and Family Structure. Parenting styles, parent and child relationships, and family structure were considered as factors potentially related to school readiness in some of the studies in this literature review. Hill (2001) examined the relationship between parenting styles and kindergarten children’s school readiness in African-American and Euro-American families with comparable socioeconomic status. Maternal warmth or acceptance was found to be positively related to children’s performance on a pre-reading measure, while “short temper” and lack of patience were associated with lower scores. Also positively related to children’s performance were teachers’ perception of the extent to which parents valued education, and the quality of parent involvement (high quality was characterized by primarily parent-initiated involvement; lower quality by primarily teacher-initiated parent involvement). Mothers’ expectations for grades were positively related to children’s performance on the pre-reading measure. Hill (2001) also compared parenting styles to kindergarten children’s performance on a measure of quantitative concepts. Again, maternal warmth and high expectations for good grades were associated with higher scores on the pre-mathematics measure, while lack of patience was connected to lower scores. However, no significant relationship was found between children’s performance and teacher-parent contact; the teacher-parent relationship alone did not predict better performance.

Wu and Qi (2006) examined the relationship between parenting styles and African American children’s achievement in the areas of reading, math, and science. They found that parents’ perceptions of children’s abilities and expectations for good grades were strong predictors of success for students at all grade levels. These predictors were just as strong as parents’ socioeconomic status (Wu & Qi, 2006). While parental involvement is commonly cited in the literature as a strong predictor of success, in this study, parental involvement was not shown to have a large impact on student achievement. Wu and Qi (2006) reported that their study “found limited positive effects of school-based parental involvement and, in addition, some negative effects of home-based parental involvement on achievement test scores” (p. 426). Lahaie (2008) found parental involvement to be a predictor of success for children of immigrants; that study’s analysis of data from the ECLS-K indicated a correlation between higher levels of parental involvement and young children’s higher proficiency in English and mathematics.

Family structure has also been cited as an important predictive factor relating to school readiness in mathematics and literacy. For example, Entwisle and Alexander (1996) investigated the relationship between children’s literacy and mathematics school readiness and parent configuration, or family type, in a random sample of Baltimore children. Mothers who were single parents were found to have lower expectations for their children’s grades in both reading and mathematics than mothers in two-parent families. However, regardless of family type, children in families with greater economic resources and who had a parent or parents with high expectations for success “consistently outperformed other children in reading and math” (Entwisle & Alexander, 1996, p. 341).

Home Environment. The research literature on school readiness includes several studies of the relationship between daily home activities and school readiness. Clarke and Kurtz-Costes (1997) examined the educational quality of the home environment and the influence of television-watching on readiness. They interviewed children and caregivers of low-income, African-American families and compared these data to school readiness assessments. Negative correlations were found between the amount of time spent watching television and number of books in the home, and between television viewing time and amount of parent-child instructional interactions. More television viewing time also predicted lower scores on readiness assessments (Clarke & Kurtz-Costes, 1997). Wright and colleagues (2001) investigated the relations between young children’s television viewing experiences and their performance on tests of school readiness and vocabulary. Television programming was divided into 4 categories: (1) child-audience, informative or educational; (2) child-audience, fully animated cartoons with no informative purpose; (3) child-audience, other programs (neither of the above); and (4) general-audience programs. According to the authors, “for very young children [2-3], viewing informative programming designed for children was associated with subsequent letter-word skills, number skills, receptive vocabulary and school readiness” (Wright, Huston, Murphy, St. Peters, Pinon, Scantlin, & Kotler, 2001, p. 1361). The authors found this difference to be stable across the study; young children who frequently watched educational television at ages 2 and 3 performed better on a battery of tests at age 3 than did infrequent viewers. However, children who were frequent viewers of non-educational cartoons or general-audience programs at ages 2 and 3 had lower scores than infrequent viewers.

A longitudinal study of children’s reading abilities and the literacy environment in the home (Burgess & Hecht, 2002) found that the home literacy environment (HLE) was significantly related to young children’s oral language ability, word decoding ability, and phonological sensitivity. The authors define the home literacy environment in two ways: (1) Passive HLE, or “those parental activities that expose children to models of literacy usage (e.g., seeing a parent read a newspaper)” (2002, p. 413), and (2) Active HLE, or, “those parental efforts that directly engage the child in activities designed to foster literacy or language development (e.g., rhyming games, shared readings)” (2002, p. 413). In a study in the Netherlands, Leseman and de Jong (1998) examined three issues related to home literacy: the potential influence of affective factors, such as cooperation, co-construction, or social-emotional constructs; the influence of contextuality, or cultural or social background factors; and causality, the impact of home literacy on language development. They found that home literacy environment factors determined children’s school literacy achievement when controlling for confounding factors. Their findings suggest that combining exposure to literacy in the home with co-construction opportunities increased the predictive value of home literacy in relation to early literacy achievement.

Learning-related characteristics. “Learning-related characteristics” include children’s behaviors and dispositions related to engaging in tasks as well as their strategies for completing tasks. McClelland, Morrison, and Holmes (2000) studied the relationship between work-related social skills and student performance in kindergarten classrooms and again in second grade. Examples of children’s work-related social skills included the ability to follow directions, take turns in group activities, and stay on task. When child demographic information (e.g., IQ, entrance age, ethnicity, parental education level, and home literacy environment) was controlled, findings showed that work-related skills contributed to children’s academic success in mathematics. Children with poor work-related skills performed significantly worse in mathematics upon school entry and at the end of second grade (McClelland, Morrison, & Holmes, 2000). McClelland, Acock, and Morrison (2006) later examined the influence of learning-related skills in kindergarten on academic math and reading success in elementary school. In this study, the math and reading abilities of children rated as having poor learning-related skills were compared to children rated as having high learning-related skills. Findings suggested that learning-related skills such as self-regulation and social competence predicted math and reading achievement between kindergarten and sixth grade. These effects were strongest between kindergarten and second grade but were still significant through sixth grade (McClelland, Acock, & Morrison, 2006).

Social behavior. Connections between school readiness and children’s temperament, or the innate aspects of their personality, have been addressed in the research literature. A child’s tendency to display characteristics such as being active or sociable may be correlated with school readiness; Chang and Burns (2005) examined the connection between temperament and attention skills for children attending Head Start. Findings from their multiple regression analysis indicate that temperament and motivational development are related to levels of attention in young children, similar to findings from research conducted with older children (Chang & Burns, 2005).

Konold and Pianta (2005) examined the predictive value of particular cognitive processes and social behaviors related to self-regulation on typically-developing children’s kindergarten and first grade achievement. The authors developed six normative profiles of patterns of school readiness: (1) attention problems; (2) low cognitive ability; (3) low-to-average social and cognitive skills; (4) social and externalizing problems; (5) high social competence; and (6) high cognitive ability and mild externalizing (Konold & Pianta, 2005). Findings suggest that cognitive ability and social skills should be considered predictors of school readiness, and that although these factors are interrelated, they can operate independently of each other in terms of their predictive value. For example, children with high cognitive abilities performed better on achievement measures, regardless of social skills, while students with average cognitive ability and higher social competence also tended to perform at higher levels than did those with average to low cognitive ability and average social competence (Konold & Pianta, 2005).

Normandeau and Guay (1998) investigated the relationship between cognitive self-control and prosocial behaviors such as collaboration and effective communication in kindergarten-age children. Cognitive self-control was correlated with increased student achievement, which was evidenced when following these children to the end of first grade. Aggressive behaviors were negatively correlated to cognitive self-control while prosocial behaviors had a positive correlation. Children who displayed more aggressive behaviors tended to have less self-control when attempting to complete school tasks, which led to poorer student achievement (Normandeau & Guay, 1998). Dobbs and colleagues (2006) examined the relationship of prosocial behaviors to mathematics skills in preschoolers. The authors found that when students participated in an early math intervention, which consisted of over 85 mathematical tasks that their teachers could select to implement, they were less likely to display negative behaviors such as aggression or a lack of attention.

Performance on mathematical and literacy-based tasks. Correlations between young children’s readiness-related literacy and mathematics skills and their experience with mathematics- and literacy-based tasks were explored in some of the literature reviewed during this study. Tasks might include such activities as examining concepts about print (literacy) and playing number games or block building (mathematics). Siegler and Ramani (2008) examined the role that playing numerical board games could play in preparing children in low-income families for school. They found that the numerical ability of children from affluent families was significantly higher than the numerical ability of children from impoverished families; however, the gap between groups in terms of their understanding of numerical magnitude was closed as a result of the intervention (Siegler & Ramani, 2008). Following this study, Ramani and Siegler (2008) sought to determine if playing linear numerical board games had an impact on a broader range of mathematical topics and whether this impact was stable over time by exploring informal board game play in the home environment (Ramani & Siegler, 2008). They reported the positive connection between informal board game play in the home environment and numerical ability. Playing card games and video games did not have the same results (Ramani & Siegler, 2008).

Building spatial sense through block play has also been considered as a potential predictor of success in terms of school achievement in the elementary years and beyond. Hanline, Milton, and Phelps (2009) examined the relationship between block play at the preschool level and later school success in math and reading. Although no significant relationships were identified in this study between block play and later math achievement, a significant relationship was identified between block play and later reading ability. Higher levels of sophistication in young children’s representations through block construction correlated with greater success in reading during the early elementary years (Hanline, Milton, & Phelps, 2009). While block play may not be a predictor of mathematics success at the early elementary level, it has been found to be a predictor of success for later school achievement in mathematics. Wolfgang, Stannard, and Jones (2001) reported the positive predictive relationship of levels of preschool block play (as determined by the Lunzer Five Point Play Scale) and mathematics achievement during middle and high school. Similar findings were reported regarding construction-type play with LEGOs and later school achievement (Wolfgang, Stannard, & Jones, 2001).

Health and socioeconomic status. Characteristics of child and parent health have long been cited in the literature as possible correlates of children’s school readiness, and are sometimes included as confounding variables when authors are attempting to identify alternative predictors (such as child care or parent-child interactions). Janus and Duku (2007) examined five constructs they identified as having a potential impact on school readiness: (1) socioeconomic status, (2) family structure, (3) parent health, (4) child health, and (5) parent involvement. Their Early Development Instrument, an assessment of school readiness, was built around these five factors in an effort to determine which of the five factors would be most relevant in predicting school readiness. Based on this assessment, health (including current health and low-birth weight) and gender of the child (boys are twice as likely to struggle with school readiness compared to girls) were the strongest predictors. In addition, children from low-income families were twice as likely to have difficulty with school readiness as children from middle- or high-income families.

Patrianakos-Hoobler and colleagues (2009) also examined risk factors related to health of premature infants in relation to the children’s eventual school readiness. They found that boys born premature were twice as likely as girls to display lower school readiness levels. Lower readiness was also identified for premature “infants born to black mothers” as compared to “infants born to nonblack mothers” (Patrianakos-Hoobler, Msall, Marks, Huo, & Schreiber, 2009, p. 4). Socioeconomic status emerged as the “strongest barrier to achieving school readiness” (Patrianakos-Hoobler, et al., 2009, p. 5).

Low socioeconomic status has been consistently negatively correlated to school readiness in the research literature. In 1997, Stipek and Ryan studied the cognitive differences and motivation of economically advantaged and disadvantaged children at school entry. Significant cognitive differences were found relative to number skills, problem solving, and memory. Economically disadvantaged children had as much motivation for learning as economically advantaged children. However, economically advantaged children showed higher levels of concern regarding performance and decreased levels of enjoyment as the study progressed (Stipek & Ryan, 1997).

Discussion and Recommendations

Definitions of school readiness have long been under contention, and it is unclear whether the view that students should be ready for school rather than schools being ready for children is developmentally appropriate. This systematic review of empirical research literature published after 1995 and before 2013 identified seven themes for which correlates of school readiness could be categorized. Table 1 describes the 24 predictors that were categorized under each of these themes.

Table 1

Predictors of school readiness in literacy and mathematics

While the above table describes factors that hold potential for predicting young children’s school readiness, risk factors were also identified in the literature. These factors include health risks such as low birth weight, prematurity, or general health issues, as well as demographic criteria such as gender (some studies have indicated that boys are more likely to struggle than girls), family structure (single mothers tend to have lower grade expectations for their children), maternal education level (not finishing high school) or the occupation of the head of household (due to the level of income associated with this occupation). In addition, low parental income or socioeconomic status and belonging to a minority group (including African American and Hispanic ethnicities) have often been identified as risk factors for school success.

Parents, caregivers, and teachers of young children as well as the children themselves are the primary stakeholders who would benefit from early interventions designed to enhance school readiness for young children. Initiatives focusing on building positive parent-child relationships and enhancing readiness-related aspects of the home environment have the potential to influence students’ readiness and later school achievement. Future research is needed on the roles parents play in children’s academic success. Specifically, little research can be found regarding parent involvement at the early childhood and primary levels and the influence of role models on children’s positive behavior and dispositions relative to school readiness. Research on the home environment is also necessary, including the increasing role of digital technologies and how they may influence family dynamics and, in turn, children’s future school success. Further investigations of the effects of implementing literacy- and mathematics-based tasks in the home, such as increasing math talk or encouraging children to build structures in a variety of shapes, may enhance what is currently understood about how home environments affect readiness.

Given the apparent correlation between child care quality and children’s school readiness, initiatives to improve early childhood teacher quality and the overall quality of public and private child care programs could have the potential to promote children’s school readiness in literacy and mathematics. The research identified in this review did not yield consistent definitions for high-quality child care. Future studies comparing types of child care settings could help to clarify what is high-quality care, considering such components as teacher quality and instructional practices, classroom environments, and curricula (e.g., presentation of mathematical and literacy-based tasks), and the longitudinal effects of such factors on student success.

The research included in this review was not consistent regarding types of assessments used to measure children’s school readiness. Many studies indicated that an effective tool for measuring school readiness has yet to be developed (Kilday & Kinzie, 2009). Recommendations for future research include the development and validation of a school readiness assessment that measures constructs across domains of development. Once such an assessment has been validated, it could be used for further investigation of the factors identified in this review.

Finally, initiatives specifically focused on young children could include interventions that enhance prosocial behaviors, motivation toward learning, and academic skills. Such interventions could occur in the context of the home, community, or child care setting. Some factors in school readiness and success that are specifically related to demographics (e.g., socioeconomic status, entrance age, belonging to a minority group) or health (e.g., birth weight) are difficult to isolate for the purposes of interventions that might enhance or reduce their influence on children’s school readiness and success. Often these factors occur simultaneously with additional factors within the child, parent, or teacher as described above; thus, future research on ways that some predictors may mediate the effects of demographic or health-related risk factors could be particularly helpful to the field.

Given the importance attached to children’s school readiness, any research that sheds further light on its components and processes is likely to enable adult stakeholders to better discern what constitutes the best possible environments and experiences for children. These environments and experiences can provide young children with the foundation for success on whatever paths they choose in the future.

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Author Information

Dr. Sandra M. Linder is an assistant professor of early childhood mathematics education at Clemson University. Her research centers on improving early childhood teacher quality and student understandings in mathematics.

Sandra M. Linder, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Mathematics Education

Coordinator of Early Childhood Education

Clemson University, School of Education

407F Tillman Hall

Clemson, SC 29634-0705

864-656-5102

sandram@clemson.edu

M. Deanna Ramey is a Ph.D. student in curriculum and instruction at Clemson University, studying literacy and early childhood education. Her research interests include young children's experiences with informational text, motivation and engagement, and self-regulation.

V. Serbay Zambak is a Ph.D. student in curriculum and instruction at Clemson University with an emphasis on mathematics education. He has taught mathematics in İstanbul and Amsterdam and has supported practicing teachers' instructional technology skills for mathematics education.