Assignment 4 (Jun Han and Thaddaeus)

Summary 

School readiness reflects a child’s ability to succeed both academically and socially in a school environment.

Poverty decreases a child's readiness for school through aspects of health, home life, neighbourhoods and school life. A child's home has a large impact on school readiness. Children from low income families are do not receive the stimulation and learn social skills to prepare them for school. Main reasons for this is due to parental inconsistency and the parents lack support. schools with the largest proportion of children with low school readiness were from neighbourhoods of high social risk, including poverty.

Thus, the evidence is clear and unanimous that poor children arrive at school at a cognitive and behavioural disadvantage

Reader Response

I believe early intervention is the key intervention strategy to help children excel in their studies. There is a direct link between early childhood intervention and increased social and cognitive ability. Decreasing the risk factors in a child’s environment increases a child’s potential for development and educational attainment. Prevention and intervention programs that target health concerns (eg, immunization and prenatal care) are associated with better health outcomes for low-income children and result in increased cognitive ability. Also, the parent-child relationship during a child's early development impacts greatly a child's early development. Parental involvement, such as frequency of outings and problem-based play, creates greater intellectual stimulation and educational support for a child, and develops into increased school readiness. Early intervention helps to develop the skills lacking in children in poverty, that have already developed in other children who are of a similar age. Early interventions have have sustained success for children when they increase intellectual skills, create motivational changes, create greater environmental opportunities and/or increase continued access to supports. Children that had early intervention had greater academic achievement in reading and math, had completed more years of education and were more likely to have attended a four-year college. Also, children who received the intervention were more likely to have graduated high school, hold a job, have higher earnings and have committed fewer crimes. Therefore, I agree that early intervention is the key intervention strategy to help students excel in their studies.