Date Approved

4-20-2025

Graduate Degree Type

Project

Degree Name

Education-Instruction and Curriculum: Early Childhood Education (M.Ed.)

Degree Program

College of Education

First Advisor

Sherie Klee

Second Advisor

Kathryn Ohle

Academic Year

2024/2025

Abstract

This project aims to tackle the issue of kindergarten readiness. Chapter 1 focuses on the significant gap in kindergarten preparedness, with many children lacking the academic, social, and emotional skills needed for a successful kindergarten transition. Socioeconomic disparities, lack of access to good early childhood education, and the compounded effect of the COVID-19 pandemic that disrupted early learning opportunities and parental engagement have widened this gap. As such, the project presents a Kindergarten Readiness Toolkit that aims to promote young learners' academic and social-emotional skills by providing targeted interventions. The second chapter thoroughly reviews the literature, including the use of Piaget's Cognitive Development Theory and Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory to inform the academic and social-emotional strategies of the toolkit. It also speaks about the value of parental participation in preparing children for kindergarten, for which such participation significantly impacts learning outcomes. The review also appraises different sorts of medications that have shown beneficial results in updating readiness for school, just because of early literacy courses and social-emotional studying (SEL) curricula. Chapter 3 discusses the project design and implementation plan, specifically constructing an assessment framework for assessing children's cognitive, emotional, and physical readiness. Together with parent involvement resources and resources for teacher and community collaboration to bridge the readiness gap, the toolkit consists of an academic skills curriculum and an SEL curriculum in a powerful partnership among teachers, parents, and communities. The project seeks to leverage evidence to make accessible, educator- and family-friendly interventions that help prepare children for kindergarten.

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