Preamble
National, state, and local efforts to reform education
continue to raise concern regarding children’s “readiness” to
enter kindergarten and first grade. The issue first gained
national prominence with the adoption of the National
Education Goals including as Goal 1, “by the year 2000, all
children will start school ready to learn.” Traditionally, the
construct of school readiness has been based on the assump-
tion that there is a predetermined set of capabilities that all
children need before entering school. The National Education
Goals Panel, however, recognizes that children’s early
learning and development is multidimensional, complex, and
influenced by individual, cultural, and contextual variation
(Kagan, Moore, & Bredekamp, 1995). Therefore, any
discussions of school readiness must consider at least three
critical factors