Dominican, Salvadoran, and Chinese Immigrant Parents’ Reasoning About School Readiness Skills

Abstract

The importance of parental beliefs and practices related to children’s school readiness skills is widely documented, but few studies explicitly focus on immigrant families. Further, no known studies have examined immigrant parents’ beliefs about what skills children need to be successful in kindergarten. The overarching aim of this mixed-methods study was to investigate the school readiness beliefs of parents who are identified as immigrants in the United States. We examined the skills they prioritized as well as parents’ reasoning about their prioritization. Sixty-three immigrant parents from three different countries of origin—China, the Dominican Republic, and El Salvador—completed a Q-sort and subsequent interview about their school readiness beliefs as well as a measure of acculturation. Results indicated two school readiness belief profiles. Parents in the first profile primarily emphasized academic skills; parents in the second profile primarily emphasized learning-related skills. Parents’ country of origin predicted their profile membership. Six themes emerged to explain parents’ school readiness beliefs. Although parents in the two profiles prioritized different skills, parents’ reasoning about the importance of select skills showed many similarities. Study findings provide a nuanced view of immigrant parents’ school readiness beliefs, which is particularly useful for early childhood educators to consider as they develop culturally responsive family-school partnerships.