Chapter 8: Promoting School Readiness In Foster Children

School entry is an important developmental milestone for children. Those who lack the social and academic skills to succeed in kindergarten are likely to exhibit trajectories of increasing academic failure and behavior problems across their school years (Entwisle & Alexander, 1999; Williamson, Appelbaum, & Epanchin, 1991). In contrast, success in kindergarten and in first grade is a protective factor associated with positive outcomes in elementary school and beyond (Ensminger & Slusarcick, 1992; Gutman, Sameroff, & Cole, 2003). Foster children are at particularly high risk for difficulties in school, faring worse than their peers on many indicators of school performance, including academic achievement, social competence, high school completion, and need for special education services (Blome, 1997; Wodarski, Kurtz, Gaudin, & Howing, 1990; Zima et al., 2000). Therefore, helping to prepare foster children for school entry by focusing on the skills necessary to succeed in kindergarten could be a key window for early intervention.