In the Running for Successful Outcomes: Project Overview

This research brief summarizes a multi-method study examining the evidence for thresholds in association between children's school readiness and subsequent academic, social and emotional outcomes, both within and across domains. In addition to a literature review, multiple analytical methods were applied to two national data sets to examine these issues. Findings revealed that overall, the school readiness skills with which a child enters school do matter in terms of level and rate of acquisition of academic and social skills during elementary school. Children do not need to reach the national average for achievement in order to be "in the running" for later school success, but the better a child's skills are when he or she enters school, the better his or her skills are likely to be in elementary school and beyond. Analyses found no evidence of thresholds in school readiness schools aboave which children shoowed more rapid acquisition of skills during the school years.