Supporting families’ childrearing efforts is critically
important for ensuring that more young children enter school
ready to succeed. But, such efforts address only half of the
problem. Attention must also be given to ensuring that the
expectations used to determine readiness are legitimate and
reasonable.
Expectations of the skills and abilities that young children
bring to school must be based on knowledge of child development
and how children learn. A basic principle of child
development is that normal variability includes a wide range
of competence within an age group. Children’s social skills,
physical development, intellectual abilities, and emotional
adjustment are equally important areas of development, and
each contributes to a child’s adaptation to school life.