Using linked administrative data to understand the interacting effects of school readiness, family, neighbourhood and school characteristics on children's early academic achievement – enhancing the to …

There is a strong relationship between education and health. People with lower levels of education demonstrate poorer health, higher rates of health risk behaviours, lower rates of preventive health care use, and higher rates of early mortality. Thus, one important approach for reducing disparities in health is to enhance children’s opportunities for academic success. School readiness is the term used to describe a child’s preparedness at age five or six to take advantage of the learning opportunities offered in school. Encompassing physical well-being, motor development, emotional health, social competence, language skills, general knowledge, and cognitive skills, readiness to learn at school entry has shown a strong association with later academic performance. Dr. Susan Dahinten is determining the extent to which children’s academic success in Grade Four can be predicted by their school readiness in kindergarten, before and after accounting for other individual, family, neighbourhood, and school characteristics that may influence their development. The sample for this study includes BC children for whom school readiness was measured at kindergarten between 2000 and 2002. By anonymously linking this data with data from BC’s education database, and with census data describing the children’s neighbourhoods, she is investigating whether, and why, some schools may be more or less successful at reducing inequalities among students of different backgrounds.