Home–school differences in beliefs, support, and control during public pre-kindergarten and their link to children's kindergarten readiness

This study examines the prevalence of home–school match in childrearing beliefs and socialization practices (control and support) and their relation to ethnicity and readiness skills of children (n = 310) making the transition from publicly sponsored Pre-k to kindergarten. Home–school match was operationalized both as a continuous absolute measure and as categories of match or mismatch. Overall, home–school match was more prevalent than mismatch. However, the results corroborate previous ethnographic studies showing higher rates of home–school mismatch among African Americans and Latinos than Euro Americans. Controlling for race and socio-economic status, parents’ beliefs and practices predicted readiness but teachers’ did not. Absolute indicators of home–school differences were not related to kindergarten readiness. Directional indicators revealed that children attained greater skills when parents and teachers matched on child-centered beliefs, low control, and high support. Contrary to the cultural match hypothesis, home–school mismatch was associated with better outcomes than match in the case of adult-centered beliefs, control, and low support.