School readiness is more than the child: a latent class analysis of child, family, school and community aspects of school readiness

In this paper, we aim to contribute to the understanding of the multidimensional nature of school readiness. In a sample of over 4,000 Australian children in their first year of school, we used latent class analysis to examine patterns of school readiness based on child, family, school and community characteristics, and examine the relationship between these patterns of school readiness and subsequent outcomes (reading comprehension, school absence and emotional and behavioural difficulties).

Citation:
Christensen D, Taylor CL, Hancock KJ, Zubrick SR. School readiness is more than the child: a latent class analysis of child, family, school and community aspects of school readiness. Austr J Soc Iss. 2022;57(1):125-43.

Keywords:
Clusters; ecological; person-centred; profiles; school readiness

Abstract:
In this paper, we aim to contribute to the understanding of the multidimensional nature of school readiness. In a sample of over 4,000 Australian children in their first year of school, we used latent class analysis to examine patterns of school readiness based on child, family, school and community characteristics, and examine the relationship between these patterns of school readiness and subsequent outcomes (reading comprehension, school absence and emotional and behavioural difficulties).