Classroom Characteristics and Quality

1 In recent years school readiness has become a primary goal for the majority of Pre-Kindergarten programs in the United States. A lack of readiness is thought to lead to difficulties throughout a child’s life in the academic world (Rouse, Brooks-Gunn, & McLanahan, 2005, pg. 6). Most readiness discussion has focused on the skills the children need to be “ready.” But, ready for what? School readiness depends not only on the children but also on the subsequent school environments to which they are exposed (Maxwell & Clifford, 2004, pg. 42). In order to know both what children will be expected to do to meet school expectations -as well as whether those expectations are appropriate -it is critical to know more about early elementary school classroom environments. As part of a larger study of the effects of different Pre-K curricula, observational data was collected on kindergarten and 1st grade classroom environments. This particular presentation focused on descriptive accounts of the environments of Kindergarten and st grade classrooms from seven rural, low-income school districts in six counties in a southeastern state.