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Promoting Kindergarten Readiness in Primary Care: Perspectives of Children's Primary Care Providers
Reilly Dever1,2, Christel Wekon-Kemeni3, Alicia Reynolds1
1Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, 27707, USA.
Insights
Pediatricians can enhance kindergarten readiness by integrating school readiness support into primary care. They emphasize community partnerships and equitable practices to ensure all children are prepared for school.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric primary care
- Early childhood education
- School readiness interventions
Background:
- Children's healthcare providers, specifically pediatric primary care (PCP) providers, play a crucial role in preparing children for kindergarten.
- Understanding current PCP practices, perceived barriers, and suggestions for improvement is vital for optimizing school readiness initiatives.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore pediatric primary care providers' (PCP) current strategies for fostering kindergarten readiness.
- To identify barriers encountered by PCPs in promoting school readiness.
- To gather PCPs' recommendations for enhancing kindergarten readiness programs.
Main Methods:
- Qualitative study involving semi-structured interviews with eleven PCPs across diverse practice settings in North Carolina.
- Interviews were conducted between June and August 2021.
- Data were analyzed using iterative thematic analysis to identify key themes.
Main Results:
- PCPs integrate kindergarten readiness into primary care, partner with communities, and promote equity.
- Key themes include the value of extended care teams and assessment tools within clinics.
- PCPs desire enhanced collaboration with schools and community organizations, alongside more transparent referral processes.
- Identified needs include culturally inclusive assessments, improved racial/ethnic concordance, and supportive systems-level policies to address inequities.
Conclusions:
- Pediatric primary care providers see significant opportunities to collaborate with families and communities to improve early childhood school readiness.
- Recommended school readiness activities could be supported by quality measures and financing.
- Systemic changes are needed to ensure equitable access to school readiness support for all children.
Background And Objective:
Children's healthcare providers have important roles in kindergarten readiness. We sought to understand children's primary care providers' (PCP) current approaches to fostering kindergarten readiness for their patients, perceptions of barriers, and ideas for improvement.
Methods:
Children's PCPs were recruited and interviewed between June and August 2021. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and iteratively analyzed to identify and refine emerging themes.
Results:
Eleven PCPs were interviewed from eleven unique practices across rural and urban settings in North Carolina. Key themes included (1) Integrating kindergarten readiness in the primary care clinic, (2) Partnering with communities to improve kindergarten readiness, and (3) Promoting equity to improve kindergarten readiness. Within the clinic, PCPs valued extended care teams and dedicated assessment tools. PCPs reported wanting greater collaboration with schools and community organizations and more transparent assessment and referral processes. PCPs identified inequities within existing systems and called for more culturally inclusive, equitable kindergarten readiness promotion. Recommendations included removing cultural and language bias from assessments, improving racial/ethnic concordance, and advocating for supportive systems-level policies.
Conclusions:
Children's PCPs identified many current and future opportunities to partner with families and communities to optimize children's school readiness throughout early childhood. Many school readiness promoting activities recommended by PCPs in this study could be supported through quality measures that track and provide financing for these specific actions.
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