Percentage distribution of kindergarten teachers and parents indicating the importance of various factors for kindergarten readiness, by control: Fall 1998

Table 50.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                                 |Perception of importance for parents and teachers|        Perception of importance for
                                 |          public kindergarten children           |          private school children
       Teacher and parent        |_________________________________________________|_________________________________________________
  perception of student skills   |   Not   |Not very |Somewhat |  Very   |         |   Not   |Not very |Somewhat |  Very   |
                                 |important|important|important|important|Essential|important|important|important|important|Essential
_________________________________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________
                1                |    2    |    3    |    4    |    5    |    6    |    7    |    8    |    9    |   10    |   11
_________________________________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________
                                 |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
Kindergarten teachers\1\         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
  Can count to 20 or more .......|12  (0.7)|38  (1.3)|36  (1.2)|11  (0.7)| 2  (0.3)|10  (2.0)|37  (3.1)|34  (3.0)|12  (2.0)| 6  (2.3)
  Knows most of the alphabet ....| 9  (0.7)|30  (1.2)|43  (1.2)|14  (0.9)| 4  (0.5)| 6  (1.4)|26  (2.8)|41  (2.7)|19  (2.6)| 8  (2.3)
  Takes turns and shares ........| #  (0.1)| 1  (0.2)|25  (1.1)|58  (1.4)|16  (1.0)| #  (0.3)| 1  (0.4)|25  (2.5)|58  (3.2)|16  (2.4)
  Sits still and pays attention .| 1  (0.2)| 4  (0.4)|36  (1.4)|47  (1.3)|13  (0.8)| 1  (0.5)| 3  (1.1)|35  (3.8)|52  (3.1)|10  (2.7)
  Is able to use pencils and     |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
   paint brushes ................| 4  (0.5)|14  (0.9)|47  (1.3)|29  (1.5)| 6  (0.5)| 5  (1.4)|12  (2.2)|42  (3.1)|32  (3.3)| 9  (2.5)
                                 |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
Kindergarten parents\2\          |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
  Can count to 20 or more .......| 1  (0.1)| 6  (0.3)|30  (0.6)|46  (0.7)|17  (0.4)| 2  (0.2)| 9  (0.6)|33  (1.0)|35  (1.1)|21  (1.0)
  Knows most of the alphabet ....| 1  (0.1)| 4  (0.3)|25  (0.6)|51  (0.8)|19  (0.4)| 1  (0.2)| 7  (0.6)|29  (1.1)|41  (1.0)|22  (1.0)
  Takes turns and shares ........| #  (0.0)| #  (0.0)| 5  (0.2)|63  (0.6)|32  (0.6)| #  (0.0)| #  (0.1)| 7  (0.5)|55  (1.0)|38  (0.9)
  Sits still and pays attention .| #  (0.0)| 1  (0.1)|14  (0.5)|60  (0.6)|25  (0.5)| #  (0.1)| 2  (0.3)|22  (1.1)|51  (0.9)|25  (0.8)
  Is able to use pencils and     |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
   paint brushes ................| #  (0.1)| 2  (0.2)|23  (0.5)|53  (0.7)|21  (0.4)| #  (0.1)| 3  (0.4)|27  (1.0)|43  (1.1)|26  (0.9)
_________________________________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________

# Rounds to zero.
\1\Estimates pertaining to teachers are based on the responses of a nationally representative sample of kindergarten children's teachers.
\2\Estimates pertaining to parents are based on the responses of a nationally representative sample of kindergarten children's parents.

NOTE: Standard errors appear in parentheses. Detail may not sum to totals due to rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K), fall 1998, unpublished tabulations. (This table was prepared September 2001.)

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