Who is Responsible for My Child's School-readiness? Parental Educational Efficacy Shapes Kindergarten Preparedness in the Home

This study examines whether parental perceptions of their efficacy as an educator – feeling anxious about reading and doing math, both alone and with their child -- operationalized as QR-efficacy, mediates the relationship between a parent's race, income, and education and where they place responsibility for their child's school-readiness (LRSR; i.e., with preschools or with parents). Existing literature displays that educational disparities exist along racial compositions of SES, specifically that Black parents tend to hold lower levels of educational attainment and have lower incomes than their White counterparts. While investigating racial gaps in school-readiness, as a product of structural racism, remains relevant to the study of social inequality in education, few studies have also emphasized the importance of parental intrapersonal perceptions that often drive the decisions and behaviors parents employ for their child's cognitive development. A stepwise regression procedure was conducted to analyze regression coefficients and model fit of four models regressing LRSR on a parent's race, education, income, and the mediating variable, QR-efficacy. Supplementally, a structural equation model assessed direct and indirect relationships between the independent, dependent, and meditating variables. Results suggested that parents who hold higher levels of QR-efficacy place significantly greater locus of responsibility for school-readiness with parents than with preschools. This relationship held across parents' race, education level, and income, suggesting that interventions focused on closing gaps in school-readiness may benefit from investigations that consider parental intrapersonal perceptions as well as socio-demographic factors.