Abstract:
This study was designed as an evaluation of three newly designed instruments: The Inventory of Parent Perception Scale (IPPS), the Parent Child Perception Scale (PCPS) and the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRS). Researchers developed the instruments to collect data as part of the First Teachers @ Home program designed to teach parents to prepare their preschool aged children for kindergarten. The participants of the study hailed from the greater Birmingham, Alabama area, including Walker, Bibb, Tuscaloosa, Jefferson, and Shelby counties. The data was collected from participants who volunteered to be a part of the 16-week program and completed the newly developed inventories. Internal reliability, content validity, and construct validity were explored for the IPPS, PCPS, and KRS. Further correlation and relationship analysis was conducted on the KRS total scores, PCPS, IPPS, and IPPS subscores (Education, Psychosocial Stressors, and Parent/Child Interaction). Results for each instrument indicated the need to revise current scales, questions, and scoring. Future validation studies should further determine the relationship between the PCPS, IPPS, and kindergarten readiness scores. Researchers should also investigate the parent attribute scales (PCPS and IPPS) with kindergarten readiness assessments that appear in validity and reliability studies to determine if home and parental factors have a direct relationship with kindergarten success.
