Effects of a Set of Culturally Responsive Activities on Children's School Readiness Levels

Abstract

Culturally responsive education strives to make learning activities more effective and relevant to ethnically diverse children by considering their past experiences, cultural knowledge, environments and performance styles. It is expected that implementation of culturally responsive education - which focuses not only on academic achievement but also on children's cultures, interests, needs and so forth - will increase primary school readiness. This quasi-experimental study with a matching pretest-posttest control-group design examined the effect of a set of culturally responsive activities on 48-to-60-month olds' school readiness levels. Over the 10-week scope of the research, 23 activities were conducted with the experimental group (n = 15), while no intervention was made in a control group (n = 15). Comparison of the results of a pretest, a posttest and a follow-up test administered five weeks after the intervention ended indicated that the exposure to culturally responsive activities led to significantly higher school readiness scores. La educaci & oacute;n culturalmente receptiva se esfuerza por hacer que las actividades de aprendizaje sean m & aacute;s efectivas y relevantes para los ni & ntilde;os & eacute;tnicamente diversos al tener en cuenta sus experiencias pasadas, conocimientos culturales, entornos y estilos de desempe & ntilde;o. Se espera que la implementaci & oacute;n de una educaci & oacute;n culturalmente receptiva - que se centra no solo en el desempe & ntilde;o acad & eacute;mico, sino tambi & eacute;n en las culturas, intereses, necesidades, etc. de los ni & ntilde;os - aumente la preparaci & oacute;n escolar. Este estudio de dise & ntilde;o cuasiexperimental pretest-postest con grupo de control emparejado examin & oacute; el efecto de un conjunto de actividades culturalmente sensibles en los niveles de preparaci & oacute;n escolar de personas de entre 48 y 60 meses. Durante las 10 semanas que dur & oacute; la investigaci & oacute;n, se realizaron 23 actividades con el grupo experimental (n = 15), mientras que no se realiz & oacute; ninguna intervenci & oacute;n en el grupo de control (n = 15). La comparaci & oacute;n de los resultados del pretest, el postest y una prueba de seguimiento administradas cinco semanas tras la finalizaci & oacute;n de la intervenci & oacute;n indic & oacute; que la exposici & oacute;n a actividades culturalmente receptivas condujo a puntuaciones de preparaci & oacute;n escolar significativamente m & aacute;s altas.