About this srcd poster session

---

Panel information
Panel 8. Education, Schooling

Abstract

---

While research has explored the link between preschool and long-term effects on college preparation in low-income communities (Pan, Li, & Watts, 2023), there has not been research fully investigating preschool teachers' perceptions about their role and practices related to possible future college aspirations among our youngest students. To our knowledge, only one study has examined preschool teachers’ views on their students’ college readiness, but that past study focused on a college readiness intervention (Coneway et al., 2020). This is a striking gap in extant research given that preschool teachers’ efforts may be driven in part by their long-term future-oriented views on the benefits of early childhood education. Thus, the current study examines preschool teachers’ perceptions on their role in fostering college awareness among their students.

Participants in this study included 10 teachers (M age = 47.6) from Head Start preschools. Head Start centers were located in low-income, racially and ethnically diverse neighborhoods in a large Midwestern city. All teachers identified as female. Regarding racial and ethnic background, 30% of teachers identified as White/Non-Hispanic, 20% identified as African American/Black, 40% identified as Hispanic/Latine, and 10% identified with another racial/ethnic group. Of all the teachers, 40% reported being the primary income earners in their family. Preschool teachers were asked open-ended questions, such as what is the importance of college from preschool their perspective, what they thought their role was in preparing students to be college ready, and in what grade level should college awareness begin and why. Teachers’ responses were analyzed for common themes by two team members.

Two general themes emerged, with one on preschool teachers' perspectives on young children’s future career pathways and another on preschool teachers' perspectives on young children’s college awareness, related skills, & budding career interests. Within the first theme, sub-themes included goals and outcomes, reflections on age, and parents and guardians (see Table 1 for sub-theme descriptions and example quotes). Under the second theme, sub-themes reflected developmentally appropriate ways that college can be addressed among preschoolers. Teachers emphasized very basic college awareness tied to children’s lived experience, how preschool-level skills set the foundation for later skills, and how career-related pretend play and curiosity led to discussions about the need for a college education.

Next steps include discussing how our findings build on the existing literature and implications for future research. Despite the small sample size of study, this investigation suggests that we should expand research on college readiness to include early childhood teachers’ perspectives and practices. Our poster will address the importance of broadening and deepening efforts to strengthen the pathway from preschool to college.

Author information

Author	Role
Maria Radulescu, Loyola University of Chicago	Presenting author
Jema Chepkoit, Loyola University Chicago	Non-presenting author
Sara Gilchrist, Loyola University Chicago	Non-presenting author
Claire Quigley, Loyola University Chicago	Non-presenting author
Kaelin Kingham, Loyola University Chicago	Non-presenting author
Jessica Reini, Loyola University Chicago	Non-presenting author
Zoe Osbirn, Loyola University Chicago	Non-presenting author
Christine Pajunar Li-Grining, Loyola University Chicago	Non-presenting author

⇦ Back to session