This week's article summary is Researchers Studies Kindergarteners' Behavior and Followed Up 19 Years Later, and it’s a follow-up to last week’s summary about some parents today delaying their children’s ‘formal’ education until First Grade.
The article is a reminder of the importance of the early grades of school, specifically Early Learners, PreK, and Kindergarten at Trinity.
While these early grades expose children to content knowledge, perhaps more important is children’s social-emotional development within those early childhood classrooms.
One of Trinity’s student outcomes is the development of a child’s sense of self (intrapersonal) and care and concern for others (interpersonal).
During the first years of schooling, critical character values and habits begin to form: sharing/taking turns, self-regulation/impulse control, cooperation/collaboration/conflict management. Ideally, these values and habits began to take shape at home when our current students are toddlers, yet it’s within a classroom with fellow classmates that kids have opportunities to apply these skills and habits needed to coexist with others. Humans are social, yet we need much practice and reinforcement learning how to work with others.
The study referenced in the article below reminds us that a child’s EQ is a better predictor of future success, happiness, and fulfillment than IQ, as the summary a few weeks ago revealed.
When I read articles that highlight the importance of helping our kids develop core skills, attitudes, and habits, I am always proud of the emphasis Trinity places on character development and being a contributing member of a community!
Joe
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Every parent wants to see their kid get good grades in school. But now we know social success is just as important.
From an early age, we're led to believe our grades and test scores are the key to everything — namely, going to college, getting a job, and finding that glittery path to lifelong happiness and prosperity.
But a recent study showed that when children learn to interact effectively with their peers and control their emotions, it can have an enormous impact on how their adult lives take shape. And according to the study, kids should be spending more time on these skills in school.
Kindergarten teachers evaluated the kids with a portion of something called the Social Competence Scale by rating statements like "The child is good at understanding other's feelings" on a "Not at all/A little/Moderately well/Well/Very well" scale.
The research team used these responses to give each kid a "social competency score," which they then stored in what I assume was a manila folder somewhere for 19 years, or until each kid was 25. At that point, they gathered some basic information about the now-grown-ups to see whether their early social skills held any predictive value.
Here's what they found.
Those good test scores we covet? They still matter, but maybe not for the reasons we thought. Traditional thinking says that if a kid gets good grades and test scores, he or she must be really smart, right? After all, there is a correlation between having a better GPA in high school and making more money later in life. But what that test score doesn't tell you is how many times a kid worked with a study partner to crack a tough problem, or went to the teacher for extra help, or resisted the urge to watch TV instead of preparing for a test. The researchers behind this project wrote, "Success in school involves both social-emotional and cognitive skills, because social interactions, attention, and self-control affect readiness for learning." That's a fancy way of saying that while some kids may just be flat-out brilliant, most of them need more than just smarts to succeed. Maybe it wouldn't hurt spending a little more time in school teaching kids about the social half of the equation.
Skills like sharing and cooperating pay off later in life. We know we need to look beyond GPA and state-mandated testing to figure out which kids are on the right path. That's why the researchers zeroed in so heavily on that social competency score. What they found probably isn't too surprising: Kids who related well to their peers, handled their emotions better, and were good at resolving problems went on to have more successful lives. What's surprising is just how strong the correlation was. An increase of a single point in social competency score showed a child would be 54% more likely to earn a high school diploma, twice as likely to graduate with a college degree, and 46% more likely to have a stable, full-time job at age 25. The kids who were always stealing toys, breaking things, and having meltdowns? More likely to have run-ins with the law and substance abuse problems.
Social behaviors can be learned and unlearned — meaning it's never too late to change. The researchers called some of these pro-social behaviors like sharing and cooperating "malleable," or changeable. Let's face it: Some kids are just never going to be rocket scientists. Turns out there are physical differences in our brains that make learning easier for some people than others. But settling disputes with peers? That's something kids (and adults) can always continue to improve on. For a lot of kids, these behaviors come from their parents. The more you're able to demonstrate positive social traits like warmth and empathy, the better off your kids will be.
This 19-year study paints a pretty clear picture: Pro-social behavior matters, even at a young age. And because it can be learned, it's a great "target for prevention or intervention efforts."
The bottom line? We need to do more than just teach kids information. We need to invest in teaching them how to relate to others and how to handle the things they're feeling inside.
Ignoring social skills in our curricula could have huge ramifications for our kids down the road.
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