This study used a person-centered approach to identify school readiness profiles in a sample of kindergartners (n=1,826) from a large and diverse school district in the United States. Using latent profile analyses and multi-level modeling, we examined three aims: 1) whether patterns of readiness skills at kindergarten entry could be detected, 2) the extent to which detected patterns predicted gains in academic and social-emotional skills, and 3) whether the quality of teacher–child interactions moderated the associations between profile membership and end of kindergarten outcomes. Based on a comparison of fit indices, a 4-profile solution best represented the data. Eighteen percent of children were in the “High Risk” profile, 34 % were in the “Ready” profile, 20 % percent of children were in the “Social-Emotional Risk” profile, and 28 % of children were in the “High Readiness” profile. For all outcomes, we found that profile membership predicted spring scores, after controlling for fall scores of each skill, suggesting that the constellation of kindergarten readiness skills matters more than any one skill. We also found that the quality of teacher–child interactions moderated associations between profile membership and changes in achievement and problem behavior for children within some groups. Results suggest that children enter kindergarten with unique profiles of skills and that supports for children may need to be individualized based on profiles to maximize social, emotional, and academic development. Results also suggest that high-quality teacher–child interactions may serve as an important protective and promotive factor for children with certain clusters of readiness skills at kindergarten entry.

本研究采用以人为本的方法来确定来自美国大型多元化学区的幼儿园学生样本 ( n = 1,826) 的入学准备情况。使用潜在概况分析和多层次建模，我们研究了三个目标：1）是否可以检测到幼儿园入学时的准备技能模式，2）检测到的模式预测学业和社交情感技能进步的程度，以及3）师生互动的质量是否会调节个人资料与幼儿园结束结果之间的关联。根据拟合指数的比较，4 轮廓解决方案最能代表数据。18% 的儿童处于“高风险”概况，34% 处于“就绪”概况，20% 的儿童处于“社交情绪风险”概况，28% 的儿童处于“高准备”概况“ 轮廓。对于所有结果，我们发现在控制了每种技能的秋季分数后，个人资料成员资格预测了春季分数，这表明幼儿园准备技能的组合比任何一项技能都更重要。我们还发现，师生互动的质量调节了某些群体中儿童的个人资料成员资格与成就和问题行为变化之间的关联。结果表明，进入幼儿园的儿童具有独特的技能特征，并且可能需要根据特征对儿童提供个性化的支持，以最大限度地提高社交、情感和学业发展。研究结果还表明，高质量的师生互动可能成为具有某些入园准备技能的儿童的重要保护和促进因素。