School Readiness Is a Population Health Outcome Before It Is a Classroom Outcome

School readiness is usually treated as an education question, but developmental opportunity is shaped long before the first day of class by health, nutrition, caregiving, stimulation, safety and household resources. Readiness domains varied across children and settings, with rural residence and household vulnerability acting as important contextual signals of unequal developmental opportunity. The study makes early childhood development measurable as a population-health and equity issue and creates a platform for later longitudinal questions.