1. Effective Transitions to Enhance School Readiness

2. Why is early school success so important?
Early school years are a “critical period” for learning and development
Preschool and early experiences enhance school success
How quickly children adjust across settings increases their success – so supporting success across the transition is important
Objective:
To convey the importance of early school experiences and their implications for later schooling.
What to say:
Why is early school success so important?
One reason is that the number of children in Pre-K is growing at an advanced rate, so we want to be sure that these children are getting the most from their pre-K experience
We also know that the degree to which transitions are smooth or are disruptive may affect children’s trajectories in school.
From research over the years, we know that the early school years are a critical period for children…
Early social success in kindergarten (i.e., successful adjustment) has been linked to academic success in subsequent years of elementary school as far ahead as the 6th grade (McClelland et al., 2000)
We also know that preschool and early experiences in general enhance school success…
Children who attend preschool are more likely than other children to successfully adjust to kindergarten (Sweeney, 2011)
Finally, we know that the logistics of children’s actual transitions affect school success…
The quicker children adjust successfully, the quicker they can focus on learning new skills in the kindergarten classroom

3. Transitions Across the Lifespan
Becoming a new parent
Going to (or back to) college
Moving to a new town
Starting a new job
Experiencing an empty nest
Retirement from a career
Getting married
Objective:
To have participants think about transition experiences in their own life and how the resources they used to help them through those transitions.
What to say:
Transitions are not limited to the school environment. In fact, we experience transitions across the lifespan – here are a few examples…
I would like for you to talk to the people around you about big transitions you have made in your life, what challenges they posed, and what resources helped you navigate those transitions.
What to do:
[Have participants talk about their experiences with transitions with their neighbors or in groups. Have some individuals share what common themes came up in their discussions.]
So what types of resources did you come up with that helped you through some big life transitions?

4. Elements to foster successful adjustment
Information
Relationships
Alignment
Objective:
Use discussion points from participants regarding transition resources to emphasize the need for information, relationships, and alignment for the transition to kindergarten.
Convey that information, relationships, and alignment are what contribute to successful school adjustment.
What to say:
The goal of a smooth transition is to create conditions for successful adjustment
The three major contributions to setting up successful adjustment during transitions are:
having access to information (the more you know, the more at ease you feel),
having supportive relationships (people to support and guide you along the way is always important),
and having alignment between environments (the more your new environment is like your old one, the easier your transition will be).
As adults, we can make these things happen for ourselves. For kids, we have to make it happen for them.
Successful Adjustment

5. What do we know about transitions?
What we know from research and practice about:
Children’s adjustment to kindergarten
The transition experiences and its effects on children
“Best practice” model of transition
Objective:
To introduce participants to the areas of research we will focus on in this presentation
What to say:
Now we’ll talk about what we know from research on these three topics:
Children’s adjustment to kindergarten
How children experience this transition and what effects it has on them
And, what research has found to be the “best practices” for facilitating transitions.

6. How successfully are children entering kindergarten?
Objective:
To show that nearly half of all children entering kindergarten are having some kind of adjustment problems.
What to say:
In order to understand how children are transitioning to kindergarten, it is useful to look at some data on the topic
In a national survey of 3,500 teachers, this is the breakdown of how children were perceived by their teachers in terms of adjustment.
Unfortunately, about half of all children are perceived as experiencing some sort of adjustment problems.
Additionally, higher degrees of difficulty were found in groups of at risk children with up to 25% of kids being rated as having “difficult” transitions.
Children from disadvantaged families and minority children are overrepresented in the groups that had difficulty with adjustment, which highlights the need for additional supports for these children
It all comes down to adjustment: When kids are stressed, that is when problems show up
Rimm-Kaufman, Pianta & Cox, 2000

7. Teachers who say “half my class or more” exhibit these problems entering kindergarten
Difficulty following directions
46%
Lack of academic skills
36%
Objective:
To show where problem areas are occurring – not just in academics
(This data is from the same national survey of 3,500 teachers as the previous slide)
What to say:
Here’s what teachers see as problem areas in their classrooms.
Notice that academic skills are on this list, but they are only one aspect of what teachers are concerned with. The majority of their concerns are more about things that require skills such as self-control, self-regulation, and the use of social skills.
Difficulty working independently
35%
Difficulty working as part of a group
31%
Problems with social skills
21%
Difficulty communicating/
language problems
14% 10 20 30 40 50
Rimm-Kaufman, Pianta & Cox, 2000

8. School readiness and transition: A child-focused view
Pre-K
Kindergarten
Objective:
To convey that a child-focused view of school readiness is inadequate
What to say:
Often school readiness, and its measurement, is thought of as simply this set of skills that kids need that they’ll then just carry with them into the kindergarten setting. Yet, this perspective ignores the fact that children’s learning is dynamic and heavily influence by what’s happening and available around them in the classroom or at home.
This child-centered view is inadequate. School readiness is not just a child characteristic – it also encompasses their surroundings and how those surroundings facilitate school readiness.
Child
Child

9. School readiness and transition: When connections are the focus
Early Experiences
Kindergarten
Objective:
To convey the complexity of the factors that all contribute to school-readiness for children and that these are resources to be used. Also, to tie in examples from participants’ exercise about transitions from their own lives.
What to say:
Research has found that it is more useful to take an interactive view of transitions
In other words, there are both relational and informational links between the child and the people and community around them – just like the examples from adult life.
There is a great potential web of potential supports that we as educators can tap into.
This framework, and not the child-focused framework, should then should guide best practices for transition planning.
Teachers
Peers
Child
Peers
Family
Community
Teachers
Child
Community
Family
Rimm-Kaufman & Pianta, 2000

10. Setting Changes LaParo et al., 2009 Objective:
To show how different classroom environments are between pre-k and kindergarten
What to say:
So why are children having problems adjusting to kindergarten?
The simple answer is that the kindergarten setting is much different than pre-K settings – children are having trouble adjusting for good reasons
Children are coming from an environment where they are allowed a lot of free choice time and very little time where they are required to work individually to a setting where they have very little or no free choice time and a relatively large portion of time they are asked to work individually.
Additionally, kids in kindergarten are getting less individualized attention because they are spending more time in large groups.
LaParo et al., 2009

11. Transition experiences
“His teacher called several days before school started; it was great and really made Nate feel great.”
“At the beginning I got her excited by talking about starting school six months before it started… it made the transition easy… Before school started I took her to the classroom to get her adjusted to it.”
“I am pleased… the teacher called after the first two days of school to say how well she was doing.”
Objective:
Allow participants to read slides and point out that there are a wide variety of ways that kids and parents experience transitions.
What to say:
Here are some examples of good experiences parents and children have had with this transition.

12. Transition experiences
“On a more personal level, my son spends eight hours a day with his teacher and his best friend. I want to know those people. I don’t want it to be a once-every-three- months-for-report-card thing. I want to have more interaction.”
“The teacher called the first week of school to say he is the biggest clown in the class.”
Objective:
Allow participants to read slides and point out that there are a wide variety of ways that kids and parents experience transitions.
What to say:
Here are some other examples, including one that conveys a parent’s interest in being more involved.

13. Transition experiences
“The teacher called me the first week of school and said she should have been evaluated for Ritalin because she can’t teach her.”
“We weren’t sure about sending him, he may be too young. His teacher called to say he’s way behind and should go back to preschool.”
“I’m not happy with it… I sent in notes but got no response from the teacher… The first day of school I sent him with a dollar for lunch but he didn’t eat all day… something got mixed up. I tried again with a dollar the next day, but he didn’t eat that day either. He wet his pants. The teacher is young and she’s not very organized. I’m anxious about this year.”
Objective:
Allow participants to read slides and point out that there are a wide variety of ways that kids and parents experience transitions.
What to say:
Here are some examples of bad transition experiences. This is obviously what we want to avoid through effective transition planning.

14. Misalignments and Shifts in the Transition to Kindergarten
Changes in academic demands / curricula
Less family connection with school
Complexity of social environment (peers and adults)
Less time with teacher(s)
Objective:
To point out the many changes occurring at this stage in children’s lives, all of which can make adjustment difficult.
What to say:
The problem is that this developmental period is ripe with change in context and experiences, creating disconnects and misalignment.
Kindergarten entry marks the transition from a less-structured preschool environment to a formal school setting with different demands and increased expectations (Rimm-Kaufman & Pianta, 2000)
These include:
Changes in academic demands
Less family involvement with school
More complex social environments
And less one-on-one time with teachers
These changes can lead to misalignment between pre-k and kindergarten and put successful adjustment at risk.

15. Successful Transition: Guiding Principles
It’s a process, not a program
Supportive relationships are resources for children
Different sets of relationships fit different needs – some are supportive, some informational
Connections serve as a bridge for child, family, and school across time and contexts
Objective:
Convey the guiding principles to keep in mind when thinking about transitions.
What to say:
So what makes for good transitions?
There are several guiding principles to keep in mind when thinking about transitions…
First, it is important to understand that the transition from Pre-k to kindergarten is a process and not a “one-size fits all” formula
For example, open houses may work for some families but not for others, information given in English my work for some but not others – there needs to be individualization
Second, we need to remember the importance of relationships in children’s lives. They serve as a resource – and different relationships can meet differing needs.
Parents can be a source of support as well as information. Also, peers can also be a source of support.
Finally, there are connections between families, schools, communities and children that can be used to help with the transition process

16. Transition connections
Child-school connections
Family-school connections
School-school connections
Community-school connections
Objective:
Orient participants to what kinds of connections we’ll be talking about.
What to say:
We’ll talk about four key sets of connections today, all of which contribute to the transition process, and then discuss examples of how these connections can be used within this transition framework.

17. Child-School Connections
Goal: To foster children’s familiarity with the classroom setting and those people within it
Increased comfort and decreased anxiety
Building teacher-child relationships
Exposure to new setting prior to school starting
Objective:
To convey the goal and importance of child-school connections.
What to say:
One important connection is that between the child and the school.
The goal of this connection is to get the child familiar with the new classroom setting and the people who will be there
This will serve to…
increase the child’s comfort and decrease anxiety about the transition,
begin building teacher-child relationships
and expose the child to his or her new setting before the start of school.

18. Child perspective of kindergarten
Emily: it's a big, big, big school and there's more kids. Because there's hundred and hundreds and hundreds. And there's kids that don't know each other's names. Everyone knows names here.
JS: Are you ready to go to kindergarten next year?
Marcy: Yeah.
JS: How do you know you're ready?
Marcy: Because I feel so happy.
Objective:
To illustrate that children do not necessarily see transitions as adults do.
What to say:
Here are a couple of interesting examples of how children view the transition to kindergarten.
They are not necessarily thinking about being able to follow directions, work independently or excel in academics (the things that adults may see as the most important aspects of adjustment).
Interviews by Jim Squires, Preschoolers Conversations about School Readiness

19. A school connecting with children
An example of how one school reached out to children to help create a successful transition
Objective:
Example of a child-school connection
What to say:
Here’s an example from the Orange Co. dept. of Education of a school reaching out to children.
What to do:
Click on black box to show video.
LINK TO ONLINE VIDEO

20. Family-School Connections
Goal: To foster family collaboration and involvement with the school and the transition process
Share information about individual children
Get parents familiar with school routines
Become partners in the process
Objective:
To convey the goal and importance of family-school connections.
What to say:
Another connection we will talk about is the family-school connection
The goal of this connection is to foster collaboration between these two parties to share information and become partners in the transition process.

21. % of families who used the activity and found it helpful
Child & family connections with school: Transition activities families found useful
% of families who used the activity and found it helpful
Transition activity
Had child visit a kindergarten classroom
Met with a kindergarten teacher
Met with the principal
Took a tour of the school
Talked with preschool staff about kindergarten
Visited the kindergarten classroom
Talked with parents of child’s new classmates
Participated in elementary school-wide activities
Attended a workshop for parents
Met with child’s anticipated kindergarten teacher
Attended an orientation to kindergarten 99 89 95
100 97 98 92 96
Objective:
To show that families found almost any transition strategy useful – they clearly want to be involved.
What to say:
Here are some examples of both child and family connections with the school…
The point here is that there are many different ways to foster this connection, but out of all of these, almost all of the families who participated in any sort of connection with the school found it to be useful. This suggests that families WANT to be involved.
Pianta et al., 1999

22. School-School Connections
GOAL: To provide children with stable high quality classroom experiences across time
Increase consistency for children across contexts through alignment of:
Routines
Curricula
Learning standards
Assessments
Objective:
To convey the goal and importance of school-school connections.
What to say:
Another connection is the school-school connection.
The goal of this connection is to provide some degree of stability across their transition from one classroom to the other.

23. % who found the activity helpful
School-school connections:
Transition activities teachers found useful
Preschool teachers
K teachers
Transition activity
% who found the activity helpful
Prek children visiting their kindergarten classroom
Prek teachers visiting a kindergarten classroom
Holding an elementary school-wide activity with prek children
Having a spring orientation about kindergarten for parents of preschool children
Having an individual meeting between a teacher and a parent of the preschool child
Sharing written records
100 83 96
Objective:
To point out that teachers find transition strategies useful as well, so they are likely to be open to the idea of using them.
What to say:
Here are some examples of some school-school connection activities…
Again, as with the family-school connection activities, there is a variety, but almost all of the school personnel who participated in any of these activities found them to be useful. This suggests that teachers WANT to be involved in transition planning and strategies because they find them useful.

24. School to school example: Early childhood professionals working together
Kindergarten, Head Start, and preschool teachers
Meet four times a year focusing on aligning experiences for children
Outcomes:
Increased participation in transition opportunities like K camp
Children, families, and teachers more prepared
Increased consistency between settings related to routines and expectations
Pre-k teachers felt their knowledge of children and families was valued
K teachers felt children more socially and academically prepared
Increased awareness of the community needs for more spaces for children
An additional preschool class is being considered to be added to the elementary school
Objective:
Example of one school-school transition effort.
What to say:
Here is an example of how one community used transition strategies
Kindergarten and pre-K teachers meeting just four times a year but were able to make a sizable impact.
For example, they talked about differences between the two experiences that may confuse children, such as what bathroom signs look like, emphasis on handwriting, etc.
Smart Beginnings, 2011

25. Community-School Connections
Goal: To facilitate the transition process within the community
Getting the word out
Providing resources where they are needed
Objective:
To convey the goal and importance of community-school connections.
What to say:
A final connection to take advantage of is that between communities and schools.
The goal of this connection is to provide information and resources that help to facilitate the transition.

26. Community-School Connections
Clarify community needs and expectations regarding schools and transition
Inter-agency connections with key players
Communicate information
effectively
Objective:
Further convey what community-school connections can do.
What to say:
Community-school connections have a lot to add to the transition process.
They can help assess needs and convey expectations.
Getting accurate information into the community about the kindergarten transition is key.
For instance, many people do not know about or may not understand all of the paperwork involved with kindergarten registration. Those who work with social services should be able to get help from social workers with knowing about what is involved and required of them.

27. Community in Action Objective:
Example of a community-school connection
What to say:
One great example of a community-school interaction is illustrated here, where a local children’s museum set up an event for entering kindergarteners where children could sit on a school bus and meet community employees they may come in contact with, such as crossing guards. Additionally parents could meet with child development experts and health care providers to talk about the transition.

28. Preparation for parents
A public service announcement
Objective:
Example of a community-school connection
What to say:
This is a public service announcement that alerts parents to issues they need to think about around school transition and an agency that can help.
LINK TO ONLINE VIDEO

29. Preparation for parents
The Health Science Channel helps prepare parents for the transition
Objective:
Example of a community-school connection
What to say:
Here is an example of a “community” organization (the Health Science channel) making a video to prepare parents for the pre-k to kindergarten transition
LINK TO ONLINE VIDEO

30. Preparing the community
Objective:
Kids at risk are the ones not participating, so this is where the community piece seems to really matter.
What to say:
Where the community connection really seems to matter is with kids who are at risk.
These are the kids who need extra notification of when they should be registered, what is expected, and what resources are out there that they can take advantage of, so community efforts that are geared toward these kids are especially helpful.

31. Kindergarten camps Child, family, school, and community, connections
Improved social adjustment to kindergarten
Improved familiarity with routines for kids with same teacher
Reading benefits
Objective:
To convey that multiple connections can work together for positive outcomes.
What to say:
An example of all of these connections coming together is in kindergarten camps. When done well, all of the key players (children, families, schools, and communities) are involved.
In a study of one kindergarten camp, researchers saw improved kindergarten adjustment for some children and another study found that children who attended a kindergarten camp showed higher reading scores than those children who did not.
Both of these studies targeted “at risk” children, who likely benefit the most from such experiences.
The problem is that in many places, activities such as this are only available to children who have registered for kindergarten and many children who need this preparation the most (i.e., those who are at risk) are the last to sign up and therefore may miss out on these opportunities.
One big challenge in preparing children for the transition to kindergarten is reaching the children who need services the most.
Berlin, Dunning & Dodge, 2010; Borman, Goetz & Dowling, 2009

32. SO WHY DO WE NEED TO DO ALL OF THIS?

33. Transition Experience Matters
In the NCEDL project, more transition activities were associated with all of the following child outcomes at the beginning of kindergarten:
Greater frustration tolerance
Better social skills
Fewer conduct problems
Fewer learning problems
More positive approaches to learning
Transition activities were most helpful for children from disadvantaged families.
Objective:
To show that transition activities have positive effects.
What to say:
In a study involving 722 children and 214 pre-k classrooms, more transition activities were associated with more positive outcomes for children in kindergarten.
Transition activities are not done in vain. Research shows that they are actually related to more positive outcomes that affect the transition to kindergarten.
LoCasale-Crouch et al., 2008

34. Effect of Transition Practices
Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (Schulting, Malone & Dodge, 2005)
17,212 children, 992 schools
Objective:
To show that transition activities have an effect on academic outcomes as well.
What to say:
Transition activities also have an effect on academic skills.
A different study found that more transition activities in the fall translated in to higher academic performance in the spring.
Fall K Transition
Practices
Spring K Academic Skills =
Even more for children from disadvantaged families

35. Children, Families and Schools Benefit from Connections
Children more socially ready
Helps them participate more academically
Families more connected to school
Improved long-term student outcomes
Teachers more prepared to support children/families
Better relationships that lead to enhanced child outcomes
Financially smart: Low investment, high yield
Objective:
To show that children who experience more connections during transition do better.
What to say:
The big messages here are that:
Multiple large-scale, nationally representative studies keep showing consistent patterns - Children who experience an environment with more support and connections between key players within their lives, reap the benefits by experiencing a successful transition to school which in turn sets them up for both social and academic success in kindergarten.
Also, building these connections is a fiscally smart move – the transition activities advocated here are cost little to implement and yield big results in terms of child outcomes.
So, how do we, in more specific terms, build successful transitions?

36. HOW DO WE BUILD SUCCESSFUL TRANSITION EXPERIENCES?

37. Six steps to transition planning
1. Assess your partnership: Who is involved?
2. Identify the goals of the team around transition and alignment
3. Assess what is happening now
4. Identify data that you have to support these practices
Plan and Prioritize: Reevaluate goals, choose steps to take, assign roles, set deadlines, anticipate barriers
Implement and Evaluate
Objective:
Go over the steps of transition planning with participants.
What to say:
There are six steps to planning transitions successfully:
1. First, you must assess the partnership you have with stakeholders. Are all of the right stakeholders involved?
Second, your team, or partnership, needs to identify the broad goals you have around transition and alignment, such as wanting parents to be more involved in transition and having children become more familiar with kindergarten routines.
Third, your team needs to asses what you are doing now. What transition practices are already in place?
Fourth, you need to identify data that you have for your current practices. If you have a parent orientation, are parents showing up for it and do they seem more involved in the process because of that?
Fifth, you need to plan what needs to be done next. Where are the places that you have a lack of practices or where you have practices that aren’t working? Out of those, what do you want to work on? Then you have to prioritize the actions you’ve chosen to take and decide what needs to be done to implement them.
Finally, your team will need to implement new practices and evaluate how they are working.
Now we will go through each of these one at a time and let you fill out your transition plan as we go.

38. 1. Assessing your partnership
Who is involved?
Teachers (pre-k and kindergarten)
School leaders (pre-k and kindergarten)
Family representative(s)
Community leaders
Objective:
To convey who should be involved in the transition process and have participants evaluate who is on their team and who might be missing – participants should also fill in Step 1 of their transition plans.
What to say:
Who should be involved in your partnership, or transition team? The answer is all of the important stakeholders. At minimum:
You need to have the preschool represented - both teachers and supervisors;
You need to have the kindergarten represented - both teachers and supervisors;
You need to have families involved - having a parent representative for instance;
And finally, you need the community represented – which could be a representative who works with a local initiative to support children and families
It is important to have all of these bases covered in order to get all perspectives
Now I’ll give you a few minutes to fill in the first step on your transition plan and think about who might be missing from this group or who could be a valuable addition
What to do:
Stop here for 2-3 minutes and have participants fill in the first step on their transition plan and think about who is represented.

39. 2. Identifying the goals of the team
Choose several goals that fit your program’s needs
Examples:
Support children being ready for school
Help families know more about what they can do at home to help children be ready for school
Get community more involved with children
Objective:
To prompt teams to set goals and fill in Step 2 of their transition plans.
What to say:
Next, we will set some goals that you think are appropriate for your program
Here are a few example goals, but think about your individual program needs and create your own. Feel free to brainstorm with those around you – we’ll stop here for a few minutes while you come up with your own goals and fill in Step 2 in your transition plan.
What to do:
Stop here for 3-4 minutes for participants to fill in Step 2 of their transition plan.

40. 3. Assessing what is happening now
Sort what you are currently doing into categories
What is fostering child-school connections?
What is fostering family-school connections?
What is fostering school-school connections?
What is fostering community-school connections?
Objective:
To have participants assess their current transition practices
What to say:
Now we want to assess what you are doing now and see what you have covered in the way of the connections we’ve discussed.
This exercise will also help you see where you need to focus more attention.

41. 3. Assessing what is happening now
Objective:
Show participants an example of how their current practices might look in the transition plan they have and have them fill in Step 3 on their transition plans.
What to say:
This is what your current practices might look like once you fill them in on your transition plan.
Now I’ll give you about 10 minutes to think about what you’re currently doing and fill it in on your transition plan.
What to do:
Stop here for 10 minutes for participants to fill in Step 3 of their transition plan.

42. 4. Examining data you have
Is what you’re currently doing working? How do you know?
Are children adjusting to kindergarten better because their preschool teacher is reading books about kindergarten before they enter?
Are more families registering early for kindergarten because of community efforts to disseminate information?
Are kindergarten teachers better informed about students because of school-school collaboration?
Objective:
Having participants examine evidence for what they are doing and fill in Step 4 on their transition plans.
What to say:
So how do you know if your current transition practices are working? You need to look for evidence.
Evidence can be seen in trends you see that you attribute to the transition activities you are currently using. Data can take the form of increased parent participation, children being registered earlier, or children seeming more prepared as they enter kindergarten.
This is an important step in the process because practices aren’t useful unless they work.
Now I will give you a few minutes to review the data you can think of that might support what you’re currently doing. You can fill this in on Step 4 on your transition plan.
What to do:
Give participants 5 minutes to fill in data on their transition plans.

43. 5. Planning and Prioritizing
What are the next steps to take?
Reevaluate goals and formulate new ones
Plan steps to address new goals
Who is responsible for tasks?
Assign roles within the transition team
When should tasks be implemented?
Set deadlines for tasks and create a timeline
Anticipate barriers and make plans to overcome them
Objective:
To talk about what planning and prioritizing involves and the importance of this step.
What to say:
This is probably the most complex and challenging step of transition planning, but it is also the one that can potentially reap the most benefits.
During planning and prioritizing you need to decide what needs to be added to your existing transition practices by reevaluating your current goals to decide if they are sufficient or if they need revision.
Next you need to:
Plan steps to address new goals
assign tasks to individuals,
decide when tasks should be done,
set deadlines
and this is also where you should try and anticipate barriers and plan how to overcome them.

44. 5. Planning and prioritizing
Objective:
Show an example of what planning might look like on participants’ transitions plan
What to say:
This is what planning might look like on your transition plan.

45. Timeline example PRESCHOOL SUMMER KINDERGARTEN September April June
Family group
meetings
Inform parents about home literacy
Activities
Research locations for K-camp
K-camp fundraising
Objective:
Show a sample of what a timeline might look like and have participants fill in Step 5 of their transition plans.
What to say:
This is one example of a transition timeline that stretches across one year.
As you can see, actions are being taken as far ahead as the fall of the preschool year in order to set up successful transitions based on the example goals we mentioned earlier.
Now I’m going to give you time to brainstorm new transition practices, think about who might be responsible for tasks, and create a rough timeline for when things can be done. This will be done in Step 5 of your transition plan. We’ll take about 10 minutes to do this here, but you can certainly continue to refine this later.
What to do:
Stop and give participants 10 minutes to work on filling in Step 5 of their transition plans.
April
PS & K teachers
transition efforts
Class lists for K
Preschoolers visit K
K-camp fundraising
Use community
resources to spread info about K-camp
June
Remind parents of home literacy
activities
School playground
nights
K-camp enrollment
August
Open houses
K teacher and
parents meet
K screenings
K-camp
September
Back-to-school
nights
Foster family
connections
w/ teachers

46. 6. Implementing and Evaluating
Implement the plan you have created
Evaluate: Is what you are doing working?
How do you know?
Examine data on newly implemented practices – do you see changes?
Modify practices as needed and define new goals
Objective:
To prompt participants to implement their new plans and evaluate them afterwards.
What to say:
Now that you have sketched out your new plans, it’s time to go out into the world and implement them.
Remember that you need to evaluate what you’re doing continuously to make sure your efforts are providing you with the desired results.
And finally, this process should be repeated each year to continually build and refine your transition plans and practices.

47. Resources on the Web
National Head Start Association – “Terrific Transitions”
Enhancing the Transition to Kindergarten: Linking Children, Families & Schools
Easing the Transition from Pre-k to Kindergarten: What Schools and Families Can do to Address Child Readiness
Durham County’s Transition to Kindergarten Initiative
Families as Primary Partners in their Child’s Development & School Readiness
What is Family Support?
Back to School Time: Tips to Help Children Adjust
NECTC Transition Tips: Toolkit of Practices and Strategies
Florida’s Transition Project
Objective:
To give participants resources to use on their own.
What to say:
Listed here are a few useful web sites we have found that provide extra resources on the transition process.

48. This document was prepared under Grant #90HC0002 for the U. S
This document was prepared under Grant #90HC0002 for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Head Start, by the National Center on Quality Teaching and Learning.