Kindergarten Transition and Readiness

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxiii

   PDF

2. Understanding Children’s Development During the Kindergarten Transition

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

      PDF

   2. A Conceptual Framework for Understanding and Supporting Children’s Development During the Kindergarten Transition

      • Rita Yelverton, Andrew J. Mashburn

      Pages 3-29

   3. Children’s Developmental Needs During the Transition to Kindergarten: What Can Research on Social-Emotional, Motivational, Cognitive, and Self-Regulatory Development Tell Us?

      • Ellen Skinner

      Pages 31-57

   4. Consistency in Children’s Classroom Experiences and Implications for Early Childhood Development

      • Laura L. Brock, Timothy W. Curby, Amy L. Cannell-Cordier

      Pages 59-83

   5. Continuity and Change in Low-Income Children’s Early Learning Experiences Across the School Transition: A Comparison of Head Start and Kindergarten Classrooms

      • Tashia Abry, Michelle Taylor, Manuela Jimenez, Megan E. Pratt, Jennifer LoCasale-Crouch

      Pages 85-109

   6. Changes in School Readiness of America’s Entering Kindergarteners (1998–2010)

      • Scott Latham

      Pages 111-138

3. Understanding Kindergarten Transitions for Specific Groups of Children

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 139-139

      PDF

   2. Effective Transitions to Kindergarten for Children with Disabilities

      • Caroline Gooden, Beth Rous

      Pages 141-162

   3. Recognizing and Addressing the Effects of Early Adversity on Children’s Transitions to Kindergarten

      • Katherine C. Pears, Emily Peterson

      Pages 163-183

   4. The Transition into Kindergarten for English Language Learners

      • Arya Ansari, Robert Crosnoe

      Pages 185-204

   5. School Readiness and Kindergarten Transitions: Children with Vision Impairment and Blindness

      • Lisa McConachie

      Pages 205-223

   6. Children’s Temperament and the Transition to Kindergarten: A Question of “Fit”

      • Andrew S. White, Kate N. Sirota, Scott R. Frohn, Sara E. Swenson, Kathleen Moritz Rudasill

      Pages 225-245

4. Supporting Children’s Development During the Kindergarten Transition

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 247-247

      PDF

   2. Transition Practices into Kindergarten and the Barriers Teachers Encounter

      • Timothy W. Curby, Elizabeth Berke, Vincent C. Alfonso, Jamilia J. Blake, Darlene DeMarie, George J. DuPaul et al.

      Pages 249-264

   3. Transition Practices and Children’s Development During Kindergarten: The Role of Close Teacher-Child Relationships

      • Najia Zulfiqar, Jennifer LoCasale-Crouch, Beverly Sweeney, Jamie DeCoster, Kathleen Moritz Rudasill, Colin McGinnis et al.

      Pages 265-281

   4. The Kids in Transition to School Program

      • Katherine C. Pears, Livia Carpenter, Hyoun K. Kim, Emily Peterson, Philip A. Fisher

      Pages 283-302

   5. Stretch to Kindergarten: A Model of Shared Partnership for Student Success

      • Betsy Nikolchev, Carmen Ponce

      Pages 303-325

   6. Promoting Positive Transitions Through Coherent Instruction, Assessment, and Professional Development: The TRIAD Scale-Up Model

      • Julie Sarama, Douglas H. Clements

      Pages 327-348

   7. Alignment and Coherence as System-Level Strategies: Bridging Policy and Practice

      • Kristie A. Kauerz

      Pages 349-368

This book presents a comprehensive overview of children’s transitions to kindergarten as well as proven strategies that promote their readiness. It presents theories and research to help understand children’s development during the early childhood years.  It describes evidence-based interventions that support children in developmental areas essential to school success, including cognitive, social-emotional, and self-regulatory skills. Chapters review prekindergarten readiness programs designed to promote continuity of learning in anticipation of the higher grades and discuss transitional concerns of special populations, such as non-native speakers, children with visual and other disabilities, and children with common temperamental issues. The volume concludes with examples of larger-scale systemic approaches to supporting children’s development during the transition to kindergarten, describing a coherent system of early childhood education that promotes long-term development. 


Featured topics include:

• Consistency in children’s classroom experiences and implications for early childhood development.
  
• Changes in school readiness in U.S. kindergarteners.
  
• Effective transitions to kindergarten for low-income children.
  
• The transition into kindergarten for English language learners.
  
• The role of close teacher-child relationships during the transition into kindergarten.
  
• Children’s temperament and its effect on their kindergarten transitions.

Kindergarten Transition and Readiness is a must-have resource for researchers, clinicians and related professionals, and graduate students in child and school psychology, educational psychology, social work, special education, and early childhood education. 

• Alignment between Head Start and kindergarten
• Cognitive development in early childhood
• Dual language learners in kindergarten
• English language learners in kindergarten
• Early adversity in kindergarten
• Early childhood development
• Early childhood education
• Early childhood special education
• Evidence-based interventions for promoting school readiness
• Evidence-based practices for promoting school readiness
• Head Start, preschool, and transition to kindergarten
• Pre-K and school readiness
• School readiness for children with disabilities
• School readiness for English language learners
• School readiness for children facing adversity
• Self-regulatory development in early childhood
• Social-emotional development in early childhood
• Transition to kindergarten for children with disabilities
• Transition to kindergarten for English language learners
• Transition to kindergarten for children facing adversity

• Department of Psychology, Portland State University, Portland, USA

  Andrew J. Mashburn

• University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA

  Jennifer LoCasale-Crouch

• Oregon Social Learning Center, Eugene, USA

  Katherine C. Pears

Andrew J. Mashburn, Ph.D., is a Professor of Developmental Psychology at Portland State University.  His research focuses on identifying, developing, and testing innovative approaches to promote school readiness and later school success for children living in poverty.  He has been involved in large-scale studies of the effects of preschool programs and strategies to improve preschool quality and/or children’s development. 

Jennifer LoCasale-Crouch, Ph.D., is a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Virginia's Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning (CASTL). Her research focuses on the supports and systems that influence children during their early school experiences, and how we can best enhance those experiences to support children’s development. She has extensive experience in the design and implementation of studies in early childhood settings across varying cultural and geographic contexts.

Katherine C. Pears, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist at the Oregon Social Learning Center in Eugene, OR. Her research focuses on factors influencing school readiness and school adjustment in children facing early adversity such as placement in foster care due to maltreatment and poverty. She has designed, tested, and implemented preventive interventions for high-risk children to prepare them and their caregivers for the kindergarten transition.

Policies and ethics