Background: Home-visiting programs are an often-used intervention for supporting the well-being of families with young children, and there is long-standing interest among researchers in ensuring the effectiveness of this practice. Especially, retention and attrition play important roles in achieving desired outcomes of the intervention. Objective:…

Children's early school experiences shape their learning in future years. The transition from pre-kindergarten, or pre-K, to kindergarten is particularly important. This critical time builds the foundation for children's academic, behavioral and social-emotional skills, as well as families' relationships with their child's teachers for years to…

Effective transitions to kindergarten engage families and ease children into new environments. Countdown to Kindergarten (CTK), a program in a southeastern U.S. state that serves more than 1,000 children each year and is grounded in Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, partners kindergarten teachers and families to facilitate effective…

The Office of Early Learning and School Readiness provides technical assistance and resources for our partners working with families, preschool staff and communities to meet the individual needs of preschool children with disabilities. The goal of this manual is to offer information to preschool programs and school districts that are responsible…

The transition to kindergarten can be a memorable, yet stressful time for children and families. For children with disabilities and their caregivers, the transition to kindergarten can be especially difficult due to changes in environment, supports, and services that occur as part of the transition. The purpose of this article is to highlight…

Introduction: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face numerous challenges in transitioning to elementary school, which can cause confusion for the children and concern among their parents. Introduction: This study aimed to identify the process of school transition from kindergarten to elementary school for children with autism spectrum…

Based on the intersection of different systems at school entry, children and families often experience uncertainty about their preparedness and impending shift from other early childhood settings. This study used a mixed-methods explanatory sequential design and investigated the perspectives of parents and caregivers on kindergarten readiness with…

Many school districts provide one-time transition events to help students prepare for the rigors of kindergarten; yet, research shows families desire additional information and opportunities to help their children thrive once school begins. Researchers for this study interviewed 39 parents whose children participated in a three-week structured…

Transition to school is recurrently pointed out as key to children's immediate well-being at school start, as well as to their long-term educational endeavors. Aspirations towards continuity during transition is a common denominator across research, policy, and practice, in Denmark as well as internationally. This theoretical-conceptual paper…

This causal-comparative quantitative study investigated if there was a statistically significant difference in school readiness variables between Chippewa Falls Area Unified School District kindergarten students who participated in the pre-kindergarten program, Building Bridges 4 Children (BB4C) and those who did not. This study compared literacy…

Despite progress in enrolment in most countries, preschoolers still face challenges before joining grade one prompting a critical understanding of child experiences during the preschool-to-school transition. This paper compares preschool-to-school transition characteristics in Kenya and Hungary based on six recurrent concepts in the theories of…

Migrant and Seasonal Head Start (MSHS) programs uniquely support the frequent transitions, including the transition to kindergarten, that children in migrant and seasonal families may experience. Lessons learned from how MSHS programs support transitions may have implications for MSHS and other federally funded early care and education (ECE)…

We investigated the impact of a subsidized, needs-based preschool program (Study 1; N = 1,894) and California's universal but age-restricted transitional kindergarten (TK) program (Study 2; N = 1,093) on school readiness. We applied Mahalanobis matching--a quasi-experimental data analysis method used to create equivalent groups--to data from three…

The Countdown to Kindergarten (CTK) program was developed to increase family awareness of kindergarten expectations, create a positive relationship with families, and support smooth school transition and kindergarten readiness for children who were from diverse backgrounds and/or had adverse experiences. We used a mixed methods design to study the…

Transition to kindergarten is an important developmental milestone for children and families. This study explored factors associated with kindergarten readiness focusing on the impact of a summer kindergarten transition program. A mixed-method design was employed, and the qualitative data from interviews with 16 randomly selected kindergarten…