1-037 - Recent Contributions to Understanding and Supporting Children’s Transitions to Kindergarten

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

This fall, approximately four million children in the United States will start kindergarten. The transition to kindergarten marks an important developmental milestone in children’s lives, as the competencies they have acquired upon entering kindergarten affect their early adaptation to and long-term success in school. Given the importance of successful kindergarten transitions, developmental scientists have made numerous contributions to understanding children’s transitions through theory and research and to supporting children’s transition by developing and testing a variety of strategies that address children’s developmental needs before, during and after kindergarten begins. In 2013-2014, federal agencies concerned with the well-being of young children convened a meeting and a follow-up working group comprising researchers and policy-makers to further advance the scientific study of kindergarten transitions. This symposium brings together researchers who participated in these sessions to highlight recent contributions to understanding and supporting children’s kindergarten transitions. The first paper draws upon developmental theories to build a conceptual framework for understanding children’s transitions that describes the systems, settings, and developmental processes that affect children’s successful transitions to kindergarten. The three papers that follow describe and present evidence of the effects of specific transition strategies designed to support children and families: 1) activities before kindergarten that establish relationships between children, families, and teachers; 2) the Kids In Transitions to School (KITS) program that provides targeted transition activities for children and parents; and 3)the TRIAD (Technology-enhanced, Research-based, Instruction, Assessment, and professional Development) model that aligns mathematics instruction across pre-K to elementary grade classrooms.

Sub Unit

• Education, Schooling

Chair

• Beth Rous, University of Kentucky

Individual Presentations

• A Conceptual Framework for Describing, Explaining, and Supporting Kindergarten Transitions - Presenting Author: Andrew J Mashburn, Portland State University; Rita Yelverton, Portland State University; Amy Lynn Cannell-Cordier, Portland State University; Elizabeth Tremaine, Portland State Univ

• Transition to Kindergarten and Children’s Development: The Mediational Roles of Teacher-Child Relationship and Family Involvement - Presenting Author: Jennifer LoCasale-Crouch, University of Virginia; Jamie DeCoster, University of Virginia; Robert C Pianta, University of Virginia

• Preparing High-Risk Children and Families for the Kindergarten Transition - Presenting Author: Katherine C Pears, Oregon Social Learning Center; Hyoun Kim, Oregon Social Learning Center; Cynthia Valentine Healey, No Institutional Affiliation; Philip Andrew Fisher, University of Oregon

• Longitudinal Evaluation of a Scale-up Model for Teaching Mathematics: Persistence of Effects Three Years after Treatment - Presenting Author: Douglas H Clements, University of Denver; Julie Sarama, [email protected]; Carolyn Layzer, Abt Associates Inc.; Fatih Unlu, Abt Associates; Christopher B Wolfe, Indiana University Kokomo; Mary Elaine Spitler, State University of New York (SUNY)