Themes from Strengthening Kindergarten Transitions in Communities Across the Country

The transition to kindergarten is a complex, exciting, and often anxious time for children and families. It also requires many different groups of people from a number of schools, organizations, and agencies to work together. Though complex, the transition period can be an energizing reminder of the dedication of the early childhood workforce, and a powerful reminder of all of the hard work that goes into making child care, pre-K, and early education programs both joyful and effective for the children and families they serve.

Families, center-based and family child care programs, Head Start programs, community organizations, teachers, school leaders, and district offices each have a unique role in the transition to kindergarten. Supportive and effective systems for transitions have mechanisms in place to coordinate each of these teams, and that coordination is vital to creating equitable opportunities for connecting children with their school. It’s also important to note that a positive transition to kindergarten can foster the foundation needed to develop healthy and responsive relationships between families, educators, and schools.

Over the last year, teams at EducationCounsel and New America have worked with partners in communities across the country who have sought to strengthen young children’s transition into kindergarten and the broader system of public schools. Section 7 from our Toolkit for Using Policy to Enable Effective and Supportive Transitions describes some of our major takeaways in working with these different teams to make the transition to kindergarten more positive for students, families, and educators.

Three of these themes are particularly fundamental in beginning work on transitions systems: center equity, align transitions work with current priorities, and plan for long-term funding. While each of these takes time to implement and practice successfully, they are essential to form the foundation needed for a community to develop and sustain strong, effective structures for supporting transitions.

Center Equity

Equity for students furthest from opportunity must be at the core of transitions planning. Report after report tells us that the pandemic most significantly impacted children from low-income backgrounds, students of color, and students who were already academically behind. Though it’s helpful to have reports and data to show these impacts, early childhood educators and elementary school teachers have seen these challenges manifest in a variety of ways over the past two and a half years. And it is not just increased academic needs, but heightened difficulties with other domains of development, e.g., fine and gross motor skill development and peer-to-peer interactions. As such, schools and classrooms must be prepared to understand children’s wide range of experiences and be nimble to meet children where they are. Systems should give time and space for educators to direct their energy to building relationships with families at the beginning of the year and to align vertically to have continuity in expectations and classroom practices.

It must be acknowledged that because current systems were designed for certain children to thrive, the transition to kindergarten will be most challenging for students who have been systemically under-resourced. When systems have been intentionally designed and equitably resourced, schools and classrooms will be better aligned and equipped to support success. A first, important step can be working to understand the specific groups in each community that will be most impacted by the status quo. Districts should review community and school data, and plan ways to hear from educators and families about what is desired and needed as you plan for improving transitions for young children. PK-12 school systems still have access to pandemic relief funds, which provide the opportunity to make investments in transitions and center efforts around children who need the most support.

Aligning Transitions System Growth with Current Community Priorities

Transitions teams across the country recognized that transitions activities cannot be situated solely on the shoulders of teachers. In considering different strategies, keep in mind that the transition to kindergarten is not a singular activity like a welcome breakfast or a “meet the teacher” night. Those activities, while helpful, should exist as part of a system that is supported by district offices, school leaders, and community-based organizations. These leaders can work with educators to align such efforts with priorities that schools have already identified. Thus, singular events won’t be just classroom-based activities for teachers to organize, but rather enhance the work that folks in their different roles are already doing.

Based on this school year’s academic data and/or American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ARP ESSER) spending plan, schools and districts have already set goals and priorities for learning recovery across communities, as at least 20% of ARP ESSER spending must go toward learning recovery. Because the transition to kindergarten is many children’s first exposure and connection to school, it is critical to consider how this year-long process can fit into current community priorities. For example, if a district or state is particularly targeting reading skills, how can leaders make reading strategies more public to Pre-K children and children in communities who, for a variety of reasons, are not able to attend school? Who can facilitate meetings of early childhood educators and kindergarten teachers to share and align their reading techniques? Considering factors that are already part of a community’s priorities can allow the transition to kindergarten to be a key platform for aligning a district’s practices and enhancing a community’s growth.

Plan for Long-Term Funding

Though child care providers and PreK-12 school systems are both looking ahead to the end of pandemic relief funding with concern, there is still time to think about how to identify and integrate funding to support transition into annual budgets. District leaders can work with local early childhood educators and Head Start coordinators to identify champions for the community’s youngest learners and new families. How can those champions work to include funding in both public P-12 budgets and ECE proposals? Where should the funding first be allocated, in alignment with current community practices?

In considering where to get started, we’ve outlined opportunities in the toolkit, as well as funding streams that can be leveraged to support the work. Again, this is complex and multi-dimensional work, but it is vital to the future success of the children and families that are served by the broader ECE and public school system. To create successful and sustainable systems, start with short-term plans for the 23-24 school year and continue with long-term goals in place. By being intentional and identifying a comprehensive team of educators and leaders, communities can take advantage of the opportunity to make lasting change and create the spaces to foster the best possible outcomes for children and families.

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