NCEDL Spotlights
No. 1 July 1998
Kindergarten Transitions |
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Summary of results from a national
survey of nearly 3,600 kindergarten teachers by NCEDL. This survey
identified teachers’ areas of concern, looked at transition practices,
and asked teachers what barriers they see to implementing more transitions
practices. Project directors: Robert Pianta of the University of Virginia
and Martha Cox of UNC-Chapel Hill.
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Teachers: 48% of Children Have Transition Problems
Teachers report that while 52% of children have a successful entry
into kindergarten, 48% have moderate or serious problems. Nearly
half of the teachers are concerned about many of the children entering
kindergarten. Teachers are most frequently concerned about children's
skills in following directions and academics. Here are the percentages
of teachers who say that about half of their class or more enter
kindergarten with needs in the following areas: |
- following directions---46%
- academic skills---36%
- home environment---35%
- working independently---34%
- formal preschool experience--31%
- working in a group---30%
- immaturity---20%
- communicating---14%
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Context Variables
Teachers report concerns less frequently in suburban and rural
schools than in urban schools; in districts with lower poverty;
and in schools with fewer minority students. Less experienced teachers
report higher rates of general and specific transition problems.
Teachers’ reports of concerns may reflect a mismatch between
the competency of children and teachers’ expectations. For
example, white teachers perceive higher rates of difficulty by children
in following directions, problems with social skills and immaturity
in high minority composition schools, compared to teachers from
other ethnic groups.
Teachers in schools with the greatest needs (higher poverty, more
minority students, and urban) rely more heavily on group-oriented
practices that occur after the beginning of school, than teachers
in other settings. |
Transition Into Kindergarten
The most common practices teachers use to help children as they
enter kindergarten are "a talk with parents after school starts,"
followed by "a letter to parents after the beginning of school"
and "an open house after school starts." The least common
practice was home visiting, both before and after the beginning
of school.
Teachers report that a major barrier to their helping more with
children's transitions into kindergarten is that class lists are
generated too late. Lists are received, on the average, 15 days
before the first day of school. |
Another administrative barrier, say teachers, is
that some recommended transition practices, such as those involving
the parents before school begins, mean working in the summer for
no salary. Other barriers include "no transition plan available"
and that some transition practices "require too much time."
Transition Into First Grade
The survey also looked at the transition between kindergarten and
first-grade. Of 11 transition practices listed on the survey, over
half of the teachers (57%) report having regular meetings with first-grade
teachers to discuss continuity in the curriculum between kindergarten
and first grade. And over half of the teachers (56%) report arranging
for their class to visit a first-grade class.
However, less than 25% of the teachers report attending transition
meetings, sending parents information on how placements in first
grade are made, attending meetings to plan transitions for individual
children, or planning transition activities for children with special
needs. Child-focused transition practices such as having children
visit a first-grade classroom or having a first-grade child visit
the kindergarten classroom are being used more widely than practices
that involve the parents in decisions about who will be their child's
first-grade teacher and what the expectations are for first grade.
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| Other Survey Results |
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- 25% of membership in kindergarten classrooms change during the
course of the academic year.
- 47% of public school kindergarten teachers have a masters degree
or higher.
- 78% of the teachers have an elementary education certification.
- Public school kindergarten teachers have an average of 11.5
years experience teaching kindergarten.
- 23% of the teachers said they typically receive information
about ways to enhance transitions.
- 25% of the teachers say they had some specialized training for
children's transition into kindergarten.
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Conclusions & Implications
- There is a poor fit between the expectations of kindergarten
teachers and the skills of kindergartners.
- The nation has a long way to go in ensuring that all children
come to school ready to learn, and ensuring that schools make
the necessary provisions to reach out to their families.
- School administrators should consider earlier identification
and classroom assignment of new students and a formal transition
practices plan.
- Teachers are talking to teachers about transitions, but teachers
are not reaching parents about their children's transition into
first grade.
- Children have little facilitated contact with their future
first-grade teacher. Contact is even less frequent in schools
with high minority representation and in schools in high poverty
areas.
- Kindergarten teachers in the US, on average, have many years
of teaching experience at the kindergarten level and tend to
be well-educated. Teachers need extra assistance and support
to facilitate transition. More teachers should receive training
in transitions.
- While this survey focused on teachers and classrooms, it is
interactions in a larger context that are critical for a child's
success during transition. In addition to the individual child's
readiness and the kindergarten teacher’s role, the family,
the education system, preschool programs, and the community
are all responsible for successful transitions.
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In addition to Cox and Pianta, other authors of papers based on the
survey are Diane M. Early and Lorraine C. Taylor, both at UNC-CH,
and Sara E. Rimm-Kaufman and Karen M. La Paro, both at the University
of Virginia. NCEDL is administratively housed at UNC-CH. This project
is supported under the Education Research and Development Centers
Program, PR/award number R307A60004, as administered by the Office
of Educational Research and Improvement, US Department of Education.
Opinions expressed in these reports do not necessarily represent the
positions or policies of the National Institute on Early Childhood
Development and Education, the Office of Educational Research and
Improvement, or the US Department of Education. Permission is granted
to reprint this; we ask that you attribute the author(s) of the study
and the National Center for Early Development & Learning. |
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