Research:

• Even with quality preschool interventions, at-risk children can experience a "fade out" of learning gains without continued appropriate instruction in primary grades. This "fade out" is less likely in schools that connect pre-k to kindergarten and primary grades through a PK-2 education program. [Graves, Bill. PK-3: what is it and how do we know it works? 2006]
• The transition to Kindergarten for a young child is not merely showing up to a new classroom, new teacher, and new friends.  In a report by the Early Childhood Research Project, “Starting School: Effective Transitions.” (2001), it discusses an ecological view of kindergarten transition as one that is influenced by contexts such as family, classroom, community and how those contexts connect.  The goal is to establish strong relationships between these contexts so they are not independently working towards the same goal; instead they're working towards the education of each child and family.
• With that in mind, a National Center for Early Development & Learning Kindergarten Transition Studies report, “Enhancing the Transition to Kindergarten Linking Children, Families, & Schools” (2000) discusses five guiding principles to implement effective kindergarten transition practices.

• Foster relationships as resources

  Promote continuity from preschool to kindergarten

  Focus on family strengths

  Tailor practices to individual needs

  Form collaborative relationships

• From here, a transition team from the early childhood education and the school-age realms work together to select appropriate practices that enhance family-school, child-school, peer, and community connections. 
• This connectivity and collaboration is to reduce what is traditionally occuring between the family and the school-age programs.  Practices are generally limited to sending a form letter to the parent telling them who their child's teacher is, when school starts, where the classroom is located, and holding an open-house and/or sending resources home after school has started.   These aforementioned practices do little towards forming connections between family-school and child-school.  To note, teachers very much want to be part of an effective and enhanced transition program that will allow them to become better prepared for each child's needs and parent expectation for the upcoming year.  Teachers identified barriers such as lack of time, funding, and administrative and school system support to implement such programs.  [Transition to Kindergarten (2002)]

Current Realities:

• In the fall of 2001, the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill conducted the Cumberland County School Readiness Assessment (CCSRA).   Cumberland County teachers used practices designed to help children and families make the transition into school less frequently than teachers across NC and the nation. Teachers in high-poverty schools used some transition practices more frequently than teachers in low-poverty schools.  
• Written transition plans should be developed by the More at Four contractor and/or sites and should:
  1. Specify how children will transition into the More at Four classroom.
  2. Specify how children will transition into kindergarten.
  3. Reflect the diversity and uniqueness of children, families and communities.
  4. Be revised as ongoing transition efforts are expanded