Transitioning From Pre-K to Kindergarten

1. Transitioning From Pre-K to Kindergarten 11th Annual Title Programs Conference Atlanta Airport Marriott June 19 -20, 2013

2. Presenter Bobby Trawick Title I Education Program Specialist Georgia Department of Education btrawick@doe.k12.ga.us (229) 246-1976

3. Pre-K to Kindergarten • Start kindergarten transition long before the first day of school. • Even when a child is a seasoned preschooler the newness, excitement, and anxiety of kindergarten presents a milestone for families.

4. Key Points According to Susan Adams, assistant commissioner for pre-K, and Jackie Shivers, pre-K quality improvement coordinator from Georgia’s Bright from the Start Department of Early Care and Learning, there are three key points to successful pre-K transitioning to kindergarten.

5. Key Points • Create a transition team • Map out a yearlong timeline • Ask parents how you can help

6. Transition Team • Coordinator • Pre-K and kindergarten teachers • Administrators • Parents, guardians, and other family members • Representatives from community agencies such as health and social services departments

7. Fall Timeline • September: Create a transition team • October: Talk about transition plans and objectives with parents and kindergarten staff. Start collecting required documentation for kindergarten registration from pre-K families. Identify any challenges and make referrals for at-risk children as needed.

8. Winter Timeline • December: Meet with transition planning team and schedule pre-K visit to a kindergarten class, time for a current kindergartner to share with pre-K students, and time for school support staff, such as the librarian, a cafeteria worker, and bus driver, to visit with preschoolers. Also plan a family activity, such as having a kindergarten teacher or principal speak to families.

9. Winter Timeline • February: Hold another parent meeting to draw in additional families and to continue to support families met during the December family activity. Discuss details about upcoming transition activities, and ask parents to share ways the school can support their needs. This meeting also could include a meet-and-greet with teachers and hands-on readiness activities.

10. Spring Timeline • April: Allow time for pre-K classes to visit kindergarten classrooms and visit the school. Continue to help families by answering questions and help them gather any needed documentation. Also this month, invite pre-K students to participate in a kindergarten event, and host another pre-K activity.

11. Spring Timeline • May: Invite parents to meet with their child’s future kindergarten teacher, and help families with kindergarten registration. Send home summer activities to help families practice skills and prepare for the first day.

12. Summer Timeline • June/July: Kindergarten teachers make home visits. Transition teams can also plan a fun-filled park day so upcoming kindergartners can get to know their future classmates. • August/September: Begin reaching out to new families, and use surveys to gauge needs. Take time to reflect on transition activities during the past school year. What worked? What didn’t? How can we improve?

13. Broaden Your Outreach • When planning transition activities it can be more of a challenge to find and connect with stay at home parents whose children don’t attend formal preschool or childcare programs. • Take time with your transition team to think about ways to reach those families.

14. Broaden Your Outreach • Ask community partners to help you spread the word about parent meetings and other transition related activities. • You might be able to share information with parents as part of a storytelling session at the local library or other places that parents take their children for programs and activities.

15. Broaden Your Outreach • Check with local social service agencies, including food banks and shelters, which can pass along information about upcoming parent meetings. • Finally, don’t forget to connect directly with families who already have children enrolled in your school. Find out which families have up and coming kindergartners, and communicate directly with those parents.

16. Personalize Your Approach • Transition plans in a rural area may look different from those in an urban district. Look at the makeup of your community and where children are cared for during the preschool years to map out a plan that works. In a small community, you may want to coordinate transition at the district level. In larger areas, you may want to coordinate in the schools’ feeder patterns.

17. US Department of Education Non-Regulatory Guidance • A schoolwide program must assist preschool children in the transition from early learning programs, such as Head Start, IDEA programs, Child Care, State-funded preschool programs, and other preschool programs to elementary school programs and must include in its comprehensive schoolwide plan a description of how it will assist preschool children in this transition (ESEA section 1114(b)(1)(G); 34 C.F.R. 200.28(e)).

18. Title I Targeted Assistance Program Transition • A school operating a targeted assistance program must coordinate with and support the school’s regular education, which may include services to assist preschool children in the transition from early learning programs, such as Title I preschool programs, Head Start, IDEA programs, Child Care, State-funded preschool programs, and other preschool programs to elementary school programs (ESEA section1115(c)(1)(D)).

19. LEA Responsibility in Transitioning from Preschool to Elementary • In its local Title I plan, an LEA must describe how it will coordinate and integrate the services it provides under Title I with other educational services at the LEA or school level, such as Head Start, IDEA programs Child Care, State-funded preschool programs, and other preschool programs, including plan including plans for the transition of children to elementary school programs (ESEA section 1112(b)(1)(E)(i)).

20. Transitioning Children with IEPs • Many children with active IEPs will attend their home school; occasionally an IEP team will determine a student will benefit most from attending a school outside their attendance area. A transition meeting may be scheduled where the preschool staff and representatives from the child’s home/designated school will share information.

21. Team of Specialists • The team of specialists in an elementary school usually consists of a resource teacher, a school psychologist, a speech/language therapist, an occupational therapist and/or an intensive learning center teacher. Additional services may also be provide by a vision specialist, a teacher for the deaf/hard of hearing and/or a physical therapist depending on the student’s needs.

22. Transitioning Children with IEPs • Some children with IEPs may need to be re-evaluated prior to starting kindergarten and/or their 6th birthday, especially if they have been identified as a preschool child with a disability. If reassessment is necessary, parents will be asked to sign a consent for evaluation form sometime during the year before kindergarten.

23. Home Activities • Point out your child’s new school when driving or walking by- “That’s your new school!” • Meet the principal and some teachers • Visit the kindergarten classroom, school library, and lunchroom so things don’t look so strange on the first day. Be sure to call the school to schedule an appointment.

24. Home Activities Continued • Practice social skills- sharing and waiting • Practice listening- following simple directions and practice 1 and 2 part directions and looking at the person who is talking • Independence- dressing and toileting • Basic Skills- counting games, identifying letters, seeing shapes and colors and read, read, read

25. Parents as Resources • Provide parents a list of children’s books that focus on what kindergarten is like. • Treat parents as expert informants. Don’t just tell them about you program; view them as inside sources of information • Encourage parents to emphasize children’s self-help skills at home, such as tying shoelaces, zipping up jackets, and washing hands.

26. Problems with Approaching School Transition as a Function of a Child’s Skills and Abilities • First, a child’s skills and abilities are very limited predictors of early school success. • Second, the transition period involves not only how children adjust to kindergarten, but also how families and schools interact and cooperate. It is just not the child that makes the transition. Families are involved in the transition.

27. A New Model for Transition • Good policy and good practice have to build on a solid foundation that recognizes that young children’s success in school is intertwined with their experience in multiple settings, family, peer groups, preschool, and school and this transition time is a critical time for building partnerships between schools and families. (Early Childhood Research & Policy Briefs, Winter 2002, Volume 2, Number 2)

28. Eleven State Study of State-Funded Pre-K • Little or no alignment between pre-K and elementary • Low ratings on global classroom quality • Poorest children are in the lowest quality classrooms • 44% of day is spent on transitions and routines

29. Smooth Transitions are Important • For children • For parents • For the sending teacher or caregiver • For the receiving educational setting

30. Elements of a Successful Transition to School • Parent-School Relationship • Teacher-Child Relationship • Child-School Transition • Child-Peer Relationships

31. Children Books for Transition to Kindergarten • Boomer Goes to School by Constance W. McGeorge • Countdown to Kindergarten by Alison McGhee • David Goes to School by Shannon D • First Day, Hooray! by Nancy Paydar • Annabelle Swift, Kindergartner by Amy Schwartz

32. Children Books for Transition to Kindergarten • First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg • Look Out Kindergarten Here I Come by Nancy L. Carlson • If You Take a Mouse to School by Laura Numeroff • Will I Have a Friend? By Miriam Cohen • Sam Starts School by Barbara Taylor Cork

33. Gwinnett County Collaborative • Gwinnett County’s Title I Department • The SPARK (Supporting Partnerships to Assure Ready Kids) Program • Bright from the Start Resource Coordinators (RCS) • Georgia Pre-K families

34. The SPARK Program • In 2004, Gwinnett County Public Schools partnered with the United way of Atlanta’s Spark program. • This was a five year initiative that sought to offer a better way for communities, families and schools to ensure vulnerable children were ready for school.

35. Continued • Through Spark, the Gwinnett County Public Schools developed Kindergarten Readiness Transition Teams to help parents prepare their children for school success. • Another initiative of the transition teams was the development and implementation of Kinder Camps.

36. Continued • In 2007, GCPS approved the use of Title l funds to create a full-time position for Wrae Croom as GCPS’s Title l Specialist for Kindergarten Readiness and School Transition. • Wrae provides technical support to parents by presenting information on social, emotional, and cognitive kindergarten skills, as well as providing ideas for developmentally appropriate activities.

37. Since the Conclusion of the Spark Grant in 2008 • Spark Georgia children outperformed their peers on school readiness measures. • 91% of Spark Georgia parents were engaged in their child’s school. • 42 Title l schools in Georgia now use Title l funds for school transition. • 90% of Georgia Spark children enrolled in a pre-K program.

38. Three Major Events a Year • During the fall, the Team hosts a well Family Health Fair. • On the first Friday in February, a family Valentine’s Dance and Literacy night is held. • The final event of the year is Gwinnett’s Month of the Young Child celebration. It will be held at the new Gwinnett Braves Stadium this year.

39. Post Script • As a result of Gwinnett’s successful transition program, Dekalb County is now using Title l funds to implement school transition activities and KinderCamps in 16 Title l Elementary schools. • Rockdale County plans to implement KinderCamps in four of its Title l schools.

40. For More Information on School Readiness Contact Wrae Croom 678-301-6834 Wrae_Croom@gwinnett.k12.ga.us

41. Muscogee County School District Summer Kindergarten Transition Program (SKPT)

42. Goal of the Summer Kindergarten Transition Program • Assist parents in providing readiness for their children’s transition to kindergarten • Selected School: All 22 MCSD Elementary schools are invited to participate • Personnel Involved: MCSD Title l Parent Coordinator, Title l Kindergarten teachers, and Paraprofessionals • Students Involved: Students who will be attending Kindergarten at a Title l School

43. What is (SKPT)? • Free Summer Kindergarten Program funded through Title l • Takes place during the month of June in 22 Title l Elementary Schools • Students will attend 3 hours of school for 10 days • Maximum of 10 children in each class • Last year over 260 children and families participated

44. Purpose of (SKTP) • Target families of students who did not attend a MCSD pre-K program • Prepare incoming kindergarten students and families for their kindergarten experience • Introduce children and families to public school routines and procedures • Ultimate goal: make their transition to kindergarten a smooth and pleasant one

45. Benefits from the (SKTP) • Individual and focused attention from teachers • They are cared for by a teacher and paraprofessional • Children and parents will ultimately feel more comfortable during the first days of kindergarten • Each child will receive 9 books with a transition backpack for attending SKTP

46. Assessments Used in the SKTP • Teachers use a Kindergarten Readiness Test to assess where the students are at during the beginning of the program. This allows teachers to plan lessons according to the needs of the students; • Parents, teachers and paraprofessionals are given a survey at the end of the program to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the program.

47. For More Information About SKTP Contact Tammy Pope Muscogee County School District Title l Specialist-Parenting 706-748-2104 Pope.Tammy.F@Muscogee.k12.ga.us

48. Questions?

49. Presenter Bobby Trawick Title I Education Program Specialist Georgia Department of Education btrawick@doe.k12.ga.us (229) 246-1976