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Children’s Transi.on to Kindergarten: Understanding Their Experience and the Associa.on with School Readiness Jennifer LoCasaleCrouch, LCSW, PhD Center for Advanced Study of Teaching & Learning (CASTL) October 23 rd , 2013
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Children’s Transi.on to Kindergarten: Understanding Their Experience and the
Associa.on with School Readiness
Jennifer LoCasale-‐Crouch, LCSW, PhD Center for Advanced Study of Teaching & Learning (CASTL)
October 23rd, 2013
Today’s agenda • The current state of school readiness • What early school transi.on experiences look like • Effects of transi.on and alignment • Be prepared, there will be some interac.vity J
• Early childhood administrator • Early childhood mental health consultant • Elementary school principal • Higher educa.on faculty • Infant/Toddler teacher • Preschool teacher • Kindergarten teacher • Non-‐profit employee • Work in business/industry • Other…
Who is here?
• We are all interested in suppor.ng children’s success
• Take a minute to talk at your table about…
• How you would define a successful adult.
Star.ng with the end in mind…
Successful
Unsuccessful
How would you define a successful adult?
ADULT
• Productive member of society
• Form healthy relationships • Motivated learner • Communicate wants and needs • Financially independent
Successful
Unsuccessful
Unsuccessful Adult Path
INFANT ADULT
Year behind in language
3 .mes more likely to have behavior problems
83% not reading on grade level in 3rd 1/3 with K beh prob in SPED
74% do not catch up
Predicts poor outcomes
Preschool
High School
Elementary
Interven/on early ma4ers
• Early childhood educa.on supports children’s short and long term development
• For every $1 spent in early interven.on, $7 is returned
What is Ohio’s current high school gradua.on rate?
A. 80% B. 67% C. 65% D. 53%
• 80% – 75% Na.onally – Lowest are DC (57%) and NM (59%)
• 67% children with disabili.es • 65% economically disadvantage • 53% for limited english proficient
Differen.al gradua.on rates…
Why do we care so much about children’s transi7on to kindergarten?
First Day of Kindergarten Important to Many
Experience in kindergarten ma4ers
• The kindergarten teacher-‐child rela.onship predicts short and long term academic and behavior outcomes – Especially important for children at-‐risk of school difficul.es – Conflict stable over .me
• Kindergarten family involvement associated with more coopera.ve, self-‐controlled, socially engaged children, lower dropout, higher language and math
Both teachers rate the importance of these skills similarly-‐academic lowest
Academics Self regulatory behavior
Interpersonal behavior
(Latham et al., 2013)
Cogni.ve Skills Not Enough
How successfully are children star.ng kindergarten?
How successfully are children entering kindergarten? Difficult
16%
Some Problems
32%Successful
52%
Rimm-Kaufman, Pianta & Cox, 2000
Teachers who say “half my class or more” exhibit these problems entering kindergarten
0 10 20 30 40 50
Difficulty communicating/ language problems
Problems with social skills
Difficulty working as part of a group
Difficulty working independently
Lack of academic skills
Difficulty following directions
14%
21%
31%
35%
36%
46%
Rimm-Kaufman, Pianta & Cox, 2000
Transi.on occurs across the lifespan…
Transi.on = Change = Stressful
Norma.ve stress can be good and growth promo.ng Toxic stress can lead to short and long term problems
We know what creates successful adjustment
Children need our help to do this
Rela.onships
Informa.on
Con.nuity/Alignment
AND TIME
Importance of Rela.onships
Young children experience the world in the context of rela7onships. In turn, these rela7onships influence all areas of development. These rela7onships also lay the founda7on for later developmental outcomes including self confidence, mental health, mo7va7on to learn, achievement in school, and conflict resolu7on.
• Na.onal Scien.fic Council on the Developing Child (2004). Young Children Develop in an Environment of Rela7onships: Working Paper No. 1. Retrieved from www.developingchild.harvard.edu.
School Readiness &Transition: A Child-focused View
Child Child
Early Experiences Kindergarten
A Developmental Approach to School Readiness
Early Experiences
Child
Peers
Family Community
Teachers
Kindergarten
Child
Peers
Family Community
Teachers
Rimm-Kaufman & Pianta, 2000
• Stability in experiences are crucial
• Change in selngs is associated with lower school readiness
• Relies on con.nued experience of suppor.ve rela.onships in a high quality learning environment
Contribu.ng Factors to Outcomes
What Kids Say About Transi.ons
• “I feel like I’m going to be a liole sad because I’m going to miss my friends. But I can’t wait to be on the bus with my new friends.”
• “And, um…it’s a big, big school and there’s more kids -‐ hundreds and hundreds. And there’s kids that don’t know each other’s names. Everyone knows names here.”
James Squires, First You Work and Then It’s Play: Preschoolers’ Conversa7ons About Kindergarten and School Readiness. Unpublished Disserta.on.
Transi.ons: Work & Play • “Tons of rules! No running, No hilng. No pushing. No saying bad words. No throwing sand. And no kissing on the lips. Only kissing on the hands and the cheek. No kicking. No whining. That’s it. And listen to the teacher’s words.”
• “It’s gonna be a hard thing. Hard, hard, hard, hard, hard. Probably boring too. Well, you have to sit down all the .me. And our legs need to stretch out and walk.”
• “And kindergarten is really fun. You get to do fun things. You get to play a lot. Play with dolls. Play with toys. Play at paint. Play some games with my friends, like freeze tag, hide-‐and-‐seek...”
James Squires, First You Work and Then It’s Play: Preschoolers’ Conversa7ons About Kindergarten and School Readiness. Unpublished Disserta.on.
Child and Parent Perspec.ve on Transi.on
Family Transition Experiences
“His teacher called several days before school started; it was great and really made Nate feel great.”
“I am pleased… the teacher called after the first two days of school to say how well she was doing.”
“The teacher called me the first week of school and said she should have been evaluated for Ritalin because she can’t teach her.”
“I’m not happy with it… I sent in notes but got no response from the teacher… The first day of school I sent him with a dollar for lunch but he didn’t eat all day… something got mixed up. I tried again with a dollar the next day, but he didn’t eat that day either. He wet his pants. The teacher is young and she’s not very organized. I’m anxious about this year.”
Pianta & Kraft-Sayre
Teacher-‐Child Rela.onships Over Time
K 1 2 3 4 5 6
School Grade
Closeness
K 1 2 3 4 5 6
School Grade
Conflict
(Jerome et al., 2007)
0
10
20
30
40
Free choice/ centers
Individual Small Group Whole Group
Preschool
Kindergarten
Ac/vity SeEng Changes
LaParo et al., 2009
0
10
20
30
Language/ Literacy
Math Science Social Studies
Preschool
Kindergarten
Content Focus Changes
LaParo et al., 2009
Instruc.onal Support Across Preschool and Kindergarten (N=725)
LaParo et al., 2009
Kindergarten Low
Kindergarten Moderate
Kindergarten High
Prek -‐ Low 60% 10% 0%
Prek -‐ Moderate
22% 7% 0%
Prek -‐ High 0% 0% 0%
Misalignments and Shifts in the Transition to Kindergarten • Changes in academic demands / curricula • Less family connection with school • Complexity of social environment (peers and adults) • Less time with teacher(s) • Too little, too late, too impersonal
What can we do to improve the transi7on to kindergarten?
A Developmental Approach to School Readiness
Early Experiences
Child
Peers
Family Community
Teachers
Kindergarten
Child
Peers
Family Community
Teachers
Rimm-Kaufman & Pianta, 2000
Child & family connections with school: Transition experiences families found useful
% of families who found the experience helpful Transition activity
Had child visit a kindergarten classroom Met with a kindergarten teacher Met with the principal Took a tour of the school Talked with preschool staff about kindergarten Visited the kindergarten classroom Talked with parents of child’s new classmates Participated in elementary school-wide activities Attended a workshop for parents Met with child’s anticipated kindergarten teacher Attended an orientation to kindergarten
99 89 95
100 99 97 97
100 98 92 96
Pianta et al., 1999
School-school connections: Transition experiences teachers found useful
Preschool teachers K teachers
Transition activity % who found the
experience helpful % who found the
experience helpful
Prek children visiting their kindergarten classroom Prek teachers visiting a kindergarten classroom Holding an elementary school-wide activity with prek children Having a spring orientation about kindergarten for parents of preschool children Having an individual meeting between a teacher and a parent of the preschool child Sharing written records
100
100
83
100
100
100
96
100
100
100
100
100
Pianta et al., 1999
Using all connec.ons to support children…
• School videos made and shared with early care providers, families, etc
• Early Childhood Professional Learning Communi/es – Teams work across early childhood and K
• Passport to Kindergarten – Pool resources to one loca.on, adver.se widely
• Kindergarten camps
That’s good that the prac.ces are useful…
…but are they helping children be
more school ready and parents be involved?
At the beginning of K: • Greater frustra.on tolerance • Beoer social skills • Fewer conduct problems • Fewer learning problems • More posi.ve approaches to
learning
Transi/on ac/vi/es were most helpful for children from low-‐income families.
More prek to k transi.on prac.ces =
Prek to K Transi.on Prac.ces are Associated with Children’s Kindergarten Adjustment • NCEDL
– 1,000 children, 250 schools
LoCasale-Crouch et al., 2008
• Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – 17,212 children, 992 schools
Kindergarten Transition Practices are Associated with Academic Skills and Family
Involvement
Spring K Academic Skills and
Family Involvement
= Fall K
Transition Practices
Even more for children from low-income families
Schulting, Malone & Dodge, 2005
• Child, family, school, and community, connec.ons – Improved social adjustment to kindergarten
– Improved familiarity with rou.nes for kids with same teacher
– Reading benefits
Kindergarten Camp Participation is Associated with Improved Readiness
SCUSD > Child Development
Pre-Kindergarten Summer Camp
View and Print Flyer: English | Hmong | Russian | Spanish
Click here for Enrollment Assistance Schedule
Pre-Kindergarten Summer Camp http://www.scusd.edu/ChildDevelopment/Pages/Pre-Kindergart...
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Berlin, Dunning & Dodge, 2010; Borman, Goetz & Dowling, 2009
Why might transi.on prac.ces be associated with posi.ve kindergarten outcomes?
• One pathway: alignment – Shared informa.on and experiences – Some evidence of this (Ahtola et al., 2011; LoCasale-‐Crouch et al., 2009)
• Another pathway: rela.onships – Closer kindergarten teacher-‐child rela.onships associated with short and long-‐term posi.ve outcomes (Hamre & Pianta, 2001; 2005)
– Maoer more, less likely for at-‐risk children
Transi.on experiences lead to closer rela.onships
Transi.on experiences
Academic and social growth
Closer teacher-‐child rela.onships
LoCasale-Crouch et al., 2013
Key Elements of Successful Efforts • Teams represent all stakeholders and work
together • Efforts occur across child, family, school and
community throughout the year – Transition is seen as a process – Opportunities outside of school and before school starts – Providing informa.on, building rela.onships and developing con.nuity
• Continuous assessment of what is and is not working
Children, Families and Elementary Schools Benefit from Connections
• Children more socially and emotionally ready – Helps them participate more academically
• Families more connected to school – Improved long-term student outcomes
• Teachers more prepared to support kids/families – Better relationships – More aligned high quality experiences
• Fiscally smart – Most important investment is time
THANK YOU!
For addi.onal informa.on, please contact: Jennifer LoCasale-‐Crouch, Ph.D.
