In 1998 the National Education Goals Panel set forth the goal that by the year 2000, all
children in America will start school ready to learn. It then outlined 10 keys to “ready
schools” including:
Ready schools strive for continuity between early care and education programs and
elementary schools.
Ready schools smooth the transition from home to school (Shore, 1998).
Despite their belief that transition is a key component of school readiness, the panel goes on
to state that “transition activities ... are the exception rather than the rule in our public
schools” (p. 7). Cognizant of this disconnect between what we know about the crucial role
that transition plays in ensuring continuity and what is currently available in our schools,
Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP) conducted a review of current research on the
transition to kindergarten, focusing on promising transition practices and the role that schools
might play in their implementation. This brief offers a synthesis of our findings, focusing on
the important role that families play in transition to kindergarten.1
The brief begins with an overview of the concept of transition and its importance to school
success. It then examines transition practices that focus on families, considering both
practices and key players in implementation; it includes examples of promising transition
practices that involve families. It concludes with the presentation of a framework for the
development of school and program transition teams that value family involvement.