THE TRANSITION FROM PREKINDERGARTEN TO KINDERGARTEN FORudCHILDREN WITH AND WITHOUT DISABILITIES:udCOMPARING ENGAGEMENT AND VALUE RATINGS OF PREKINDERGARTENudAND KINDERGARTEN TEACHERS INudTRANSITION-TO-KINDERGARTEN ACTIVITIES

摘要

Transition to kindergarten is defined as an important milestone for young children. Transition from prekindergarten to kindergarten sets the stage for formal school. Academic success, parental involvement and teacher-to-teacher support are all the building blocks to future success for children with and without disabilities. As educators and researchers, we recognize the importance of relationships among key players (Rimm-Kaufmann & Pianta, 2000) in this important transition. The Ecological and Dynamic Model (Rimm-Kaufmann & Pianta, 2000) emphasizes the importance of relationships among these key players for achieving successful kindergarten transitions. Furthermore, most of the recommended transition practices focus on relationship-building through communication among and/or between key players. Although the magnitude of relationship-building is recognized in the literature, the lack of interagency communication and/or relationship building continues to create barriers to successful transitions. For example, key players such as parents, prekindergarten teachers, and kindergarten teachers do not always communicate sufficiently to provide smooth transitions for young children with and without disabilities. Further complications are created by the lack of value placed on theudvudrelationship between key players by teachers. Transition to kindergarten continues to be defined as a stressful time for all families and teachers alike.udConsequently, this study’s purpose was to examine the activities that prekindergarten and kindergarten teachers engaged in during the transition to kindergarten for children with and without disabilities and the value they placed on these activities. More specifically, this study utilized The Ecological and Dynamic Model of Transition (EDM) to define key players and the importance of interconnectedness of key players during transition. This study further examined what activities prekindergarten teachers and kindergarten teachers engaged in to support children with and without disabilities, families of children with and without disabilities, kindergarten and prekindergarten teachers, peers, and the community during the transition to kindergarten and the types of transition activities both sets of teachers valued. This information yielded important insights about the extent and value both types of teachers placed on relationship-building with key players during this critical time in a child’s development.udThe data collected in the survey of 35 prekindergarten teachers and 45 kindergarten teachers in southwestern Pennsylvania demonstrated that both prekindergarten and kindergarten teachers engaged in a variety of transition activities. The results also revealed that both sets of teachers valued the transition activities even if the teachers did not always engage in those activities.