Strengthening the Transition to Kindergarten

Children enter kindergarten with a wide variety of previous education experiences: some have participated in pre-K programs, whether private, state-funded, or part of Head Start, while others have spent time in a family child care setting or in informal arrangements with family, friends, and neighbors. Regardless of the setting, this transition is fraught with stress and uncertainty for many children and their parents. It is up to the educators in both elementary school and pre-K settings to ease the transition into formal education.

New America is exploring strategies that support the planning of a stable, well-connected transition between early education and kindergarten. See below for our body of work on this issue.