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A Conceptual Framework for Understanding and Supporting Children’s Development During the Kindergarten Transition

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Book cover Kindergarten Transition and Readiness

Abstract

This chapter presents a conceptual framework through which researchers, practitioners, and policy-makers can organize an understanding of children’s development during their transitions from their primary preschool settings (e.g., homes, public pre-K programs, private pre-K programs) into the K-12 educational system. The first half of this chapter focuses on developing an understanding of the processes that impact children’s Kindergarten transitions. We conclude that children’s experiences of the Kindergarten transition are affected by the characteristics of children themselves, their educational settings, the large-scale systems that support children’s educational experiences, and the way each of these is dynamic over time. We draw on research and theory to show that children’s transitions are smoothest when their experiences in educational settings are of consistent high-quality and become increasingly complex over time to support children’s developing skillsets. The second half of this chapter applies the conceptual framework to educational practice by showing how some common strategies for improving children’s Kindergarten transitions fit within this framework.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Portland State University, Portland, OR, USA

    Rita Yelverton & Andrew J. Mashburn

Authors
  1. Rita Yelverton
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  2. Andrew J. Mashburn
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Correspondence to Rita Yelverton .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, USA

    Andrew J. Mashburn

  2. University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA

    Jennifer LoCasale-Crouch

  3. Oregon Social Learning Center, Eugene, Oregon, USA

    Katherine C. Pears

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Yelverton, R., Mashburn, A.J. (2018). A Conceptual Framework for Understanding and Supporting Children’s Development During the Kindergarten Transition. In: Mashburn, A., LoCasale-Crouch, J., Pears, K. (eds) Kindergarten Transition and Readiness . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90200-5_1

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