feature story
Whatever Happened to Kindergarten Being the Transition Year?
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BY JIM LARICCIA, ED.D.
othing is more exciting than the first day of kindergarten, and nothing can be more disheartening than a depressed 5-year-old not wanting to go to school. Can this change happen within a 3-month period? Yes, it can and when it does, it is devastating to the parents, the teachers, and most of all, the child. What happens to the eagerness, the enthusiasm, and the fervor to go to school to meet new friends and learn new things? I believe it is more than a dopamine letdown.
our country. The days of the kindergarten’s principal and teachers waiting to see who walks through the door on the first day school are long gone. Transition strategies must be data-driven, cooperative, proactive, and communal.
The kindergarten letdown can range from not getting what was wanted for Christmas to jumping in a pool for the first time and the water is expectantly very cold. What parents haven’t told their children how much fun kindergarten will be? The days leading up to the first day of kindergarten include new clothes, new book bag, new pencils, and new crayons. The excitement seems to build and build. Why? Because many of those same parents had a positive kindergarten experience, and they remember the excitement of getting ready for kindergarten and what ensued that school year. So, there is puzzlement on the parents’ faces when Billy and Suzy don’t want to go to school anymore and want to stay home. As compared to today one thing is different from years ago when Billy’s and Suzy’s parents attended kindergarten—kindergarten is not the same kindergarten. Only in name is it the same. How has kindergarten changed? Let’s start with the length of day. Most school districts have gone to a full day kindergarten. Instead of being there for half day, they are in school a full day from kindergarten all the way through senior year in high school. The structure of the school day is different. Daily schedules include transitions for breakfast, lunch, recess, nap time, computer lab, library, change of class (specials), and instruction. Billy’s and Suzy’s parents’ kindergarten classes were different. Once centered on how to be good listeners to the teachers and learning how to play together and share with peers, there was more time for social interaction between students and staff. Socialization was a lesson in the lesson plan book. Billy’s and Suzy’s parents were encouraged to be creative with toys and manipulatives. This leads to the difference in academics of the school day. Billy and Suzy’s parents were immune to today’s highpressure testing trickle-down effect. Today’s kindergarten students are expected to read by the end of their first school year.
Entry Age: Research suggests older kindergarten entrants scored significantly higher academically than younger kindergarten entrants (Wiechiel, 1988). Kindergarten multilevel models show that the youngest students have consistently lower scores than the oldest students (Huang & Invernizzi, 2012). Studies suggest that children who entered at a later chronological age scored consistently higher on cognitive and non-cognitive skill sets than their younger classmates (Lubotsky & Kaestner, 2016). A recent study concluded that students entering kindergarten turning five after August 1 were as high as 63% more likely to be unsuccessful on MAPs testing (LaRiccia, 2018).
Kindergarten is no longer the transitional year for first grade as it was intended to be. Will it ever come back? I doubt it. But for now, school districts can help create transition strategies to help the students in
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Data Driven: Research suggests that there are red flags for students entering kindergarten. Each flag can be better explained as at-risk factors.
No Preschool Experience: Preschool provides cognitive and social development advantageous for kindergarten and beyond (Pianta, Barnett, Burchinai, & Thornburg, 2009). Preschool experience is a prerequisite to kindergarten success (Furlong & Quirk, 2011). Children who attend preschool are more likely to exhibit positive social interaction skills in kindergarten (Goble et al., 2017). No Early Interventions: The earlier a child is identified with a disability, the earlier the disability can be addressed. Waiting for the child to be tested for a disability in kindergarten is a double whammy. Research shows early detection will lead to early results and students with learning disabilities having support services in place when starting kindergarten will adjust quicker to the rigor of kindergarten than unidentified students with disabilities. Another topic at our meetings is mental health. Concerns include depression (quiet, uninvolved, little motivation, “I don’t care”); anger (obstinate, attention seeking, oppositional, meltdowns); disoriented (unable to follow two-step directions, poor short-term memory); and unsocial (no self-space, hands on others, interrupting, not sharing or waiting for turn). Common triggers causing red flags are separated families, traumatic illnesses or deaths, parents in prison, and parental drug addiction. Clinical counseling before starting kindergarten may help lighten the burden of at-risk students in kindergarten.
