This book presents a comprehensive overview of children's transitions to kindergarten as well as proven strategies that promote their readiness. It presents theories and research to help understand children's development during the early childhood years. It describes evidence-based interventions that support children in developmental areas essential to school success, including cognitive, social-emotional, and self-regulatory skills. Chapters review prekindergarten readiness programs designed to promote continuity of learning in anticipation of the higher grades and discuss transitional concerns of special populations, such as non-native speakers, children with visual and other disabilities, and children with common temperamental issues. The volume concludes with examples of larger-scale systemic approaches to supporting children's development during the transition to kindergarten, describing a coherent system of early childhood education that promotes long-term development.

Part I: Understanding Children's Development during the Kindergarten Transition.- Chapter 1. A Conceptual Framework for Understanding and Supporting Children's Development during the Transition to Kindergarten.- Chapter 2. Children's Developmental Needs during the Transition to Kindergarten: What Can Research on Social-Emotional, Motivational, Cognitive, and Self-Regulatory Development Tell Us?.- Chapter 3. Consistency in Children's Classroom Experiences and Implications for Early Childhood Development.- Chapter 4. Continuity and Change in Low-Income Children's Early Learning Experiences across the School Transition: A Comparison of Head Start and Kindergarten Classrooms.- Chapter 5. Changes in School Readiness in America's Entering Kindergarteners, 1998-2010.- Part II: Understanding Kindergarten Transitions for Specific Groups of Children.- Chapter 6. Effective Transitions to Kindergarten for Children with Disabilities.- Chapter 7. Recognizing and Addressing the Effects of Early Adversity on Children's Transitions to Kindergarten.- Chapter 8. The Transition into Kindergarten for English Language Learners.- Chapter 9. School Readiness and Kindergarten Transitions: Children with Vision Impairment and Blindness.- Chapter 10. Children's Temperament and the Transition to Kindergarten: A Question of "Fit".- Part III: Supporting Children's Development during the Kindergarten Transition.- Chapter 11. Transition Practices into Kindergarten and the Barriers Teachers Encounter.- Chapter 12. Transition Practices and Children's Development during Kindergarten: The Role of Close Teacher-Child Relationships.- Chapter 13. The Kids in Transition to School Program.- Chapter 14. Stretch to Kindergarten: A Model of Shared Partnership for Student Success.- Chapter 15. Promoting Positive Transitions through Coherent Instruction, Assessment, and Professional Development: The TRIAD Scale-up Model.- Chapter 16. Alignment and Coherence as System-Level Strategies: Bridging Policy and Practice.