FACILITATING TRANSITIONS 
 

Rebecca Shore, Ed.D., Editor 

University of North Carolina at Charlotte 

 

Our American cities, small and large, are filled with streets and roads.  The streets and roads 

connect neighborhoods, shopping areas, schools, hospitals, and most of the important institutions 

and organizations that make up each city.  Those cities are then connected by larger freeways, and 

states are connected by even bigger interstate expressways.  All sorts of signage accompany the 

roads and streets and freeways and interstates, helping guide us to where we want to go and 

facilitating our trips from place to place.  Entrance and exit ramps make it possible for us to easily 

maneuver from neighborhood streets to multilane routes to reach our destinations however near or 

far we may be destined.  Without the signage, and certainly without the on and off ramps for the 

highways, it would be a great challenge to get from place to place. Clearly defined directions and 

well-paved thoroughfares make facilitating our journeys much more efficient and successful. 

Now imagine our early childhood world.  What is actually meant by the phrase “kindergarten 

readiness?”  What do parents think?  Preschool teachers?  Kindergarten teachers themselves?  This 

issue of the Head Start Dialog includes articles about efforts to more readily and efficiently 

navigate the complex early education landscape, between caring for infants and ultimately helping 

children to become “kindergarten ready” on their road to elementary school ready, secondary 

school ready, and ultimately college ready. 

Where Are We Going and Are We There Yet? 

This issue of the Head Start Dialog starts off with a study investigating preschool and kindergarten 

teachers’ perspectives on defining the phrase “kindergarten readiness” in one state.  Experienced 

teachers at both levels were convened during the spring semester of 2022 and through multiple 

focus groups, discussed scoring variants on the North Carolina Early Learning Inventory (NCELI) 

on the 60th day of kindergarten. The good news is that there was much agreement between the 

preschool teachers and the kindergarten teachers and the meaning of the phrase. Additionally, the 

importance of children having a preschool experience prior to kindergarten rang through loud and 

clear from the kindergarten teachers. 

Our second research article answers the question, “Where is convergence and divergence in how 

parents and educators interpret child development when preschoolers transition in kindergarten?”  

Marisa Macy, of University of Nebraska at Kearney with the Buffett Early Childhood Institute, 

investigated interrater agreement between the parents of young children and the early childhood 

professionals working with their families from a rural Head Start program in the Midwest as the 

children transitioned from preschool to kindergarten.  



 
 

The third research article in this issue is titled “Bridging the gap:  Feasibility, appropriateness, and 

acceptability of an integrated attachment-based training for teachers and parents in Early Head 

Start.”  The research team is large and dynamic, with a total of 8 researchers across 4 different 

institutions, including Carla Caringi Barron of Wayne State University, and Claire Vallotton of 

Michigan State University. This study moves toward answering the “How will we get there?” 

question by investigating the perspectives of parents, infant/toddler teachers, and university-based 

facilitators to provide insights to support the implementation of ongoing, reflective training models 

across the early childhood education system.  

Our final research article by Rebecca P. Jordan of Salem College and Teressa Sumrall of 

Appalachian State University is titled “Capitalizing on early literacy standards in play.” Their study 

helps with both determining where we are going as well as how we need to get there by addressing 

the Early Learning Development Standards that have been developed in all 50 states, and 

investigating how play can be used to support children’s progress towards meeting developmental 

milestones.  Focusing on early literacy standards, they propose that through “sensitivity”, 

preschool teachers can address standards through play, identifying early developmental 

milestones, and consequently play learning-rich extensions that build on children’s developmental 

readiness.   

Following these four research articles are four Research-to-Practice articles to help bring these 

studies to a level where the rubber meets the road.  We hope you enjoy learning as you read these 

new studies that aim to shed light on our journey and help to guide the way toward a more seamless 

and effective early childhood education for every child.