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491

An Ecological Perspective on the

Transition to Kindergarten:
A Theoretical Framework to
Guide Empirical Research
Sara E. Rimm-Kaufman and Robert C. Pianta
University of Virginia

This paper presents a dynamic, ecologically informed approach to conceptualizing and

studying the transition to formal schooling. This perspective acknowledges that early school
transitions play an important role in later school success; theorizes that a full understanding
of child competence must examine the influence of the relationships among child character-
istics and home, school, peer, family, and neighborhood contexts; and, most importantly,
examines how these relationships change over time. This approach recommends that future
policy, practice, and research be based on the following three premises. First, the transition
to school must be conceptualized in terms of relationships between children and their
surrounding contexts, such as schools, peers, families, and neighborhoods. Second, the
measurement of children’s readiness for school must acknowledge the combined influence
of school, home, peers, and neighborhood contexts, the relationship among such contexts,
and their direct and indirect effects on children. Third, and most specific to this paper,
the examination of this transition period must address how contexts and relationships
change over time, and how change and stability in these relationships form key aspects
of children’s transition to school. Ultimately, research informed by these principles may
advise policy and practice on transition to school in normative and high-risk populations.

The past decade has seen an unprecedented focus on research and policy concerning
the period during which children enter formal schooling, to the extent that children’s
readiness to learn is the first of several national educational goals (National Educa-
tion Goals Panel [NEGP], 1995). Three societal changes provide impetus for this
new focus. First, demands on public education have increased. Recent demographic
data from the United States show a two-fold increase in the population of preschool-
age children from 1973 through 1993, with reverberating influences on kindergarten
enrollment (Bruno, 1993). Second, children’s family lives have changed and there
have been subsequent changes in children’s school experience. More women have

Direct all correspondence to: Sara E. Rimm-Kaufman, National Center for Early Development and
Learning, University of Virginia, P.O. Box 800784, Charlottesville, VA 22904-8784.

Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology 21(5): 491–511 Copyright  2000 Elsevier Science Inc.
ISSN: 0193-3973 All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

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492 RIMM-KAUFMAN AND PIANTA

entered the workforce, and as a result, more children spend their early years outside
of the home. Fewer children are raised in two-parent families, more children are
living in poverty with minimal health care, more children are challenged by the
consequences of welfare reform, and more families are coping with stressful living
conditions (NEGP, 1997). As a result, there is greater urgency for public education
to provide more comprehensive support for the development of young children.
Third, kindergarten classrooms are more heterogeneous and ethnically diverse. As
a result, cultural incongruities between home and school life have become more
common and pose a greater challenge to educators. Thus public schools have begun
to reconfigure their goals to educate an increasingly younger and more diverse
population of students (Pianta & Cox, 1999). As a consequence of these societal
changes, today’s schools appear to be very different from those of 10 to 20 years
ago.
Recent efforts have addressed the new challenges associated with conceptualiz-
ing, studying, and improving transitions to school. Expanded federal funding for
Head Start, child care, child health and immunizations, as well as statewide initiatives
for enhancing school readiness among high-risk populations are examples of in-
creased attention to the school entry period (e.g., Greene, Mulholland, & Shaw,
1993; NEGP, 1998). Several large-scale studies currently target the period of transi-
tion to school as a key outcome variable: the Head Start Transition Study (Ramey &
Ramey, 1992), the National Education Longitudinal Study (Meisels, 1997; Meisels &
Liaw, 1993), and the NICHD Study of Early Child Care (NICHD Early Child Care
Research Network, 1998; see Kagan & Neuman, 1998, for a review). The Office
for Educational Research and Improvement funded the National Institute on Early
Childhood Development and Education as a reflection of the need for a national
focus on the education of young children. As recently as 1996, more than half of
the nation’s elementary schools contained a program directed at prekindergarten
age children (Pianta & Cox, 1999), and most states have programmatic efforts to
improve preschool education. Thus there is no shortage of interest, at the national,
state, or local levels, in the period during which children enter formal schooling,
which for most children, occurs in public school kindergarten classrooms.
These changes create a need to examine existing conceptual models of the
transition into kindergarten. The present paper applies the work of a range of
ecologically oriented system theories (e.g., Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 1998; Pi-
anta & Walsh, 1996; Sameroff, 1995) to the period of kindergarten transition and
proposes the Ecological and Dynamic Model of Transition to describe how links
among child, home, school, peer, and neighborhood factors create a dynamic net-
work of relationships that influence children’s transition to school both directly and
indirectly. The most unique quality of the proposed model is that it emphasizes
how relationships among these contexts change over time. These relationships either
support or challenge children’s adjustment into kindergarten and predict children’s
subsequent relationships in school. This perspective is offered as a framework for
future research and may be particularly useful for conceptualizing risk in the transi-
tion to kindergarten; its emphasis on the dynamic features of the network is particu-
larly important in light of what is known about changes during this transition period.
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ECOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ON KINDERGARTEN TRANSITION 493

IN WHAT WAYS IS THIS A TRANSITION PERIOD?

What do children and families experience as children enter school and how do
these experiences constitute a transition? Answers to these questions help provide
a background for conceptualizing the ecology of transition to school.
First, the ages of 4 to 7 years (roughly) mark a period of change in the “develop-
mental agenda” in many cultures (Sameroff, 1989; Sameroff & Haith, 1996). Chil-
dren in Kenya, Mexico, the Philippines, Japan, India, and the United States demon-
strate increasing independence and responsibility during this developmental period
(Whiting & Edwards, 1988). Entry into the culture’s system of formal education,
and expectations of responsibility and independence within that system, is one
correlate of this shift. The composition of children’s social networks start to change
during this developmental period, from networks in which children primarily inter-
act with adults to networks in which children primarily interact with other children
(Feiring & Lewis, 1989). Furthermore, there is evidence of shifts in cognitive devel-
opment during this period, in which enhanced memory, new reasoning abilities,
and new strategies for recall emerge (Flavell, 1988; Nelson, 1996). Physiological
changes may accompany these developmental changes (Stauder, Molenaar, & van
der Molen, 1993; Thatcher, 1994).
More to the point, however, kindergarten is a different environment than
preschool or home. Goals, demands, and the nature of the classroom environment
are different, as is the ecology surrounding this new environment. Kindergarten
typically has quite explicit goals for literacy, numeracy, and socialization that are not
formal, stated goals of preschool or home environments (Haines, Fowler, Schwartz,
Kottwitz, & Rosenhoetter, 1989). The statement of these goals, their connection
to a system of instruction, and the way they are tethered to success in later grades
ushers into kindergarten an emphasis on formal instruction—instruction that has
the specific intent of raising the child’s skill level. Such intent is not typical in
preschool settings. Thus children, teachers, and families experience the entrance
into kindergarten as a qualitative shift (Belsky & MacKinnon, 1994; Bredekamp &
Copple, 1997; Love, Logue, Trudeau, & Thayer, 1992; Pianta & Kraft-Sayre, 1999).
Interactions in the kindergarten classroom environment become increasingly
intentional and focused on the child’s academic progress. As a result, interactions
between children and teachers differ compared with those between children and
their preschool teachers or between children and their parents. Gradually, these
teacher–child relationships become increasingly influential to the child (Howes,
Matheson, & Hamilton, 1994; Pianta, Nimetz, & Bennett, 1997). Increased class
size and child-to-teacher ratios characteristic of kindergarten change the nature of
child–teacher interactions (Heaviside & Farris, 1993; Seppanen, Godin, Metzger,
Bronson, & Cichon, 1993), as does the philosophy underlying the kindergarten
curriculum (Bredekamp & Copple, 1997; Kagan & Neville, 1996; Love et al., 1992).
Evidence suggests that the kindergarten experience, characterized by these new
constraints, contributes to increased academic skills. Most children who enroll in
kindergarten perform better than those who do not, and those exposed to more
kindergarten may perform better still (Dauber, Alexander, & Entwisle, 1993; Ent-
wisle, Alexander, Cadigan, & Pallas, 1987).
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494 RIMM-KAUFMAN AND PIANTA

The new demands of kindergarten place stress on social and emotional compe-
tencies as well. Demands such as independence from adults, getting along with
other children, recognition and adherence to routine, and being alert and active for
longer periods of time can challenge the 5-year-old child. Preschool environments
typically are oriented toward social development, with teachers who display more
warmth than those in kindergarten and environments that are less demanding of
the child in terms of formal routine and instruction than kindergarten classrooms
(Love et al., 1992). Kindergarten teacher–child interactions emphasize cognitive
skills over less academic activities and, as a result, demand more time for teaching
new skills compared with guiding unstructured activities. Kindergarten teachers
tend to group children differently to enhance autonomy—kindergarten children
spend more time in large groups and less time in small groups, and kindergarten
classrooms usually consist of more total children and more children per adult
(Seppanen et al., 1993). In these ways, there are considerable differences between
preschool and kindergarten environments. Children find this shift somewhat chal-
lenging: the emphasis on academic skills and the demands to interact with a wide
range of children are reported to be the most difficult aspects of the transition to
school (Love et al., 1992).
The ecology of the kindergarten classroom is different from that of the preschool
or home environment, a fact that is central to the goals of this paper. Because
public kindergartens are subject to local, state, and federal legislation defining
catchment areas, parents may exercise less freedom to choose their child’s kindergar-
ten compared with the way they may have selected their child’s preschool. Parents
have less choice about the adults with whom their children are spending most of
their day, and they have less experience with their child’s school program before
school entrance (Pianta, Cox, Early, & Taylor, 1999). Further, kindergartens often
serve more diverse populations compared with more homogeneous preschools.
These changes affect the nature of interactions between parents and their child’s
school. For example, kindergarten teachers and administrators relate to parents
differently than preschool teachers do—contact is more formalized, and less fre-
quent, and there is typically less emphasis on parent–teacher contact and parent–
parent contact than there is in preschool environments (Rimm-Kaufman & Pianta,
1999). For many children, the transition to kindergarten means riding a bus with
older children instead of being transported by a parent or with other children the
same age. Children tend to be the youngest children at their elementary school,
and at the same time, they have less one-on-one time with adults throughout the
day. Thus both the day-to-day routine and the child’s relationships are affected as
children transition into kindergarten.
The first years of school forecast later school success. Individual differences in
children’s school outcomes, especially achievement, remain remarkably stable after
the first few years in school (e.g., Alexander & Entwisle, 1988). Such findings offer
evidence that the early school transition period can be identified as a sensitive
period for later school success. This implies that the transition into kindergarten is
a period when a developing system (in this case, a child and his or her social and
physical environment) is open to new influences (Pianta & Walsh, 1996). Thus
minor adjustments in the trajectory of development in this period may have dispro-
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ECOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ON KINDERGARTEN TRANSITION 495

portionate effects on the direction of the child’s school career. For this reason, the
factors that affect this trajectory warrant considerable attention.

FOUR THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES FOR TARGETING TRANSITION PROCESSES

Research, policy, and practice vary in the extent to which they emphasize ecological
processes and time to explain children’s success during the transition to kindergar-
ten. Figure 1 presents a range of models of kindergarten transition to represent
this range. Model 1, the Child Effects Model, emphasizes child characteristics as
the primary factor for understanding school adjustment. Model 2, the Direct Effects
Model, acknowledges the role of social context in predicting school adjustment.
Model 3, the Indirect Effects Model, takes into account the interactions among
social contexts in predicting school adjustment, describes links among these contexts,
and considers the bidirectional influence between child factors and contexts. Finally,
the fourth model, the Ecological and Dynamic Model of Transition, emphasizes
the importance child, direct, and indirect effects, but differs from the other three
models in its attention to how relationships change over time.
The purpose of this paper is to describe the defining properties and implications
of the Ecological and Dynamic Model of Transition. First, we detail four theoretical
perspectives for examining the transition into kindergarten. Second, we differentiate
the Ecological and Dynamic Model of Transition from the other, frequently used
perspectives for examining the transition to kindergarten. Finally, we discuss the
implications of the Ecological and Dynamic Model of Transition for policy, practice,
and research.

Model 1: Child Effects Model

Model 1, a readiness or maturational model, identifies child characteristics
as primary factors for understanding school adjustment. Extensive research has
established the importance of child characteristics in predicting children’s school
adjustment. For example, children’s poverty status (Alexander & Entwisle, 1988;
Entwisle & Alexander, 1993), cognitive readiness and intelligence (Christian, Mor-
rison, & Bryant, 1998; Pianta & McCoy, 1997; Reynolds, 1991), language abilities
(Sturner, Funk, & Green, 1996; Walker, Greenwood, Hart & Carta, 1994), gender
(Ellwein, Walsh, Eads, & Miller, 1991), ethnicity (Stone & Gridley, 1991), and
temperament (Rimm-Kaufman, 1996; Schoen & Nagle, 1994; Skarpness & Carson,
1987) all have been shown to play an important role in predicting school adjustment.
Research on children’s transition to kindergarten is most well developed with
respect to a child-centered perspective on school transitions (e.g., Heaviside &
Farris, 1993; Zill & Collins, 1995). Although these findings contribute important
information about children’s adjustment to kindergarten, they account for less than
one quarter of the variance in understanding school outcomes (LaParo & Pianta,
1999). Researchers, policy makers, and educators have become aware of the limita-
tions associated with exclusive use of the child-centered approach. As a result, they
have broadened their lens to consider the influence of social networks in shaping
children’s kindergarten behaviors.
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496 RIMM-KAUFMAN AND PIANTA

Figure 1. Four Models of Transition to Kindergarten Ecology. (Bold arrows between

preschool and kindergarten diagrams represent time. Smaller arrows within each diagram
represent relationships between the child and home, school, peer, and neighborhood con-
texts. The large arrows in the Ecological and Dynamic Model of Transition depict two
types of links: (a) the interactions between contexts that change from preschool to kinder-
garten (for example, conversations between preschool and kindergarten teachers), and (b)
continuity between contexts that remain stable over time (for example, the same neighbor-
hood, in a case where a child’s family has not relocated between preschool
and kindergarten).

Model 2: Direct Effects Model

Model 2, the Direct Effects Model, considers child characteristics and acknowl-
edges the direct effects of contexts (school, neighborhood, peers, and family) on
children’s school adjustment. Typical studies examining direct effects choose child
competencies as outcomes, often measuring these outcomes at more than one point
in time. Research provides clear evidence that the direct effects of contexts are
important. For example, aspects of the school environment such as groupings and
class size and processes such as discipline and instruction have been linked to child
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ECOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ON KINDERGARTEN TRANSITION 497

Figure 1. (Continued)

outcomes (e.g., Burts, Hart, Charlesworth, & Kirk, 1990; Graue, 1999; Housden &
Kam, 1992; Slavin, 1989; Word et al., 1990). Attributes of child care environments,
such as quality and developmental appropriateness (Howes, 1990; Cost, Quality, &
Child Outcomes Study Team, 1995; Zill & Collins, 1995); qualities of peer relation-
ships, such as whether a child knows other children in their incoming class (Howes,
1988; Ladd, 1990; Ladd & Price, 1987); characteristics of family processes, such as
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498 RIMM-KAUFMAN AND PIANTA

parental sensitivity and stimulation (Comer & Haynes, 1991; Estrada, Arsenio,
Hess, & Holloway, 1985; Pianta & Ball, 1993; Pianta & Harbers, 1996; Pianta,
Smith, & Reeve, 1991; Ramey & Campbell, 1991); and properties of neighborhoods,
such as previous experiences with violence, neglect, or juvenile delinquency, or,
more positively, educational resources (Coulton, Korbin, Su, & Chow, 1995; Garba-
rino & Sherman, 1980) all have direct, measurable effects on children’s behavior
and academic performance in school.
This research considers the ecology that surrounds the child during the transition
to kindergarten, but mostly considers the influence of contexts (schools, preschools,
peers, families, and neighborhoods) in terms of the singular, unidirectional effect
of a context on child competence. Yet, this work accounts for some of the variance
not explained by the child-centered model. As a result of this line of research,
researchers, policy makers, and practitioners have adopted a more contextualized
view of readiness (Meisels, 1999). These findings have contributed to our under-
standing of kindergarten transition for at-risk children.

Model 3: Indirect Effects Model

Model 3, the Indirect Effects Model, acknowledges both direct and indirect
effects of contexts on the child competencies and measures the bidirectional interac-
tions that exist among the child and the child’s social networks. Research on the
indirect effects of contexts points to the importance of child factors; school,
childcare, peer, family, and neighborhood influences; and the significance of their
combined effects. Child characteristics interact with contexts through a transactional
process—the child is affected by his or her context and the context, to some degree,
is affected by characteristics of the child (Sameroff, 1995).
Research on peer interactions, for example, show the interconnectedness of
children’s relationships and demonstrate the importance of indirect effects. Parent’s
prosocial behavior predicts children’s successful peer contacts in kindergarten
(Ladd & Hart, 1992), and in turn children with successful peer relationships are
more likely to benefit academically (Ladd, 1990). In light of the benefits of friend-
ships, children from highly transient families may be at risk because they are less
likely to experience continuity in peer relationships (Masten, Miliotis, Graham-
Bermann, Ramirez, & Neeman, 1993), and these influences on school outcomes
may be apparent as early as kindergarten.
Family involvement has indirect effects on children’s experiences and relation-
ships in school. Family–teacher communication, coherence between home and
school learning, mutual support, cooperative decision making between parents and
teachers, and promotion of achievement and parental expectation for success have
all been shown to contribute to children’s success in school (e.g., Bempechat, 1990;
Epstein, 1996; Reynolds, 1989). Further, parents and teachers who create academic
and social goals together enhance the continuity between home and school
(Comer & Haynes, 1991) and also ease children’s transition from home to school.
Research on these indirect effects show that family support networks can buffer
stress that accompanies the kindergarten transition (Barth & Parke, 1996). For
children at risk, these relationships may play a vital role in their transition success—
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ECOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ON KINDERGARTEN TRANSITION 499

their quality may counteract their otherwise disadvantaged social environments

(Feldman, 1995; Raffaele & Knoff, 1999).
On a larger scale, neighborhood experiences have important effects on chil-
dren’s school outcomes (Chase-Lansdale & Gordon, 1996). Neighborhood spatial
boundaries mediate children’s social and school experiences in indirect ways. Geo-
graphic boundaries define catchment areas for school assignment and school trans-
portation patterns. These factors influence key aspects of the early school transition
ecology and contribute to children’s familiarity and continuity with their peer net-
works, their parents’ familiarity with the school and likelihood of school involve-
ment, and the extent to which the child is familiar with the school grounds and
physical surroundings (playground, etc.). Neighborhood characteristics also influ-
ence children’s development through the construct of institutional–family connected-
ness (Sampson, 1992). Absence of institutional–family connectedness, including
perceived community consensus on parenting and shared monitoring and supervis-
ing of children, is evident in neighborhoods with high rates of child maltreatment,
where residents fail to intervene or control children’s behavior within the neighbor-
hood. This type of social connectedness within neighborhoods may buffer children
against negative outcomes (Korbin & Coulton, 1997; Sampson, 1992). Similar pro-
cesses may influence children’s transition experience depending on the extent to
which neighbors provide parents and children with knowledge about the school,
comfort and familiarity with the school, and direct assistance (such as transportation
or child care).
The study of indirect effects acknowledges the importance of transition ecology
in understanding school adjustment. Research in this area describes how the links
between more than one context (e.g., peers and schools; families and schools;
neighborhoods, peers, and schools) have a synergistic effect and how this combined
influence may be as important in predicting transition experience as the influence
of each context itself. Although this work acknowledges the complex contributions
of relationships in predicting school success, it focuses on the static nature of these
relationships among contexts. In this way, this model does not measure relationship
development.

Model 4: Dynamic Effects Model. The Ecological and Dynamic Model

of Transition
The Ecological and Dynamic Model of Transition acknowledges the combined
influences of child, direct, indirect, and dynamic effects of contexts on children’s
transition to kindergarten. The central distinction of this model is its emphasis on
the development of relationships over time. Building on Pianta and Walsh’s (1996)
Contextual Systems Model and Bronfenbrenner and Morris’ (1998) Bioecological
Model, this model posits that the transition to school takes place in an environment
defined by the many changing interactions among child, school, classroom, family,
and community factors. Child characteristics and contexts interact through a transac-
tional process. These interactions, over time, form patterns and relationships that
can be described not only as influences on children’s development, but also as
outcomes in their own right. Parent and teacher involvement (Epstein, 1996) and
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500 RIMM-KAUFMAN AND PIANTA

peer networks (Ladd & Price, 1987) are examples of developing interactions. Thus
the Ecological and Dynamic Model of Transition not only acknowledges the child’s
immediate experience in contexts (Ladd, 1996), as in Model 2 and 3, but also
accounts for patterns of interactions between individuals, groups, and institutions
as they develop over time. It is our assertion that these interactions and their
development over time also influence school outcomes. Thus it is one thing to
establish that children’s social and task-related successes in school are a direct
function of their relationships with teachers or with parents (i.e., Model 2), another
to suggest how children, parents, and teachers interact among themselves to form
a network of relationships that affects the child directly at a given point in time
(i.e, Model 3), and still another to demonstrate that this network develops and
changes from year to year and that the dynamics of this network influences the
child directly and indirectly over time (Model 4).
Knowledge of only the direct and indirect effects of contexts on children’s
adjustment to school provides an incomplete picture of school transition. The transi-
tion process, by nature, begins in the year before kindergarten entrance and contin-
ues through the kindergarten year. Research informed by the Ecological and Dy-
namic Model of Transition reflects an emphasis not only on the relationships among
contexts, but how these connections form patterns that develop to affect transition
outcomes. For example, a teacher may not contact the parent of child with whom
he or she experiences a discipline problem because she believes from her past
experience with this family or similar families that “it won’t do any good anyway.”
Similarly, parents may fail to attend meetings at the school in part because of their
own experiences in school or their experiences with other children (Dwyer & Hecht,
1992). As children make the transition from preschool to kindergarten, a new
ecology associated with formal schooling begins to form. Thus the development of
this ecology itself is a key focus for understanding transition processes and outcomes.
Research on family involvement has advanced beyond that of other social links
and provides a unique example of how attention has been focused on ecological
processes over time (e.g., Connors & Epstein, 1995; Haynes & Ben-Avie, 1996).
In addition to the ample research that suggests that the link between home and
school may be as important as each context itself (see Henderson & Berla, 1997),
some research has characterized how these relationships develop during the first
years of school. For example, a national survey of kindergarten teachers has shown
that indirect transition practices such as flyers and group meetings were used more
frequently than direct practices such as in-person teacher–family contact (Pianta
et al., 1999). Additional research demonstrates changes in communication between
parents and teachers from preschool to kindergarten. Parents tend to initiate fewer
contacts in kindergarten than in preschool. Kindergarten family–school contacts
tend to be less frequent, more selective (e.g., only to discuss problems), and more
formal (e.g., conferences and meetings). Thus one facet of the transition to school is
a shift in the organization of family–school contact in the parent–teacher relationship
(Epstein, 1996).
Findings such as these provide evidence for the need to reconceptualize how
we think about the outcomes of early school transition. These links are an important
part of the transition ecology, these relationships contribute heavily to children’s
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ECOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ON KINDERGARTEN TRANSITION 501

school competence during this and subsequent periods, and the transition to school
is a period in which every family of an entering child begins a new relationship
with that child’s school or teacher. As a result, family–school links should be
considered an outcome of the early school transition, not a correlate or antecedent
(Christenson, 1999; Ramey & Ramey, 1999). Thus a child’s competence in a kinder-
garten classroom may not be the only and best outcome measure of a successful
transition. Instead, the quality of the parents’ relationships with teacher and school
staff, and their relationship with the child’s schooling may be an equally valid
indicator of transition outcome.
Given this example, the Ecological and Dynamic Model of Transition provides
a new perspective from which to examine risk. The fact that relationships between
home and school (and more generally between the home, school, child, and peer
contexts) become patterned and affect early schooling may be a part of why chil-
dren’s school trajectories become increasingly fixed over time (Alexander & Ent-
wisle, 1988). As has been suggested elsewhere (Pianta & Walsh, 1996), these connec-
tions may stabilize and increase the likelihood that certain outcomes will form. If
expectations and experiences contribute to negative or disengaged relationships
between home and school, it is increasingly unlikely that their two systems will
interact cooperatively in a way that is a resource for the child (e.g., Adelman, 1996;
Moles, 1993). These types of effects are heightened in intensity as children transition
to kindergarten and only become apparent when we examine relationships over
time.
Thus in full form, the Ecological and Dynamic Model of Transition defines the
transition to school in terms of the dynamic qualities of the transition ecology—the
interconnectedness of relationships among child characteristics; and peer, family,
school, and neighborhood contexts—and how these connections develop and
change. The quality of relationships within the transition ecology plays an important
role in sustaining the child throughout this period of increased demand and chal-
lenge. If these relationships are characterized by frequent contact, agreed-on goals,
and a focus on supporting the child and the child’s development of skills, we suggest
they contribute to positive transition outcomes (Rosenkoetter, 1995), but to the
extent that these relationship lack these attributes, they contribute to risk.

IMPLICATIONS FOR POLICY

The nature of the transition from preschool to kindergarten poses a challenge to
creating comprehensive transition policies. The policies that govern practice in
kindergarten classrooms come from a wide variety of federal, state, and local
regulatory agencies, and often these regulatory agencies are different from those
that create policies for preschool programs in a particular community. Given this
fact, it is easier for policy-making bodies to operate within the child-effects model
(Model 1) and focus on child readiness and maturational issues rather than approach
the transition in an ecologically sensitive manner that may require integration of
two regulatory systems.
Despite this challenge, it has become increasingly common for policies and
practice to incorporate a contextual, dynamic model. For example, government
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502 RIMM-KAUFMAN AND PIANTA

policies and programs at the federal, state, and local levels have recently acknowl-
edged the importance of social contexts in shaping children’s early years of school
(Rosenkoetter, 1995), and often these goals acknowledge the development of rela-
tionships over time. For example, recent efforts with respect to goal 1 (“getting
children ready to learn”) and goal 8 (“getting families to participate”) reinforce
the ecological dynamics involved in early school success (NEGP, 1995). Further,
relationships between school, home, and other contexts (e.g., health services, peer
relations) are increasingly a central topic of the discourse of school reform, especially
as it relates to children’s transition into kindergarten (Adelman, 1996).
Context-sensitive policies that consider relationship dynamics are most well
developed with respect to special education and family involvement. To some
degree, these policies have been substantiated by research and have been translated
into practice. The Individual with Disabilities Education Act provides regulations
that establish individualized transition plans to smooth children’s transition from
home care to preschool and from preschool to kindergarten and assure that there
will be no gaps in service. Further, researchers have devoted considerable resources
to understanding the transition to school and intervening both formally and infor-
mally to improve it for children with disabilities (Fowler, Schwartz, & Atwater,
1991; Katims & Pierce, 1995; Repetto & Correa, 1996; Roberts, Akers, & Behl,
1996; Rous, Hemmeter, & Schuster, 1994). Such policies emphasize the ways in
which quality transitions are defined by maintenance of relationships over time and
among multiple contexts including parents and other family, preschool service
providers, health service providers, school-based service providers, and others
(Fowler et al., 1991).
These types of policies may be useful in guiding those designed for typically
developing children. Although this programming may be more thorough than
schools could afford for all children, the regulatory priorities, the allocation of
resources, and the contextually sensitive interventions may be translated into useful
practice to guide at-risk children. For example, this type of specialized programming
may help address the needs of children from diverse ethnic and immigrant groups,
language groups, and risk populations (e.g., homeless children, maltreated children,
etc.) Implemented normatively for typically developing children, such policies may
even help prevent some forms of early school difficulty.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

Transition practices are uneven in the way in which they incorporate a contextual,
dynamic model. To date, most are based on child-effect models (Carlton & Winsler,
1999). In cases where schools do implement practices that consider ecological con-
texts and the dynamics of relationships, there is little research to support their
effectiveness. For example, model programs that enhance links among key contexts
have been implemented, and often they are effective with respect to improving
child outcomes (Barnett, 1998; Holtzman, 1992; Comer, 1980; Schorr & Schorr,
1988). Still, these programs are typically administered to specific small populations,
and it is difficult to assess the generalizablity of their success (Ramey & Ramey,
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ECOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ON KINDERGARTEN TRANSITION 503

1999). Further research is necessary to examine the effectiveness of commonly used

practices designed to enhance relationships during transition.
Schools have formal and informal practices in which they intentionally influence
phases of the transition to school. Open houses, kindergarten registration programs,
screening programs, and informational mailings are just some of the more common
examples (Love & Yelton, 1989). We know that kindergarten teachers’ practices
related to school transitions are largely informal, most often implemented unevenly
on a classroom by classroom basis, and are not a function of school or district-
based policy, however, the effectiveness of such practices is virtually unknown
(Pianta & Cox, 1999). Teachers routinely report their need for knowledge about
how to implement transition processes most effectively. Clearly, school professionals
acknowledge the dynamic nature of the relationships that support children during
the transition to school, but there is little research on which school professionals
can depend to guide effective practice.
A similar situation exists for preschool programs. Ample resources designed
for practitioners describe ecologically oriented methods to provide continuity from
preschool to kindergarten (Chapel Hill Training and Outreach, 1995; Regional
Educational Laboratories Early Childhood Collaboration Network, 1995; Rosen-
koetter, 1995; Rous, 1993; Southeastern Regional Vision for Education, 1995). Some
preschools establish links between the child and the child’s new school through
visits to the school, introductions to the teacher, and discussions of kindergarten.
Others focus on teacher-to-teacher contacts: preschool teachers will speak or write
to the child’s new kindergarten teacher providing insight into a child’s skills, behav-
ioral style, and family background. Still others may encourage parent involvement
in daycare and emphasize to parents the importance of this type of contact. In sum,
many preschools report some transition-related activities that reflect an ecological
perspective on transition. However, although these are commonly used practices,
few studies have been conducted to verify their effectiveness in creating and sus-
taining meaningful relationships between children’s preschool or daycare environ-
ments and kindergarten classrooms.
Further research is needed to substantiate and guide common practices. In
addition to the practices and policies already mentioned, schools affect children’s
relationships during transition in ways that are often not considered. For example,
schools make decisions that define peer group boundaries within and across class-
rooms and grade levels, and as a result, schools are important regulators of peer
relationships. Yet, the school’s role is not well understood, and the consequences
of these decisions are largely unknown. Because of this fact, schools have been
unable to adjust their policies to promote the development of peer social links as
children transition from preschool to kindergarten. Another example: schools have
specific practices, such as PTA meetings and parent–teacher conferences, for involv-
ing families in schools. Yet research demonstrates that school–family contact de-
creases when children leave preschool and enter kindergarten (Rimm-Kaufman &
Pianta, 1999) and that parents become less involved in their children’s schools as
they become older (Epstein & Dauber, 1991). Do parents become less involved in
their child’s education or is it that the nature of their family involvement changes?
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504 RIMM-KAUFMAN AND PIANTA

How could school practices change if we understood changes in family involvement

over time?

IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH

Examination of trends in policy and practice demonstrate the need for contextually
sensitive research on transition, particularly as it examines transition dynamics.
These aims have clear implications for research questions and methodologies. For
example, many studies examine the link between family involvement and children’s
school achievement (as in Model 3), and less attention has been given to the factors
that are important in developing these relationships as children enter school. The
following questions are raised: What factors contribute to family–school interac-
tions? As soon as children are in school, what school policies and practices promote
contacts with families? Can family–school relationships be cultivated before the
child enters school, and if so, which methods are most effective? Likewise, little is
known about classroom placement decisions, decisions that may have substantial
effects on school outcomes. For example, do schools make these decisions based
on whether a teacher had a successful relationship with the child’s older sibling or
the child’s parents? Are these decisions informed by knowledge about the child’s
peers or preschool experiences? Note that these research questions do not only
measure attributes of an ecology, but they also measure characteristics of its devel-
opment.
To examine how relationships among contexts change over time, it is critical
that the interactions among the contexts be measured repeatedly and longitudinally.
For example, the influence of peer relationships during the transition to kindergarten
is complex. To ask how peer relationships change as aspects of the neighborhood
change or how a family’s transience influences their child’s peer relationships re-
quires repeated assessments of the contexts, relations among contexts, and relations
among contexts and the child. These types of studies may lead to a better understand-
ing of the different pathways to risk or resiliency.
The complexity of the interactions between contexts necessitates a balance
between qualitative and quantitative research methods. To date, some qualitative
work has been conducted to describe the direct, indirect, and dynamic influences
on children’s transition experiences. For example, Graue’s (1993) characterization
of school readiness as a “socially constructed set of ideas” (p. 5) demonstrates how
school readiness is community specific. Corsaro’s (1996) description of transition
experiences of children in Italy and the United States shows the indirect effects of
cultural values and national policies on the emergence of a transition ecology.
Existing quantitative work has already begun to address some questions raised by
the Ecological and Dynamic Model of Transition. For example, work by Howes,
Phillepsen, and Peisner-Feinberg (2000) shows that even though children changed
teachers between preschool and kindergarten, there was some continuity in the
quality of teacher–child relationships between the two years. In particular, those
children with conflictual relationships with their preschool teachers were more likely
to have conflictual relationships with their kindergarten teachers. Although work
by Reynolds (1989) examined the transition to first grade rather than to kindergar-
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ECOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ON KINDERGARTEN TRANSITION 505

ten, its focus on relations between child characteristics (such as ability level, sex,
and academic competencies), parent involvement, mobility, peer interactions over
time, and their direct and indirect effects on child outcomes exemplify some of the
research goals of the Ecological and Dynamic Model of Transition.
The primary advantage of research based on the Ecological and Dynamic Model
of Transition is that it presents a more comprehensive explanation of the factors
that contribute to children’s transition experience and subsequent schooling. This
new direction does not negate current knowledge about the direct effects of child
and context-related predictors. Instead, research informed by this model will provide
new insights into the processes that explain why these child and context-related
predictors are so important during this critical time in children’s schooling. The ul-
timate goal of this line of research is to understand social processes and the important
influences on transition ecology to guide policy and practice during the first few
years of school.

CONCLUSIONS
The entrance into formal schooling is a developmental process that involves tensions
between change and stability and between adjusting to new challenges and preserv-
ing old patterns. Therefore, it is a period in which social supports are particularly
important. Importantly, there is evidence that the system of relationships among
social contexts plays a functional role in influencing transition outcomes by support-
ing the child through this period of change. Like other sources of support, this
ecology helps regulate development during a period of transition (Pianta & Walsh,
1996).
Because of this regulatory role, the ecology of school transitions may play an
important role in determining early school trajectories and in establishing a pathway
toward positive outcomes. Ideally, a healthy ecology would promote connectedness
and flexibility among the social contexts that surround the child and be characterized
by high quality communication and contact among these social contexts. In contrast,
an unhealthy ecology would lack communication and social support, produce or
exacerbate discontinuities, and contribute to academic failure. Nonetheless, despite
attention over the last 10 years to this important period in development, the dynam-
ics of the relationship among these contexts in normative and high-risk conditions
are not well understood. The lack of systematic research in this area impedes efforts
to improve early school outcomes for children and their families.
Four key points and research recommendations emerge in this discussion that
have relevance for educational research, policy, and practice.
Point 1: Early school transitions are best understood not only by the prevailing
child-centered perspective (which accounts for children’s competencies and
features of family demography), but when the influence of multiple contexts
on child competence is acknowledged. This view seems to have gathered
strength in recent years and many educators, researchers, and policy makers
acknowledge the direct influences of contexts such as family, peers, and school
on child competence. There is a need for research and policy that examines
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506 RIMM-KAUFMAN AND PIANTA

and accommodates a range of school, home, neighborhood, and community

settings and how these settings influence children and their surrounding rela-
tionships on kindergarten entrance.
Point 2: There are links among the contexts—home, school, peers, and neighbor-
hood—that play a role in this important period of a child’s school career.
These links have indirect effects on children’s transition to school. In the case
of home and school contexts, descriptions of these linkages exist in the family
involvement literature. Research is needed to examine and quantify these
indirect paths in other contexts. For example, there is a need examine the
cumulative influences of many contexts (for example, how neighborhood
and school effects combine to influence family involvement practices) and a
necessity to use relationship-oriented outcome measures (such as family–
school communication as in the example above). Policies must be created to
acknowledge the indirect influences of these contexts on children’s experience
during the transition to school.
Point 3: Relationships among contexts develop and change over time and can
be thought of as a social system that plays a role in regulating aspects of the
transition to school. The more we know about how the system develops and
changes, the more it will become possible to influence the nature and course
of these relationships and to respond to the wide range of children entering
school this year. Longitudinal research is necessary to address these issues.
Policies that bridge preschool and kindergarten programs help maintain the
social infrastructure that sustains children during transition.
Point 4: The transition to formal schooling has unique implications for under-
standing risk. The changes that characterize school transition create an oppor-
tunity for the development of new patterns of relationships, and these relation-
ships may mitigate or exacerbate risk status among diverse groups of children.
Systematic research on these relationship patterns may lead to their reformu-
lation, and related policy may ultimately enhance relationship sustainability
over time.
Acknowledgments: This work was supported under the Educational Research
and Development Centers Program, grant no. R307A60004, as administered by the
Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education.
However, the contents do not necessarily represent the positions or policies of the
National Institute on Early Childhood Development and Education, the Office of
Educational Research and Improvement, or the U.S. Department of Education,
and no assumption of endorsement by the federal government should be made.
The authors thank Karen LaParo, Marcia Kraft-Sayre, Donna Steinberg, and several
anonymous reviewers for their help in the preparation of this manuscript.

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