FACILITATING THE TRANSITION TO FIRST-GRADE - THE NATURE OF TRANSITIONAND RESEARCH ON FACTORS AFFECTING IT

In this article we describe the nature of the first-grade transition a nd summarize several studies that have investigated how children's sch ooling proceeds over this period. Drawing on Beginning School Study da ta that include children's marks and test scores plus information abou t their parents and schools, we carried out a longitudinal study of a large random sample (N = 790) of children who began first grade in Bal timore in 1982. We studied effects on the transition for children atte nding full-day rather than half-day kindergarten, of living in differe nt kinds of family arrangements, and of several other circumstances. W e found that children with more kindergarten, those whose families inc luded coresident grandmothers, and those who did not change schools be tween kindergarten and first grade did better over the transition, oth er things being equal. We close with a list of implications for practi ce based on what is known about the first-grade transition and offer s uggestions for future research.