Collaboration in building partnerships between families and schools: The National Center for Early Development and Learning's Kindergarten TransitionIntervention

This paper describes results of a collaboration among university researcher s. preschool teachers and staff, elementary school staff, and parents to de sign, implement, and conduct research on an intervention to improve transit ions to kindergarten. One hundred and ten families participated in this int ervention along with a range of school and university staff. Descriptive re sults from preliminary analyses of data indicate that this collaborative ef fort is characterized by three themes: 1) that participants in the transiti on process differ in their views or transition practices; 2) that parents a nd teachers in the preschool year share mutually positive views of one anot her in relation to a range of activities and roles, and 3) that preschool s taff increasingly are seen as an important and helpful source of support fo r parents. Narrative impressions from collaborators on the process of condu cting this research confirm the importance of a shared mission, communicati on, and mutual respect, and highlight the value of collaboration for all in volved. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.