"Ensuring that children start school ready to learn requires that attention be paid to one of the most complex and significant changes they will experience - transition to kindergarten." - Harvard Family Research Project, April 2004

Easing a child’s transition from the Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) Education Program to kindergarten is the shared responsibility of many individuals and institutions. The relationships among families, early childhood education programs, and elementary schools are most effective when they are dynamic and ongoing. In an effort to create opportunities for family involvement in the transition process and to facilitate ongoing shared professional development between early childhood education programs and elementary schools, the Provider/School Database has been created. The search option below allows users to choose a district/county and search either by Provider or Elementary School to display a list of schools/providers in the same zip code.

The Provider/School Database is offered as a tool to build relationships among families/providers/elementary schools in the transition to kindergarten. Some promising transition practices include, but are not limited to:

• Contact with preschool families/children
• Kindergarten visits
• Home learning activities
• Informational meetings
• Partnerships with local PTAs
• Information dissemination
• Parent support groups
• Facilitation of early registration
• Coordination of combined professional development opportunities.