HEAD START®

Planning for Transitions

Training Guides for the Head Start Learning Community

Table of Contents | Preface | Introduction | Module 1 | Module 2 | Module 3 | Module 4
Continuing Professional Development | Informational Resources Section

PREFACE

As you begin to explore this guide, consider this train of thought: children and families connect with many stations in their first few years of life. Ideally, the journey between home, child care, and other services should be full of rewarding experiences. However, families sometimes find it difficult to reach their destinations.

Programs and children are best prepared for each other when transition plans are created and implemented with families, Head Start staff, and their counterparts in other early childhood programs. As they travel along the planning track, these key partners create systems for communicating with each other and for coordinating their efforts. This team effort helps children and families move forward and make progress throughout early childhood.

This guide will help you begin the transition planning process by gathering and sharing information about transition practices with families and staff from other programs and organizations. When these partners agree to come on board the planning team, the training activities presented in this guide will help your team find out where you are and where you want to go. Once you have identified goals, you can use many tools, including those contained in this guide, to help you plan and implement action steps that lead toward effective transitions.

The Head Start Program Performance Standards require programs to incorporate transition planning into the overall program plan. The first step your management team can take to meet this requirement is to involve staff in training and coaching sessions from Planning for Transitions. By engaging in the Skill-Based Training activities and referring to the Informational Resources section of this guide, your staff and families will develop a broader understanding of their role in transition planning and identify strategies that can be implemented programwide. They will know how to determine if the program is on track and how to establish new routes when connections have not yet been made.

Planning for early childhood transitions is an investment with short-term and long-term benefits. Feedback from Head Start parents and community partners can help you identify these benefits. The following illustrations reveal the impact that transition planning can have on children, families, programs, and communities.

Parent Reflections on Transition Planning

Before Marcus began the Early Head Start program I knew there would be forms to fill out. Then the family service worker came to visit and explained that she wanted me to help the program staff make sure we were ready for Early Head Start and that they were ready for Marcus. At the first transition planning meeting, I was nervous, but I soon found out how wonderful it was to have a part in setting goals and deciding on action. The family service worker, the teacher, and I planned experiences that I could have with Marcus at home, strategies for the teacher to use, and a home visit with a parent volunteer.

When our team met again, it was heartwarming to hear the teacher talk about Marcus' progress. It made me feel good to know that what I did at home made a difference in the transition. Everyone agreed on new things we could do to iron out a few problems. When I volunteered in the program the next month, there was no doubt in my mind that our team had been successful—Marcus played happily, sat on the teacher's lap to hear a story, and waved goodbye to me when I left.

So many people helped make Maria's transition into Head Start as smooth as possible! Even so, I was worried about the transition to kindergarten. Now I realize many things are happening that will help Maria next year. For example, each Head Start child is matched with a kindergarten buddy. Every week, Maria tells me about her visit to her buddy's classroom and the fun things they do together.

I found out a lot more about transition planning when our Policy Council reviewed the Program Plan. The plan makes sure that staff are involved in individual, joint, and interagency planning teams. It calls for individualized transition planning for all children, not just for children with special needs.

Recently, staff and parents from Head Start, child care, the school district, and community service organizations all began working together to find ways to provide community services and support to families right in the schools. I just heard that additional funding has come through. The Family Resource Center will open at Maria's school next year when she goes to kindergarten.

I am glad to know that Maria's school will have Spanish-speaking staff and support groups for parents. More than that, I am happy to say that our community commitment to transition planning is making a difference in the lives of all our children and our families.