Transition to Kindergarten for Preschoolers with Multilingual Abilities: Do Parents and Professionals See Eye to Eye?

Abstract

Many traditional assessment approaches lack specific strategies for supporting preschoolers who are multilingual learners during their transition to kindergarten. Our mixed method study sought to understand parental and professional assessment collaboration during transition to kindergarten for preschoolers who are learning multiple languages. Specifically, we examined the congruency between teachers and families of children who speak Spanish at home who are enrolled in rural Head Start preschool and transitioning into kindergarten. Overall, parents and professionals had similar views on child development for adaptive, cognitive, fine motor, gross motor, literacy, and social emotional domains. However, there were meaningful discrepancies between parent and teacher ratings for math and social communication domains. Results of this reliability study have implications for creating positive and supportive transitions for preschoolers using an authentic and collaborative assessment approach with prioritizing individualized strategies for children, their families, and professionals during the move to kindergarten.