A new research brief on the Web site of the Foundation for Child Development highlights an important issue that suggests a number of good questions to be asked. The report is from the Association for Children of New Jersey and is called "Embracing the Big Picture: The State of New Jersey's Road Toward a PK-3 Continuum." The piece describes an emerging effort in New Jersey to ensure that what happens in kindergarten for children builds on the high quality pre-kindergarten classes the state offers in its poorest school districts.

I know, sounds boring. But research on pre-k effectiveness often shows the gains made by 5-year-olds fade after several years and many say the reason is what happens in the early grades. There's a lot of meat here. The increases in state pre-k spending around the country are not all going to public schools. Depending on the state, the money pays for classes in churches, community centers, private pre-k centers as well as in public schools. Do the state-funded classes do a good job of preparing kids for kindergarten? Do the educators in the local school district even talk to the pre-k providers? How about when the pre-k is in a public school. Does the building principal coordinate with the director of the preschool? Does state policy require any coordination? Is there any effort to help 5-year-olds make the transition to kindergarten? Any visits to a kindergarten in the spring? Do the pre-k teachers provide any information about the preschoolers to their kindergarten teacher?

Effective school districts pay a lot of attention to making sure kids' transitions--from elementary school to middle school, from middle school to high school--are smooth. The teachers at the next level should know something about the new students they're welcoming. Ineffective ones don't pay much attention and so what happens at each level does not necessarily build on previous teaching and learning. When it's a transition from a setting outside the school district to one inside the school district, paying attention to this matters even more.