School Transition Study
Project Description
The School Transition Study is a longitudinal study examining
the impact of family, school, and community factors on the
developmental pathways of low-income children from kindergarten
through fifth grade. The research is conducted in three diverse
sites across the country, representing rural and urban settings
and racially and culturally diverse populations. The study
follows a subset of children who participated in the Comprehensive
Child Development Project, a national early childhood intervention
program for children and families.
STS is using surveys, observations, and assessments to study several cohorts
of children and their families and schools. A qualitative case study component
is examining 23 of these children in the first and second grades, along with
their families and their schools through in-depth interviews and field observations.
Key features of the research include:
- An interdisciplinary team of researchers
- Integration of qualitative and quantitative methods
- Multiple perspectives of families, teachers, principals, and other key players
in children's lives
- Research to impact policy, practice, and future research
Goals
- Increase understanding of how the transition from kindergarten affects both
children and families.
- Further the comprehension of the family-school relationships within a broad
ecological framework.
- Contribute to the understanding of risk and resilience factors for young
children in poverty.
- Explore the role that community and neighborhood play in children's lives.
- Understand the long-term consequences of the Comprehensive Child Development
Project, a national early childhood intervention program for children and
families.
The study is primarily funded by the John
D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation's Research
Network on Successful Pathways Through Middle Childhood, as well as by the
W.T. Grant Foundation and the
U.S. Department of Education.
Books and Book Chapters
Greene, J. C., Kreider, H., & Mayer,
E. (2004). Combining qualitative and quantitative methods in social inquiry.
In B. Somekh & C. Lewin (Eds.), Research
methods in the social sciences. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Mayer, E., & Cepeda, J. (2007).
Tomasito's mother comes
to school/La mamá de Tomasito visita la escuela. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard Family Research Project.
Weiss, H. B., Dearing, E., Mayer,
E., Kreider, H., & McCartney,
K. (2005). Family educational involvement: Who can afford it and what does it
afford? In C. R. Cooper, C. T. García Coll, W. T. Bartko, H. M. Davis
& C. Chatman (Eds.), Developmental
pathways through middle childhood: Rethinking context and diversity as resources.
Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Weiss, H. B., Kreider,
H., Lopez, M. E., & Chatman, C. (Eds.). (2005). Preparing
educators to involve families: From theory to practice. Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage.
Weiss, H. B., Kreider,
H., Mayer, E., Hencke, R., &
Vaughan, M. (2004). Working it out: The chronicle of a mixed-method analysis.
In T. S. Weisner (Ed.), Discovering
successful pathways in children's development: Mixed methods in the study of
childhood and family life. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Journal Articles
Caspe, M. (2003). How teachers come
to understand families. School Community Journal, 13(1), 115–131.
Dearing, E., Kreider, H., Simpkins,
S., & Weiss, H. B. (2006). Family
involvement in school and low-income children's literacy performance: Longitudinal
associations between and within families. Journal of Educational Psychology,
98, 653–664.
Dearing, E., McCartney, K., Weiss, H.
B., Kreider, H., & Simpkins,
S. (2004). The promotive effects of family educational involvement for low-income
children’s literacy: How and for whom does involvement matter? Journal
of School Psychology, 42, 445–460.
Kreider, H., & Lopez, M. E. (1999,
January). Promising practices for family involvement. Principal, 78(3),
16–19. (Also available through the ERIC
Database, ERIC number EJ579351.)
Weiss, H. B., Mayer,
E., Kreider, H., Vaughan, P., Dearing,
E., Hencke, R., & Pinto, K. (2003, Winter). Making it work: Low-income working
mothers' involvement in their children's education. American Educational
Research Journal, 40(4), 879–901.
Papers/Reports
Dearing, E., Kreider, H., Simpkins,
S., & Weiss, H. B. (2007). Research
digest: Family involvement in school and low-income children's literacy performance.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard Family Research Project.
Kreider, H. (2002). Getting
parents “ready” for kindergarten: The role of early childhood education.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard Family Research Project.
Kreider, H., & Chung, C. (2004,
November), Parents peeking into the classroom: Identifying and building on
the authentic involvement of diverse low-income families at school. Presentation
at National Association for the Education of Young Children Annual Conference
& Expo, Anaheim, CA.
Kreider, H.,
Mayer, E., & Vaughan, P. (1999). Early
childhood digest: Helping parents communicate better with schools. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard Family Research Project.
Mayer, E.,
Kreider, H., & Vaughan, P. (1999).
Early childhood digest: How busy parents
can help their children learn and develop. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Family
Research Project.
Weiss, H., Kopko, K., Kreider,
H., Mayer, E., & Vaughan, P.
(2000, June). Children's roles in home–school relationships. Poster
presented at Head Start's Fifth National Research Conference, Washington, DC.
Weiss, H. B., Dirks, J., Friedman,
K., Hanley, G., Kreider, H., Levine,
E., Mayer, E., McAllister, C., Vaughan,
P., & Wellenkamp, J. (1998). A mixed method approach to understanding
family-school communication. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Family Research Project.
(ERIC Document Reproduction Service
No. ED422111)
Weiss, H. B.,
Kreider, H., Levine, E., Mayer, E.,
Stadler, J., & Vaughan, P. (1998, April). Beyond
the parent-teacher conference: Diverse patterns of home-school communication.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard Family Research Project.
Weiss, H. B.,
Kreider, H., Vaughan, P., & Mayer,
E. (2000, March). Low-income mothers negotiate work, family, and children's
school. Paper presented at the Work and Family: Expanding the Horizons conference,
San Francisco, CA.
Weiss, H. B., Mayer,
E., Kreider, H., Vaughan, M., Dearing,
E., Hencke, R., & Pinto, K. (2007). Research
digest: Making it work: Low-income working mothers' involvement in their children's
education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Family Research Project.
Teaching Cases
Caspe, M. (2002). Bilingual
voices and parent classroom choices. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Family Research
Project.
Caspe, M., &
Kreider, H. (2002). Defining
“fine”: Communicating academic progress to parents. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard Family Research Project.
Mayer, E. (2002, October). After
school for Cindy. Teaching case presented at the North American Case Research
Association conference, Banff, Canada.
Vaughan, P. (2002). A
special education plan for Anabela: Does supporting her needs mean holding her
back? Cambridge, MA: Harvard Family Research Project.
Kreider, H. (1999). Tim
Kelly: A school responds to a family in need. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
Family Research Project.
Hannum, A. B. (2001). What
words don't say. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Family Research Project.
Mayer, E. (2001). What's
going on with Tomasito? Cambridge, MA: Harvard Family Research Project.
Workshop Materials
Caspe, M. (2002). Home-school
communication—What's all the commotion? workshop. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
Family Research Project.
Interview
Harvard Graduate School of Education. Family
involvement has been shown to promote children's literacy: Heather Weiss, director
of HGSE's Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP). Cambridge, MA: Author.
STS Team Members Steering Committee
Heather Weiss, Harvard
University, Co-Principal Investigator
Deborah Stipek, Stanford University, Co-Principal Investigator
Jennifer Greene, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Penny Hauser-Cram, Boston College
Walter Secada, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Jacqueline Eccles, University of Michigan
HFRP Team
Heather Weiss, Director
Holly Kreider, Project
Manager/Research Associate
Ellen Mayer, Research
Associate
Case Study Ethnographers
Kim Friedman
Carol McAllister
Jane Dirks
Jane Wellenkamp
Gisella Hanley
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