The main purpose of the survey was to better understand the transition period and to help design programs and policies to ease problems and promote children's social and intellectual development. The sample consisted of 219 parents of children who would be entering kindergarten during the fall of 1999. Of these respondents, 40 agreed to participate after receiving a letter from us, and the rest were randomly selected from a sample provided by Genesys, and included parents living in both Monroe and Tippecanoe Counties. In addition, in-person interviews were conducted with 11 parents and preschool teachers of children going into Kindergarten in Monroe County. Questions were asked regarding the family make-up and activities of the child, including ones that might be considered to be 'priming' activities to ease the transition into Kindergarten. Many of these questions were open-ended and recorded in a text file.

This study was supported by funding from the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University-Bloomington.