GREAT BEGINNINGS Robin Rombach, Post-Gazette

Jacob Pasko, 5, knocks down his block tower with his teacher Christina Morgan Campbell at the 4 Kids center in Braddock. About the series The opening of school each year brings new hope for a fresh start. This back-to-school series focuses on students -- from kindergarten through college -- who are starting the school year with dreams and challenges that face students everywhere. Day One: Transitions smoother now for kindergartners Day Two: Tough decisions -- middle schools or K-8? Day Three: Picking up the tools he'll need at vo-tech Day Four: Oakland Catholic star driven to swim Day Five: Special programs for special students Day Six: Helping African Americans get into private high schools Day Seven: Frosh start: RAs greet, guide bewildered first-time collegians Last of Series: New college graduates still wondering what to do with degrees in liberal arts

Like millions of 5-year-olds across the country, Jacob Pasko is on the cusp of a life-changing experience: kindergarten.

Tomorrow he will trade the familiar territory of the 4Kids Early Learning Center in Braddock for a new environment at Wilkins Primary in the Woodland Hills School District.

Jacob already has lots of experience with letters and numbers, learning to listen and wait his turn, and using his burgeoning vocabulary instead of his temper. Now he's ready to enter the next level and hit the ground running.

Is the school district ready for him?

Until recently, that question was rarely asked. Preschools and school districts went their own ways.

That's still true in many places, but there also is a growing movement to bridge the gap. Increasingly, early childhood educators and school districts are joining forces to create a more seamless connection, particularly for children from the poorest families who are most at-risk for school problems.

In some cases, staff from the district, Head Start and other preschools meet regularly to coordinate curricula. Some school systems run their own pre-K programs for at-risk children, or send specialized personnel into child-care classrooms to do screening and early intervention.

And now the Rendell administration has made grant money available for districts to help pre-kindergarten programs get certified by Keystone STARS, a state program that encourages best practices for early learning programs in Pennsylvania.

The idea is that children can benefit only when problems are caught early, when pre-kindergarten teachers know what will be expected of their charges once they enter the school system, and when kindergarten teachers know where the children will be on arrival.

"Ideally, it's a two-way street. Both sides of the equation should know what the other is doing," said Barb Willer, deputy director of the National Association for the Education of Young Children in Washington, D.C.

Head Start has a mandate to provide kindergarten transition services, but districts decide for themselves how much or how little to get involved, said Deb Krotec, Head Start coordinator for the Allegheny Intermediate Unit.

"We try to educate districts about what we're doing and also understand where they're coming from," Krotec said. "Any time you can prepare children for such a major transition, it's good for everyone."

Barbara Willard is vice-president of Heritage Health Foundation, which sponsors all six 4Kids programs in the Mon Valley.

"People used to think preschool was just an opportunity for kids to play," Willard said.

"Now, we know that good programs provide great learning. That's important because the expectations for kindergarten and first grade are very different today. School districts are held to a higher standard."

Woodland Hills Superintendent Rosalynne Wilson concurred.

"Kindergarten is so different than when we were that age," she said. "Children come in knowing much more. They've been learning from a young age. We want to keep that going."

Woodland Hills has a joint project with 4Kids -- the district has a full-day kindergarten housed right inside the Braddock center, so preschoolers can move to the next level without changing buildings. But Leslie Pasko, Jacob's mom and a registered nurse, thought her son was ready to attend Wilkins with his brother, Josh, 8.

"He's learned so much from being in the center full time, it amazes me what he knows," said Pasko, of Turtle Creek. "His knowledge, behavior, everything is way ahead of what I expected."

Jacob seems to understand that, too.

"I called it 'day care' once," his mother reported. "He said, 'Mom, that's my school.' "

Setting the stage
U.S. Census data helps explain why the kindergarten connection has become a hot topic in early learning circles.

About 4.5 million children ages 3 and 4 were enrolled in preschool or kindergarten in 2003. The number accounts for 55 percent of that population, up from 24percent three decades earlier. In addition, 92 percent of 5-year-olds were enrolled in school, which census analysts attribute to the availability of public kindergartens in most states.

And 65 percent of those kindergartners attended all day, up from 20 percent three decades ago.

At the same time, decades of research on brain development have confirmed that learning begins in infancy and that high-quality experiences (safe, nurturing, appropriate to the child's age and development) set the stage for future success.

One research project is the multiyear study being conducted by Children's Hospital and the UCLID Center of the University of Pittsburgh. Researchers have been following graduates of 4Kids, and results so far have shown them to be far less likely to repeat grades or require special education services. Even those who started out far behind their peers caught up by the time they started school, and their behaviors improved significantly.

That's good news for parents as well as school districts.

"For a lot of our parents, school might not have been a positive thing," said Willard. "We work to show them the important role they play in their child's education. As a result, they will be walking up to that school knowing their child, having expectations for the type of communication and information they should be receiving.

"For school districts to cultivate that is difficult, but we're sending them parents who are already partners and advocates. They understand the importance of reinforcing skills at home."

Districts that are connected to the preschools also have better relationships with parents, said Woodland Hills' Wilson.

"They're the ones who meet many families before we do. If parents have a positive relationship with them, it creates a positive relationship with us. It's a great way to begin school."

In the forefront
Krotec, of the Allegheny Intermediate Unit Head Start office, cited some instances of transition planning. In Sto-Rox, for example, the district asked Head Start to introduce children to an early literacy computer program that the schools are using.

Probably the most involved is Highlands School District, comprising Fawn, Harrison, Tarentum and Brackenridge.

Some 15 years ago, Highlands instituted a "4K" program for 4-year-olds who scored lowest on a series of screenings. Today it enrolls 60 children with the goal of increasing their chances for school success.

The district also coordinates all services for all preschoolers in its jurisdiction, and meets with Head Start and other providers to make sure everyone's on the same page for curricula and school readiness activities.

In addition, the district invites pre-kindergarten teachers for training, and holds a school fair for meeting parents and screening new students. It includes parents in the first kindergarten get-acquainted sessions and begins the new school year with two half-day visits for kindergartners to learn the ropes.

"Fifteen years ago we had the only 4K program in the state," said Beth Ehrlich, principal of Fawn Elementary and director of Highlands' federal programs for economically disadvantaged preschoolers.

"Now we're no longer an exception. Gov. Rendell's emphasis is to catch them early and break the cycle of children in poverty achieving less."

Some other states are doing similar things, she said.

"There's a sweeping movement across the country to increase the rigor of early learning without sacrificing the child's developmental needs," Ehrlich said.

"The push is for increasing the quality of pre-K, because we require them to be fluent readers and writers in the third grade. That will not happen without beginning the process before kindergarten."

Back in Woodland Hills, Jacob Pasko was getting ready for the move to Wilkins Primary, where he'll have two documents for his new teacher.

One is a report on his behavioral and developmental progress, prepared by his preschool teachers using a detailed check list that was updated frequently from the day he entered at age 2.

The other document is a booklet about himself, written by Jacob, his mom and his teachers, for the purpose of explaining his likes and dislikes, special talents and abilities ("He's a sponge!"); his most pressing needs ("using listening ears and controlling his impulses"); what makes him anxious ("when he feels hurt"); what motivates him ("loves praise, hugs, pats on the back.")

"We want the children to have success in their new schools," said Jacob's preschool teacher, Christina Morgan Campbell, as Jacob busied himself building foam block towers and knocking them down.

"We talk to them about kindergarten being different, how they'll be sitting more at desks, raising their hands. The bathroom will be down the hall instead of in the room. We talk about making new friends, learning new things, using good manners and listening.

"They're excited and scared about going," she added. "This is like a little family unit, so it's hard to let them go. But you can tell when they're ready. "