Facilitating Kindergarten Transitions: The Role of Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) between Head Start and Local Education Agencies

This secondary analysis is motivated by a theory of change (Ehrlich et al., 2021) that emphasizes systems on both sides of the transition process—Head Start and kindergarten (embedded within the K-12 education system). This theory of change hypothesizes that when transition efforts are coordinated across these two systems, they are expected to lead to improved transition experiences for educators, families and——most importantly——children. This research brief examines the within- and across-system perspectives, policies, professional supports, and practices (“4Ps”) related to kindergarten transitions that Head Start and Local Education Agency (LEA) partners embed in their written agreements (Ehrlich et al., 2021).

MOUs can be a key policy lever to provide explicit linkages between early care and education (ECE) and K-12 systems. They can potentially structure relationships that enable coordination and collaboration of transition strategies; that when implemented in practice can fundamentally reshape children’s experiences of and their families’ engagement in the kindergarten transition. These agreements have the potential to influence the presence and strength of shared “4Ps” related to kindergarten transitions.

This examination of MOUs is a first step to understanding how MOUs can be best used for systems-level coordination and collaboration.

• Eighteen out of 23 MOUs — representing 7 out of 10 Head Start CDP sites, specifically mentioned the kindergarten transition.
• Although some MOUs provided significant details about kindergarten transition approaches, the majority did not. This suggests that MOUs may be just one document or tool currently used to ensure comprehensive transition approaches.
• No standard template was used for the MOUs, but perspectives about the kindergarten transition and collaboration came through in some MOUs’ purpose statements and goals. Not all MOUs included clear purpose statements/goals, and few explicitly described supporting the kindergarten transition as part of their purpose.
• Although they appeared in some, perspectives, policies, and professional supports related to kindergarten transitions had minimal representation across MOUs. Very few MOUs provided details for how kindergarten transition strategies would be implemented (e.g., timing, dosage, resources).
• It was less common for MOUs to explicitly reference federal laws or regulations, such as the Head Start Act (HSA), the Head Start Program Performance Standards (HSPPS), and the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The federal policy explicitly mentioned the most was the IDEA. This may suggest that Head Start programs and LEAs view transition activities pertaining to children with disabilities as more important to spell out explicitly in MOUs than transition activities pertaining to Head Start-enrolled children generally. It could also suggest that programs and LEAs receive stronger legal guidance regarding children with disabilities.
• The MOUs studied did not outline specific details, procedures, processes—rather they set high-level policy goals. MOUs set out what should happen but did not necessarily lay out a path to get there.

A key implication of this work is that MOUs between Head Start programs and LEAs may not be meeting their full potential in aligning and supporting the implementation of cross-system transition strategies. There is more opportunity for administrators on both sides to collectively think about—and articulate in one document—joint policies, perspectives, practices, and professional supports that support the kindergarten transition.

Given that there is no systematic process of gathering MOUs at the local, state, or federal levels, we obtained MOUs from Head Start grant recipients involved in the CDP sites (2019-2020) sponsored by the Office of Head Start. CDP participants included 13 Head Start and public-school leadership teams who worked together to improve the kindergarten transition in their communities (Head Start, 2021). We requested and collected electronic copies of MOUs developed by Head Start programs and their LEA partners detailing how the two parties intended to work together. We requested these agreements directly from Head Start program administrators for the previous three school years (2018-2019; 2019-2020; 2020-2021). We used a conventional content analysis and manual coding approach with qualitative analysis software. After applying an initial list of a priori codes, we developed a more robust codebook influenced by the information in the MOUs and proceeded to conduct another round of coding.

Kyle DeMeo Cook, Mitchell R. Barrows, Stacy B. Ehrlich Loewe, Van-Kim Lin, Nola du Toit (2022). Facilitating Kindergarten Transitions: The Role of Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) between Head Start and Local Education Agencies, OPRE Report # 2022-235, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Ehrlich, Stacy B., Kyle DeMeo Cook, Dana Thomson, Kristie Kauerz, Mitchell R. Barrows, Tamara Halle, Molly F. Gordon, Margaret Soli, Andrew Schaper, Sarah Her, Gabriella Guerra (2021). Understanding Children’s Transitions from Head Start to Kindergarten: A Literature Review and Theory of Change, OPRE Report # 2021-128, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.