Retention-Driving PD: Reducing Early Educator Turnover
Your newest hire finishes onboarding week confident, then loses that confidence by October when the routines get harder and the coaching stops. Your veteran educator, the one who trained half your staff, quietly starts asking about openings at the district down the road. Two different problems, but the same root cause: The professional development in your program isn’t built to keep educators. It’s built to check a box. Retention-driving professional development is designed to change that. It matches induction, coaching, and career growth to where staff are, and it gets judged by tenure and classroom confidence rather than attendance sheets. Before you add another session to the calendar, you need a way to tell whether your current PD is built for that job. Key Takeaways Retention-driving PD connects professional learning to measurable turnover goals, so directors can evaluate training beyond compliance or general skill-building. New educators may stay longer when PD includes structured induction, mentoring, and checkpoints across the first high-risk years. Veteran educators need retention-driving PD that reduces burnout through job-embedded coaching, practical classroom supports, and stronger daily implementation confidence. One-time workshops are less likely to change retention unless they connect to coaching cycles, follow-up practice, and real classroom needs. A simple PD audit can help directors match training formats, career pathways, and coaching supports to the retention risks in each classroom. What Is Retention-Driving PD? Retention-driving PD works by connecting each training activity to observable outcomes: follow-through in the classroom, growing implementation confidence, and whether educators are still in the room six months later. It’s designed to improve educator retention, not just satisfy compliance hours. That means judging PD by follow-through, classroom confidence, implementation fidelity (how closely educators follow the curriculum as intended), and tenure trends across infant through Pre-K teams, rather than by sign-in sheets and completed-hours counts. When directors can point to those indicators, they can also speak to the workforce gap their program is actively working against: the Learning Policy Institute’s shortage data shows how widespread and concrete educator shortages have become, which makes retention a program strategy and not just an HR concern. Compensation and benefits drive educator retention, and PD won’t replace either. But PD is the lever directors can control more directly than pay scales or benefits packages, which makes it the right place to start building a workforce strategy you can actually act on. Burnout vs. Induction-Stage Attrition: Two Problems, Two PD Solutions Induction-stage attrition and veteran burnout require different PD designs because they come from different places. A program that runs every educator through the same onboarding workshop, regardless of tenure, gets one flat outcome: confused new hires and unimpressed veterans. Understanding which problem you’re solving changes the format, cadence, and intensity of the support you build. Induction-Stage Attrition in the First Three Years New educators need structured induction, mentoring, and sequenced curriculum implementation support across the first three years. A single orientation week that ends before the real work begins just isn’t enough. Without that sustained structure, early-career educators hit the complexity of daily classroom life without anyone to lean on, and many leave before they find their footing. SREB’s induction framework ties multi-year onboarding directly to retention, and that logic translates cleanly into early childhood coaching. SREB identifies four components of strong induction programs: A tiered support system for novice and mentor teachers Leadership for new teacher success and retention High-quality mentoring Professional learning for positive teacher and student outcomes Building the following checkpoints into your first-year calendar can provide a foundation for a stronger induction program that addresses the components SREB highlights: Initial onboarding before day one A classroom follow-up visit within the first month Implementation check-ins each quarter Ongoing mentoring through year three Space these checkpoints so support continues past the honeymoon phase. If handoffs between age groups or coaching cycles tend to lose momentum, this is exactly where they fall apart, so protect them on your calendar the way you protect enrollment deadlines. Burnout-Driven Turnover Among Veteran Staff Veteran educator turnover is often linked to accumulated working conditions rather than a loss of commitment to the work. Educators consistently name working conditions as their top concern, and in early childhood classrooms that shows up as repeated behavior disruptions, planning overload, and documentation demands stacked on top of daily emotional labor. That friction is recurring. Every unscripted redirection, every improvised transition, and every solo lesson-planning session adds up across a school year, and it’s the accumulation, not any single hard day, that pushes experienced educators toward the door. PD can lighten that load directly. Shared SED (social-emotional development) routines, ready educator scripts, predictable transition cues, and posted classroom visuals reduce how many decisions a veteran educator has to make from scratch each day, freeing energy for the relationships that drew them to this work. If you’re seeing early signs of strain in a veteran educator, this breakdown of burnout warning signs can help you identify what’s driving it before it becomes a resignation. Research-Backed Drivers Behind Educator Retention Sustained coaching, recognized career growth, and relevant follow-up are the three research-backed PD conditions most directly linked to educator retention. When directors can point to these drivers in their PD design, they can justify training investment with outcomes rather than just attendance numbers or general team-culture claims. Two drivers directors can put into practice: coaching that transfers into daily classroom work, and growth paths educators can see for themselves. Job-Embedded Coaching Over One-Off Workshops Sustained coaching supports classroom transfer better than isolated workshops, and that difference shows up directly in retention data. A great afternoon session can spark energy, but energy fades once the room gets busy again. Research on teacher professional learning identifies relevance, time, and follow-up as the conditions that make training stick. Relevance means the content connects to something educators are already doing in the classroom. Time means they get protected space to try it. Follow-up means someone circles back after the session ends to gather feedback. When all three are present, workshop training
Setting Up Educators for Success in the First 30 Days
Setting up educators for success means giving new hires the routines, materials, relationships, curriculum access, and guided support they need to work confidently from their first day, built through a structured plan for the first 30 days rather than a single orientation session. Skip that structure, and you get scenes like this: a new educator walks into the toddler room on a Monday morning with a stack of curriculum binders, no login credentials for the digital planning tools, and a mentor who was assigned five minutes before drop-off. They’re capable and eager, but nobody has told them where the visual schedule lives or what to say when a child bites during transition. That gap between good intentions and a workable sequence is what this framework is designed to close. Key Takeaways Setting up educators for success begins before day one with prepared materials, clear routines, and classroom visuals ready for immediate use. A first-week onboarding plan can build confidence by clarifying daily routines, behavior expectations, curriculum tools, and family communication norms. Mentor pairings work best when directors match new educators by age group, classroom ratio, and the real demands of the room. Days 8 through 30 should shift from orientation to guided independence through observation, feedback, coaching, and practical implementation support. Structured onboarding can support Head Start and QRIS (Quality Rating and Improvement System) documentation needs while reducing confusion, isolation, and early stress for new educators. Why the First 30 Days Set the Tone for the Entire School Year Routines, confidence, and classroom climate formed in the first 30 days carry a new educator through the rest of the school year. What starts as guided support in week one becomes their default way of working by day 30. Behavior guidance language, family updates, documentation habits, and how they open the curriculum each morning all get shaped during this window. If those patterns form with your input, they stay consistent. If they form in isolation, you inherit whatever habits filled the gap, and undoing them takes far longer than setting them correctly the first time. The stakes extend beyond any single classroom. SREB found that novice educators with comprehensive induction are twice as likely to remain in the profession. For program directors, that kind of retention difference means steadier staffing, fewer disruptions to children’s care, and a teaching team that builds on itself rather than restarting every fall. Onboarding vs. Induction: Two Timelines Directors Must Plan For Onboarding and induction differ in timeline and purpose: onboarding meets a new educator’s immediate operational needs, while induction builds the longer-term mentoring, coaching, and growth that sustain effective practice. Onboarding covers the first month, with action items like licensing paperwork, classroom keys, ratio coverage, and a mentor’s phone number. Induction runs far longer, building teaching skill through observation cycles, reflective coaching, and gradual independence. Directors need both timelines running in parallel because licensing and safety tasks move fast while coaching and professional learning move slowly. Conflating the two means either rushing the growth work or leaving new hires without the operational support they need to function on day one. Pennsylvania has required formal induction plans since 1987, which shows that induction is often a regulated obligation rather than an optional extension of orientation. Build two separate tracks now, and revisit how handoffs between them hold up by reading about why developmental handoffs fall apart at year-end. Before Day One: What Directors Should Prepare in Advance A new educator’s first day goes smoothly only when the materials, access, routines, and support assignments are already in place before they arrive. That means classroom materials ready to use, a schedule that matches the room’s ratio, working logins, an assigned mentor, family communication templates, and documentation tools already in place. Getting these six pieces settled early connects to the broader curriculum implementation timeline and the readiness work best started during your January planning window. Two of these deserve a closer look below: classroom setup and mentor matching. Setting Up Classrooms, Materials, and Visual Routines A prepared classroom uses visuals, materials, spaces, and consistent cues to support behavior and reduce the number of decisions a new educator must make in real time. That’s what makes classroom setup a behavior support tool, not a decorating task. Post a visual schedule at children’s eye level, label shelves and bins with words and pictures, and set up a calm-down space with two or three simple tools. Add transition cues like a chime or song, and write out short educator scripts for greetings and redirections so the language is ready before the first hard moment arrives. Adjust for developmental stage: infant rooms need feeding and sleep charts near each crib; toddler rooms need picture routines for handwashing; preschool and Pre-K rooms need job charts and group-time visuals. Assigning Mentors by Age Group and Classroom Ratio A strong mentor match starts with understanding the room the new educator is walking into, not with picking whoever has a free planning period. Mentor assignments based on scheduling convenience often produce support that doesn’t connect to what the new hire actually faces each day. Start with the new hire’s age group, then check ratio and room demands. A low-ratio infant room needs a mentor fluent in feeding and sleep routines, an active toddler room needs someone skilled in co-regulation and redirection, and a preschool or Pre-K room needs a mentor comfortable with group instruction and family handoffs. Match SED (social-emotional development) background and curriculum familiarity next, then consider whether bilingual family communication is part of the role. Set a recurring check-in tied to that room’s actual schedule before the first week begins, so the mentor relationship starts as real support rather than a name on a roster. Week One Priorities: Building Confidence and Clarity Week one should make your most important classroom expectations visible, practiced, and repeatable. A new hire left to improvise arrivals, transitions, and lesson planning spends the week guessing. One who can follow posted routines, use shared behavior scripts, and open ready-made lesson
Finding Your Classroom Rhythm When Routines Won’t Stick
It’s the third week of September, and clean-up time still falls apart the same way it did on day one. Educators repeat directions three times, children cluster at the sink, and the line-up that was supposed to take two minutes stretches into 10. If that scene sounds familiar, you’re dealing with a routine that hasn’t fully been built yet. Finding your classroom rhythm means creating the predictable, flexible flow of routines, transitions, and relationships that helps young children anticipate what comes next, feel safe, and stay ready to learn. That rhythm bends to meet children’s developmental needs without making the day feel rigid or forced. When routines won’t stick, it’s rarely a sign that your educators are doing something wrong. It usually means one specific piece of the day needs a closer look, and this diagnostic will help you find it, whether you’re coaching one classroom or comparing patterns across several. Key Takeaways Classroom rhythm is the predictable, flexible flow of routines, transitions, and relationships that helps young children feel safe and ready to learn. September routine struggles often point to a specific mismatch in developmental expectations, pacing, adult language, or classroom environment. Small transition adjustments can reduce friction by using clear cues, fewer wait times, positive feedback, and repeated practice. Effective rhythm looks different by age: responsive infant care routines, toddler co-regulation, and preschool multi-step transitions. Program leaders can support stronger classroom rhythm by observing patterns across rooms and coaching educators with consistent, practical language. What Does “Classroom Rhythm” Really Mean in Early Childhood Classrooms? Classroom rhythm is the flexible, practiced flow that makes planned moments actually work for children and educators, and it’s distinct from a written schedule. A schedule lists what should happen; rhythm is how those moments feel when they unfold. Rhythm shows up in the transitions between activities, the words adults use to cue what’s next, the pace of each moment, and whether children feel safe enough to follow along without anxiety. Two classrooms can share the same written schedule and feel completely different by 9:15 a.m. because one has rhythm and the other has only a plan. Rhythm also takes time to build. AERO’s guidance on routine-building calls for educators to teach, model, practice, and reinforce routines before children can follow them independently. That process starts before the first day, and it continues well into fall as children learn what each cue actually means and what’s expected of them next. Once that foundation is in place, consistent rhythm is also what keeps joyful learning alive when the novelty of a new school year fades. Signs Your September Routines Aren’t Sticking Yet September routines tell you they’re not sticking through repeated friction at the same moments every day: long waits, unclear steps, rising noise, emotional escalation, and adults repeating directions more than once. Think of these patterns as information, not failure, and watch for these signs: Clean-up meltdowns that repeat daily Children clustering at cubbies, sinks, or doorways with no clear next step Long, restless waits between activities Rising noise as a transition drags on Educators repeating the same direction three or four times Inconsistent cues between lead educators, assistants, and float staff Routines that only work with constant adult prompting Children drifting after completing one step with no visible cue for what comes next Transitions that take significantly longer than the activity that preceded them Emotional escalation that begins before the routine even starts Each pattern points somewhere specific. Bottlenecks suggest an environmental issue. Repeated directions suggest a language issue. Constant prompting suggests that pacing or expectations need rethinking. A Diagnostic Framework for Identifying What’s Really Off The most reliable way to fix a stalled routine is to observe one difficult moment for three days before changing materials, staffing, or expectations. Resist the pull to adjust everything at once. When too many variables shift simultaneously, you lose the ability to tell what the routine actually needs. After each observation, jot down what happens right before, during, and after that moment. Then sort what you saw into one of four root-cause categories: developmental mismatch, pacing and sequencing, inconsistent adult language, or environmental friction. Developmental Mismatch: When Expectations Outpace Ability A routine is developmentally mismatched when it asks children to regulate, remember, wait, or act independently beyond what they can currently manage. The resistance you see isn’t defiance, but a gap between what the routine requires and what the child’s development makes possible right now. The gap looks different by age. Infants need predictable caregiving sequences rather than group compliance. Toddlers need co-regulation and one clear step at a time rather than silent independence. Pre-K children need visual support for multi-step sequences rather than verbal instructions alone. A toddler left to manage clean-up, handwashing, and line-up on their own will wander, stall, or cry. When an adult stays close, offers one direction, and moves through the steps alongside them, the same child completes the transition. Drop the expectation to that one achievable step, then observe whether participation improves before adding the next. Pacing and Sequencing: When the Day Moves Too Fast or Too Slow A pacing problem often looks like a behavior problem, because children who are waiting too long, moving through too many steps, or being asked to shift before they’re ready respond the same way children respond to unclear expectations: with wandering, noise, or refusal. Before assuming children are refusing the routine, check five things: wait time, activity length, movement opportunities, the order of steps, and total transition count. Then change just one of those things. Shorten a wait, add a movement cue, or drop an unnecessary transition, keeping everything else the same. Watch the next three repetitions before deciding what else the routine needs. Unclear or Inconsistent Adult Language Routines weaken when adults use different words for the same expectation, because children can’t reliably connect one cue with what happens next. “Clean-up time” from you, “let’s tidy up” from your assistant, and “five more minutes” from a substitute all describe the same
How to Turn Year-End Reflection Into a Real Plan for Fall
Year-end reflection often happens while fall planning is already underway. You may already be balancing classroom transitions, staffing adjustments, enrollment changes, and family communication while your educators continue supporting children through daily learning experiences. During this season, reflection is most useful when it helps you identify which classroom systems are already supporting continuity and which systems need to be strengthened before fall begins. Instead of rebuilding systems every year, you can strengthen the routines, classroom structures, and developmental supports that already help children move confidently through transitions and learning experiences. This approach helps children experience more connected transitions, supports stronger educator alignment, and creates learning environments that feel more familiar and developmentally connected across the Birth-to-Five journey. Before the last staff day, it may help to confirm which routines will continue into fall, which handoff documentation is complete, and which systems still need strengthening before transitions accelerate further. What Should Year-End Reflection Actually Focus On? Year-end reflection becomes more valuable when you focus on the classroom systems and developmental patterns that helped children and educators move through transitions with greater confidence and consistency throughout the year. Many programs naturally reflect on child growth, classroom experiences, and family engagement. The most actionable insights often come from identifying which routines, support systems, and instructional practices already helped classrooms remain connected during transitions and operational changes. Reflection becomes more useful when it identifies which systems already support continuity and should remain in place moving into the fall. For example, some classrooms transition more smoothly because children recognize familiar expectations across age groups. You may also notice stronger family confidence when communication consistently reinforces how developmental progress will continue into the next classroom experience. Programs often uncover important patterns by examining: Which classroom routines helped children transition confidently How familiar expectations reduced reorientation across age groups Which educator supports strengthened consistency throughout the year These insights can help you preserve developmental momentum instead of restarting routines and classroom expectations every fall. Why Does Continuity Matter During Classroom Transitions? Continuity helps children move into new classroom environments with greater confidence because familiar routines, expectations, and relationships continue supporting development across transitions. As classroom placements and schedules begin shifting, familiar structures often help children feel more secure as they adapt to new environments. Connected classroom experiences can also reduce the time children spend relearning routines and expectations after each transition. Educators also benefit from continuity because aligned classroom systems reduce the need to rebuild routines independently each year. Families feel more confident when transitions feel organized and connected across the program. Communication becomes more meaningful when it highlights how learning, routines, and developmental progress continue to move forward rather than start over. This continuity creates smoother transitions because children already recognize many of the routines, expectations, and relationships supporting them. How Can Year-End Reflection Become a Practical Planning Tool? Year-end reflection becomes more actionable when you use it to identify which systems are already supporting classroom consistency, so your team can strengthen them before transitions accelerate. The strongest planning processes often build on what already works effectively rather than introducing disconnected new systems every fall. This creates a more manageable planning process because educators can continue carrying forward successful routines and classroom practices. Staffing reflection is more valuable when it examines the conditions that helped classrooms remain steady during transitions. Curriculum reflection becomes more useful when it focuses on continuity across classrooms rather than isolated activities. Programs often create smoother transitions when children continue experiencing familiar instructional language, routines, and social-emotional supports as they move between age groups. Family communication also plays an important role. Earlier communication timelines, clearer transition expectations, and stronger developmental connections often help families feel more confident throughout transition periods. When families understand how routines, classroom expectations, and developmental goals will remain connected across age groups, transitions often feel more familiar and manageable for everyone involved. The Director’s Field Guide to Year-End Transitions supports programs preparing for classroom transitions, developmental handoffs, and continuity planning before fall routines begin taking shape. How Do Strong Programs Use Summer Reflection to Protect Momentum? You can use summer reflection to protect developmental momentum by strengthening the systems children and educators already rely on consistently throughout the year. Instead of introducing disconnected routines during transitions, many successful fall plans build from familiar classroom structures that children and educators already recognize and trust. This preparation often includes: Reviewing developmental handoff information early Aligning classroom expectations across age groups Organizing curriculum resources proactively Preparing communication timelines before transitions accelerates When these systems are prepared before fall begins, educators can spend less time rebuilding routines and more time extending classroom experiences that children already recognize and feel comfortable navigating. This approach helps transitions feel more connected across classrooms and age groups. Children enter new environments with greater familiarity because routines, expectations, and classroom experiences continue building on what they already know. Why Is Continuity More Valuable Than Starting Fresh? Continuity helps you extend progress across classrooms and transitions instead of rebuilding routines, expectations, and classroom systems every fall. Many classroom routines, instructional strategies, and developmental supports already work effectively by the end of the year. Reflection can help you identify which systems are creating stability for children and educators, so those supports can continue to carry forward into the next season. This creates stronger consistency across classrooms and transitions. Children move into new environments with greater familiarity, while educators can focus more fully on relationships and classroom experiences from the beginning of the year. Families also benefit from clearer communication and more connected transitions across age groups. Reflection becomes more meaningful when it helps programs recognize which systems are already supporting children successfully and are worth carrying forward into fall. What Should Programs Prioritize Before Fall Begins? Before fall begins, it often helps to prioritize the systems that support continuity immediately for children, educators, and families. The strongest fall launches usually occur when classroom systems are already in place before transitions accelerate. This preparation creates stronger consistency across classrooms
What Strong Programs Do Differently During Summer Enrollment Shifts
Summer enrollment shifts often place you and your team in the middle of multiple transitions at once. Classroom assignments evolve, staffing schedules adjust, and children move into new environments while educators continue supporting learning, routines, and relationships every day. As you prepare for these changes, continuity can quickly become harder to maintain when staffing patterns, schedules, and classroom expectations begin shifting simultaneously. The strongest transition systems help you preserve stability for children and educators, even while operations continue evolving throughout the summer. When continuity is maintained across classrooms, children experience more familiar expectations, educators work within aligned structures, and families often feel more confident during transitions. Why Do Summer Enrollment Shifts Reveal Continuity Gaps? Summer enrollment shifts often reveal how connected your classroom systems remain as daily routines and staffing structures begin to change simultaneously. These transitions affect classroom momentum long before they affect schedules or staffing charts. As you manage enrollment movement, ratios, room assignments, and staffing coverage, it can be easy for continuity challenges to arise in daily classroom experiences when classroom expectations and routines vary across environments. This creates a different planning mindset. Instead of focusing solely on operational efficiency, you can help children move into new environments that still feel familiar and connected. Children experience continuity through predictable routines, aligned expectations, and familiar classroom structures. Educators experience continuity when systems reduce uncertainty rather than create additional complexity during already active seasons. Summer often reveals whether classrooms are truly connected or simply adjacent. When continuity systems remain aligned across classrooms, children can carry confidence, routines, and learning momentum more naturally through transitions. How Do Strong Programs Maintain Continuity During Summer Enrollment Shifts? You can maintain stronger continuity during summer enrollment shifts by aligning classroom experiences across age groups before transitions begin accelerating. When routines, instructional language, and classroom expectations already feel connected across environments, children often move into new classrooms with greater confidence and less reorientation. Familiar classroom experiences help children spend less time adjusting to new structures and more time engaging in relationships, exploration, and learning. This consistency also helps educators extend learning sooner, rather than rebuilding classroom systems from the beginning after every classroom move. Connected developmental experiences across the Birth-to-Five journey often make transitions feel more stable for children, families, and teaching teams alike. This alignment often includes: Shared instructional language across classrooms Consistent social-emotional development practices Familiar transition routines between age groups Connected developmental expectations Similar approaches to guided play and exploration Aligned developmental handoff processes can also help educators carry meaningful insight forward before transitions occur. When teaching teams already understand how children communicate, engage socially, and navigate routines, developmental momentum is more likely to continue building rather than reset with every classroom change. The goal is not simply smoother scheduling, but preserving developmental momentum across transitions. Programs reviewing continuity systems now can use the Director’s Field Guide to Year-End Transitions to strengthen classroom alignment, educator readiness, and transition planning before fall preparation begins. Why Do Strong Programs Focus on Familiarity During Transitions? Familiarity often helps children move through transitions with greater confidence because connected classroom experiences reduce uncertainty during periods of change. During enrollment shifts, children may already be adjusting to new spaces, schedules, educators, and classroom expectations. Familiar routines, instructional language, and relationship practices can help transitions feel more stable while children adapt to new environments. You can often create that consistency by aligning classroom expectations and support practices across age groups before transitions happen. When children recognize routines and developmental expectations across classrooms, they can spend more time engaging in relationships, exploration, and learning instead of relearning how the environment works. This consistency also supports educators. Aligned classroom systems help teaching teams extend learning more quickly while reducing the need to reinvent routines independently at every transition. How Do Strong Programs Support Educators During Summer Transitions? You can better support educators during summer transitions by creating systems that reduce unnecessary variability across classrooms and schedules. Transition challenges often increase when educators must independently recreate routines, communication systems, and classroom expectations during already active enrollment periods. Aligned support systems help your team carry successful classroom practices forward rather than starting over at every transition. Professional learning also remains connected to active operations. During summer transitions, educator support often works best when it fits naturally into existing schedules rather than relying on large blocks of uninterrupted time. This may include: Short implementation-focused learning opportunities Classroom-connected coaching Differentiated support for new and returning educators These support structures help educators maintain consistency across classrooms while continuing to build on the relationships and learning experiences children already recognize. What Do Strong Programs Measure During Summer Transitions? As you move through summer transitions, it can help to measure continuity signals alongside operational completion. Schedules may be finalized and classrooms fully staffed, yet transitions can still feel disconnected when continuity breaks down beneath those systems. Looking closely at how children, educators, and families experience classroom changes often reveals whether alignment is consistent across environments. Important continuity indicators often include: How confidently children engage in new classroom environments Whether routines transfer smoothly between age groups How consistently developmental expectations remain aligned Whether educators can extend learning instead of rebuilding routines Whether classroom momentum continues through staffing changes When continuity remains visible across these experiences, transitions often feel more stable for children and more manageable for teaching teams as fall preparation begins accelerating. How Do Strong Programs Prepare for Fall Without Starting Over? You can prepare more effectively for fall by extending the momentum your classrooms have already built instead of rebuilding systems from the beginning each year. Rather than unnecessarily resetting classroom structures, many successful transition plans carry forward routines, instructional approaches, and communication systems that children and educators already recognize and trust. When developmental expectations and classroom experiences stay connected across age groups, children often return to learning environments that feel more familiar and stable. Educators can also spend more time building relationships and extending learning instead of recreating classroom systems from scratch. Reflection becomes
Why Developmental Handoffs Fall Apart at Year-End and How to Fix Them
Developmental handoffs shape how children experience the next stage of learning, and when transition support is not fully connected across your program, year-end planning can become much harder to carry forward consistently. These transitions often become more difficult when important understandings about children remain within individual classrooms rather than moving with them across the Birth-to-Five journey. As you prepare for year-end transitions, you may already recognize how much insight your educators hold about how children communicate, regulate emotions, engage socially, and navigate classroom routines each day. The challenge is often preserving that understanding while staffing, schedules, enrollment, and classroom assignments continue shifting simultaneously. Children experience emotional transitions before they experience academic ones. That is why continuity matters so deeply during year-end transitions. Why Do Developmental Handoffs Fall Apart at Year-End? Developmental handoffs often fall apart at year-end when important developmental insight depends too heavily on individual educators instead of systems that support continuity across your entire program. As you move through transition planning, it can be easy for logistics such as classroom assignments, staffing changes, enrollment movement, and summer scheduling to take priority. Those operational responsibilities matter, but continuity challenges often appear beneath those systems when classroom expectations and developmental practices vary between environments. The deeper challenge involves continuity across the learning experience itself. Programs often discover that classrooms describe developmental growth differently or approach social-emotional support inconsistently across age groups. One classroom may prioritize relationship-based routines while another introduces entirely new expectations without preserving familiar emotional supports. Documentation may clearly capture developmental outcomes while overlooking the classroom experiences that supported that growth. Important developmental insight can get lost between classrooms when continuity systems are not aligned. Educators then spend valuable time rebuilding routines and relationships instead of extending learning momentum immediately. Effective transition planning focuses less on transferring paperwork and more on preserving connected classroom experiences. What Does Strong Developmental Continuity Look Like? Strong developmental continuity helps you create classroom experiences where children move into new environments with familiar expectations, connected support systems, and aligned classroom practices already in place. Instead of rebuilding confidence every year, children continue to build on existing strengths and routines. This continuity often shows up in small but meaningful patterns throughout the program. Children engage more quickly in new classrooms because routines feel recognizable. Emotional regulation strategies transfer naturally because classroom language and support practices remain connected across age groups. Connected learning environments often create patterns such as: Children transitioning into new classrooms with confidence Familiar routines reducing transition hesitation Educators extending learning earlier in the year Families feeling more secure during transitions These patterns show that continuity is operational rather than accidental. Children often transition more confidently when classroom systems feel connected instead of isolated. Familiar instructional language, relationship practices, and developmental expectations create stability while supporting ongoing growth. This also protects instructional momentum. Educators spend less time rebuilding systems and more time deepening learning because developmental understanding already exists across classrooms. How Can Programs Strengthen Developmental Handoffs Without Adding More Work? You can strengthen developmental handoffs by simplifying communication and fostering greater alignment across classrooms rather than adding layers of documentation. During year-end transitions, it is easy for handoff systems to become overly complex because more documentation can feel like stronger preparation. In practice, the most useful developmental information is often the insight educators can apply immediately within daily classroom experiences. The most useful handoffs focus on insights that help the next educator respond effectively from the beginning. This often includes understanding which routines help children feel secure, how children communicate stress or uncertainty, and what classroom structures support participation and independence. The goal is not to collect more information, but to make the developmental context easier to apply across classrooms. Shared developmental language also strengthens alignment. When educators across toddler, preschool, and Pre-K classrooms consistently describe growth and developmental understanding, transfer of knowledge between age groups is more natural. Aligned curriculum systems make continuity easier to sustain because instructional language, routines, and relationship practices stay connected across age groups. Connected Birth-to-Five learning experiences can help strengthen continuity across classrooms. How Do Strong Programs Protect Emotional Continuity During Transitions? You can support emotional continuity during transitions by maintaining familiar relationship practices, classroom routines, and developmental expectations across environments. Even positive classroom changes can create uncertainty for children when routines, spaces, and relationships begin shifting at the same time. Familiar classroom language and connected support practices often help children recognize stability more quickly during transitions. Consistent emotional support routines and shared relationship-building practices help children recognize stability in new environments. Teaching teams also intentionally carry relational insight forward. Developmental handoffs include insight into how children engage emotionally with classroom experiences, not just academic progress. This often includes understanding: Which routines support regulation How children communicate frustration What classroom interactions build confidence This type of developmental context transfer helps children experience continuity immediately, rather than rebuilding emotional confidence over several weeks. Continuity systems become especially important during classroom transitions and during daily operations. The Director’s Field Guide to Year-End Transitions is designed to help leaders navigate developmental handoffs, family communication, staffing shifts, and classroom alignment during one of the busiest periods of the program year. Why Is Family Communication One of the Strongest Continuity Tools? Family communication often strengthens continuity when you help families see transitions as part of an ongoing developmental progression rather than a disconnected classroom change. Strong communication helps families understand how growth carries forward across every stage of learning. Many transition conversations focus primarily on logistics such as classroom assignments, schedule updates, and summer planning. Families need those details, but continuity communication creates something more valuable: developmental clarity. Strong programs help families recognize which developmental strengths children are carrying forward, how routines remain connected across classrooms, and why children are ready for the next stage of learning. Families often feel more secure when classroom language, emotional support strategies, and developmental expectations remain consistent across age groups. This consistency reinforces trust while helping transitions feel stable and predictable. Clear communication
How to Plan Summer Transitions Without Disrupting Your Program’s Day-to-Day Operations
Summer enrollment planning often means you are balancing multiple operational priorities at the same time. Classroom movement, enrollment shifts, staffing adjustments, family communication, and fall planning continue to move forward while children still rely on stable routines, strong relationships, and meaningful learning experiences each day. During this season, you may start noticing whether continuity feels connected across the entire program or whether consistency depends more heavily on individual classrooms. The strongest transition systems help you maintain alignment while learning continues across every classroom and the relationships children depend on. That distinction matters because the goal of summer planning is not to rebuild systems from the beginning. It is to help you protect the momentum your educators and children already built throughout the year while preparing classrooms, families, and teaching teams for what comes next. What Does Planning Summer Transitions Reveal About Program Alignment? Summer transition planning often reveals how connected your classrooms, educators, and operational systems truly feel once routines begin shifting. During most of the year, smaller inconsistencies between classrooms may stay hidden because daily schedules remain stable. Transition season makes those differences more visible while learning continues in real-time. As children move between age groups and educators shift responsibilities, programs begin to assess whether classroom expectations are aligned, developmental information is transferred clearly, and families experience continuity rather than fragmentation. Programs with strong alignment systems often create familiarity across classrooms before transitions even happen. Shared instructional language, connected classroom routines, and consistent social-emotional practices help children move into new environments with greater confidence because the learning experience already feels connected. Programs with strong alignment systems prioritize: Shared instructional expectations across classrooms Familiar routines that children recognize between age groups Connected communication practices across educators and families This approach allows transitions to feel like developmental progression rather than operational disruption. How Can Transition Planning Happen Without Separating It From Daily Operations? Transition planning becomes more sustainable when you can integrate it into the systems your team already uses, rather than treating it as a separate initiative layered onto an already busy season. You may notice that transition pressure increases when planning is isolated from daily operations rather than embedded in existing routines, conversations, and classroom systems. Stronger operational models integrate transition work directly into routines teams already use consistently. Reflection, preparation, and continuity planning happen gradually instead of being compressed into the final weeks of the year. Leadership meetings become opportunities for alignment conversations about transitions. Classroom walkthroughs help identify continuity gaps between age groups before transitions happen. Enrollment discussions naturally connect to staffing flexibility and classroom structure planning. This creates an operational flow rather than another operational layering. When transition systems are already embedded into daily operations, your team can respond to change more calmly while classrooms remain active and children continue learning. This becomes especially important in Birth-to-Five environments where developmental progression depends on connected experiences between classrooms instead of isolated transitions between age groups. Why Is Planning Summer Transitions Important for Classroom Continuity? Planning summer transitions helps you preserve stable classroom experiences while children continue learning, building relationships, and moving through daily routines throughout the season. Strong continuity systems reduce the time children spend relearning routines, expectations, and classroom structures after moving to a new environment. Many programs focus heavily on preparing children emotionally for a new classroom, but strong connected systems also help the environment itself feel connected and familiar. Children often transition more confidently when routines, instructional language, and classroom expectations remain consistent across age groups. Programs using aligned Birth-to-Five instructional systems often notice smoother transitions because developmental continuity already exists across classrooms. Educators can continue to extend learning rather than rebuild classroom systems from scratch. How Can Developmental Handoffs Create Better Continuity Across Classrooms? Developmental handoffs become more effective when they focus on preserving continuity rather than collecting large amounts of documentation. Many educators already hold meaningful insight into how children communicate, engage socially, navigate routines, and respond to support throughout the day. The challenge is ensuring that those insights move clearly and practically from one classroom to the next while instruction continues throughout the summer. Strong programs shift the focus away from completion-based reporting and toward developmental continuity. Instead of focusing primarily on what documentation still needs to be completed before summer, stronger systems prioritize what information will help the next educator confidently support the child from the first day. Helpful developmental handoffs often focus on: Which routines help the child feel secure What communication approaches feel most familiar Which strategies support participation and confidence This creates smoother transitions because educators begin with a practical understanding rather than generalized summaries, strengthening connected progression across age groups and supporting stronger collaboration between teaching teams. The Director’s Field Guide to Year-End Transitions helps leadership teams reflect on connected systems across classrooms as they prepare for the next season without disrupting active learning environments. What Is the Most Overlooked Operational Challenge During Summer Enrollment Shifts? One of the most overlooked operational challenges during enrollment shifts is maintaining instructional consistency while staffing structures and classroom assignments continue to evolve. You may already have plans in place for ratio adjustments and scheduling changes, but continuity often becomes harder to maintain when classroom expectations, routines, and support systems vary across environments. Children experience operational changes through routines, relationships, and classroom rhythm. Even temporary staffing adjustments can affect how stable a learning environment feels when classroom systems vary significantly across environments. Strong programs reduce this friction by creating continuity that exists beyond individual classrooms. Shared instructional expectations, connected developmental language, and aligned communication systems help classrooms remain recognizable even when staffing flexibility becomes necessary. Programs with connected systems also experience greater flexibility because educators move within aligned learning environments rather than entirely separate classroom cultures. This helps maintain consistency while classrooms remain active and learning continues throughout the transition process. How Can Family Communication Support Smoother Summer Transitions? Family communication becomes more effective when it reinforces continuity rather than focusing solely on change. Families often feel more confident
Talking to Families About Kindergarten Readiness When the Research Is Behind You
A family stops you at pickup with a seemingly simple question. Their child has been in your curriculum since October, and they want to know: Is she going to be ready for kindergarten? You’ve watched this child move through morning routines with growing confidence. You’ve seen her build sentences in the spring that weren’t there in the fall. You have the answer. What you may not have is the language to give it in a way that actually helps. When families ask about kindergarten readiness, they’re rarely asking for data. They want to feel sure their child is going to be okay. Independent research from Johns Hopkins University found meaningful kindergarten-readiness gains for children in Guilford County classrooms using the Frog Street Pre-K curriculum under real classroom conditions. Here’s how to use those findings in conversations that give families what they’re really looking for. What Did The Research Actually Find, and Why Does It Matter For These Conversations? In 2026, Johns Hopkins researchers studied the Frog Street PreK curriculum as it was implemented in Guilford County Schools, North Carolina, a diverse, multiethnic district serving about 67,000 children across 124 schools, as detailed in the full efficacy study report. Children in Guilford County classrooms using the Frog Street PreK curriculum demonstrated statistically significant differences in kindergarten readiness outcomes, with an effect size of +0.26 (approximately a 10 percentile gain) and positive gains across all five domains measured. Children learning English showed an effect size of +0.62, indicating a larger observed difference within that subgroup and statistical significance at p < .001, though based on a smaller subgroup. You don’t need to recite those numbers to a parent at pickup. Knowing they exist, though, changes how you plan the conversation. You’re not reassuring families based on instinct, but standing behind something that independent researchers confirmed in classrooms where children were using the Frog Street Pre-K curriculum in Guilford County Schools under real classroom conditions. Download the Educator Research Summary: Plain-Language Findings You Can Use with Families How Do You Translate Research Findings Into Language Families Can Actually Use? Most families aren’t looking for “effect sizes.” They just want honest reassurance backed by science. Follow these best practices to weave this data into family conversations. Lead With What You’ve Observed, Then Connect It To The Research Start with something specific to the child, like, “One of the things I’ve noticed about her this year is how much her language has grown. She’s asking longer questions and staying with a conversation. That connects to what researchers found when they studied children in Guilford County classrooms using the Frog Street PreK curriculum. Across the areas they measured, researchers observed positive kindergarten-readiness differences.” Use Plain Language The study measured five areas: language and literacy, math, thinking and reasoning, social-emotional development (SED), and physical development. You don’t have to name them as “domains,” though. You can say, “The researchers looked at how children were doing with language, with early math, with how they think through problems, and with how they handle their feelings and get along with others. They also looked at physical development. Across all five areas, researchers observed positive differences in kindergarten-readiness outcomes.” Address The English Language Finding If It’s Relevant If a family’s child is learning English alongside another language at home, that finding deserves specific mention. You can say, “There’s actually a part of this research that I think is especially relevant for your family. The study looked specifically at children who are learning English. The research found a larger observed difference within the subgroup of children learning English, which is meaningful for families in your situation.” Be Honest About What The Research Does and Doesn’t Show No study can predict what will happen to any individual child. Don’t use the data as a guarantee that their child will excel in kindergarten. Honesty is always the best policy. Say something like, “This research doesn’t tell us exactly what kindergarten will look like for any one child, but it does tell us that the curriculum she’s in is doing what it’s designed to do.” What Do Families Most Want To Hear? When parents ask about kindergarten readiness, they’re really asking you if their child will be okay. They want confirmation from you as someone who knows both the research and their child. The most useful thing you can do is name that underlying question and answer it directly. You can say, “What I can tell you is that we are looking at the skills kindergarten readiness assessments measure, including language, early math, problem solving, social-emotional development, and physical development. Independent research found positive kindergarten-readiness differences across the areas measured compared with comparable children in the district. That does not guarantee any one child’s experience, but it is meaningful evidence that this curriculum is designed to support the skills your child needs next.” Download the Educator Research Summary: The Guilford County Findings and How to Use Them in Your Curriculum The conversations families have with you about kindergarten readiness are some of the most consequential ones they’ll have in these early years. When families ask, you now have independent research behind your answer. Frequently Asked Questions What should I say when a family asks if their child is ready for kindergarten? Acknowledge the anxiety, answer the question directly, and don’t lead with data before you’ve led with the child. Start with something specific you’ve observed about their child, then connect it to what researchers found. Let parents know that researchers observed positive differences across the developmental areas measured in the study. Be honest, the research shows patterns across many children. It doesn’t predict outcomes for any individual child. How do I explain research to a family without using academic language? You don’t need to use the term “effect size” at all. Instead, say, “Researchers compared children using the Frog Street Pre-K curriculum with similar children using another pre-K curriculum. The study found measurable differences in kindergarten-readiness outcomes for children using the Frog Street Pre-K
How to Use Research Evidence in a Curriculum Evaluation or Board Presentation
Bringing research into a curriculum evaluation is one step. Using that research in a board presentation requires a different level of clarity. In formal decision-making settings, research must be communicated in a way that supports explanation, justification, and confidence. Board members focus on outcomes, relevance, and whether the evidence holds up under scrutiny. The value of the research depends on how clearly it is presented and how accurately it reflects the study. Three moments tend to define how research is received. A study must be referenced without extending its conclusions. An ESSA designation must be explained in terms that connect to funding and accountability. Findings must be organized so they strengthen a recommendation rather than complicate it. The goal is to make the evidence clear, usable, and defensible. What Makes Research Usable in a Formal Curriculum Decision? Research becomes usable when it directly answers the questions guiding the decision. Those questions are consistent. Does the evidence show measurable gains in kindergarten readiness? Was the study conducted in a setting that reflects actual classrooms? Can the findings be explained clearly in a board discussion or funding review? The most relevant research meets these conditions. It is conducted by an independent institution, which establishes credibility. It takes place in real classroom environments, where implementation reflects typical conditions. It measures outcomes that align with how children are assessed at kindergarten entry across developmental domains, including Social-Emotional Development (SED). When research is conducted in a large, diverse public school district under real classroom conditions, the findings provide insight into how curricula function in practice. That context supports interpretation because it mirrors the conditions under which decisions are made. Research becomes usable when it can move from documentation to explanation without losing accuracy. If findings are clearly described, linked to outcomes, and supported with context, they can carry through a board discussion with confidence. For curriculum leaders, this is the operational test: can the research support the recommendation, withstand questions, and connect to instructional, funding, and accountability priorities? How Should a Quasi-Experimental Study Be Explained Without Overstating Its Findings? A quasi-experimental study should be clearly explained while remaining within the research’s limits. Start with a direct description of the design. Researchers compared outcomes for children across two preschool curriculum groups, then measured readiness at kindergarten entry. This provides a clear structure without relying on technical language. Example language: “This study compares children in two similar groups and looks at how prepared they were for kindergarten after experiencing different curricula.” Next, present findings using precise language. Statements such as “the study found” or “the results indicate” accurately reflect the research. Avoid extending conclusions beyond the data, since quasi-experimental studies show meaningful differences but do not establish universal outcomes across all contexts. Example language: “The results indicate a measurable difference in readiness between the two groups, based on the design of the study.” Context strengthens the explanation. Including the study setting, population, and comparison conditions helps clarify how the findings should be interpreted and applied. Example language: “Because this study was conducted in a large public school district, the findings reflect real classroom conditions that may be similar to those in many districts.” This kind of language protects credibility. It communicates the value of the findings without implying that the same results are guaranteed in every setting. Additional methodology details, comparison conditions, and statistical findings are available in the full Johns Hopkins study report. What Does ESSA Tier 3 Mean in a Board-Level Conversation? ESSA Tier 3 indicates that a curriculum has promising evidence of a positive impact based on a well-designed study. ESSA stands for the Every Student Succeeds Act, a federal law that sets expectations for how schools use research to support funding and accountability decisions. In a board-level conversation, ESSA helps answer a practical question: Does this research meet a recognized standard that allows it to be used in funding applications and curriculum approvals? A Tier 3 designation means the study provides promising evidence of impact under real classroom conditions. This designation is assigned by the study’s researchers, not by Frog Street, ensuring the rating reflects the research rather than the curriculum provider. ESSA Tier 3 helps link curriculum selection to Title I documentation, grant applications, and other approval processes that require evidence-based justification. When presented as a credential, it reinforces that the decision is grounded in research that meets established criteria. Programs preparing for funding reviews or curriculum approval discussions can reference the ESSA Tier 3 certificate directly. How Can Research Findings Be Presented Clearly Without Losing Important Context? Clarity comes from focusing on what the findings mean while preserving the conditions in which they were produced. Effective presentations highlight a limited set of results that directly support the decision. These typically include overall readiness outcomes, results across developmental domains, and patterns that reflect the populations being served. Each finding should include an interpretation. A metric alone does not convey meaning; a clear explanation of what it represents helps the audience understand its significance. For example, research findings can be translated in a way that maintains accuracy while improving clarity: An overall effect size of +0.26 can be described as a meaningful difference in kindergarten readiness between groups A subgroup effect size of +0.62 for English learners can be presented as a larger observed difference within that population, statistically significant at p < .001 The English learner (ELL) subgroup was smaller than the overall sample, which should be considered when interpreting this result. Referencing the study context, such as a large public school district, helps connect findings to real classroom conditions Example language: “The study found a meaningful improvement in overall readiness, with an even larger observed difference for English learners, although that subgroup was smaller and should be interpreted with that context in mind.” Presenting findings in this way allows the audience to understand both scale and context while keeping the data grounded in the study. The Decision-Maker’s Guide to the Guilford County Efficacy Study can help carry this research into
What The Data Shows: A Plain-Language Guide To The Frog Street Guilford County Efficacy Study
A kindergarten educator reviewing intake assessments at the start of the school year sees the data before she meets the children. The data tells part of the story, but they don’t say whether the preparation those children received was grounded in evidence and supported through intentional curriculum implementation or simply in tradition. Fortunately, independent research can now tell educators how prepared children are for the next step. That is why independent research matters. It gives educators, district leaders, and decision-makers a clearer way to understand whether a curriculum is connected to measurable kindergarten-readiness outcomes in real classrooms. The challenge is that most evidence about the curriculum is produced by the companies that sell it. That’s not always a problem, but it does mean that when an independent institution publishes a study, it carries a different weight. A superintendent can bring a Johns Hopkins University finding to a school board with greater confidence because the source is external to the curriculum provider. Boards wonder whether investing in Pre-K moves children forward. Independent research suggests that high-quality Pre-K curriculum implementation can make a measurable difference. Published in May 2026 and conducted in a large, diverse public school district under real classroom conditions, the Guilford County efficacy study examined kindergarten-readiness outcomes for children in Guilford County Schools using the Frog Street Pre-K curriculum. The findings do not suggest that every district will produce identical results. Implementation, staffing, student population, and local context always matter. What the study does provide is a credible, independently conducted reference point for understanding what happened when Frog Street Pre-K was implemented in real public-school classrooms. Key Findings At A Glance +0.26 Effect size Overall kindergarten readiness ~10 Percentile gain Gain at kindergarten entry +0.62 English learning effect Larger observed subgroup effect +0.31 Physical development Statistically significant Source: Grant, Cook & Ross (2026), Johns Hopkins University CRRE. Study conducted in a large, diverse district under real classroom conditions. What Did The Johns Hopkins Study Find? The study followed children who attended Guilford County Schools PreK classrooms using the Frog Street PreK curriculum in North Carolina into their kindergarten year. Guilford County is the third-largest school district in the state, serving about 67,000 children across 124 schools, and the study focused on the cohort of children who attended PreK in 2023 to 2024 and entered kindergarten in 2024 to 2025. Families applied to the broader NC Pre-K program in Guilford County rather than to a specific curriculum program, and families were unaware of curriculum assignment during site selection. Placement decisions considered both demonstrated need and family site preferences. Researchers compared 223 Guilford County children in classrooms using the Frog Street Pre-K curriculum across 9 schools to 641 Guilford County children in classrooms using another preschool curriculum across 41 schools, using the North Carolina Early Learning Inventory to measure readiness. The study also controlled for the fact that children were not randomly assigned to classrooms, which is a common challenge in real-world school research. The study also notes that instructors using Frog Street PreK were in their first and second year of implementation during the study period. The study found that children who attended Guilford County classrooms using the Frog Street Pre-K curriculum scored statistically significantly higher on the NC-ELI composite at kindergarten entry. The effect size was +0.26, which Johns Hopkins described as educationally meaningful. The raw score advantage was +0.37 NC-ELI points. The study also found positive gains across all five developmental domains measured by the NC-ELI, not just one. For boards considering the value of Pre-K, this study provides one independently conducted example of how curriculum implementation may support multiple areas of kindergarten readiness under real classroom conditions. What Does a 10 Percentile Gain Mean In Practice? Effect sizes are useful to researchers. They’re less useful to a curriculum director who needs to explain a curriculum decision to a parent or a school board. So here’s the translation: a child who would have scored at the 50th percentile on kindergarten readiness tests would score closer to the 60th percentile after attending a Pre-K class using the Frog Street Pre-K curriculum. That’s approximately a 10 percentile gain over what you’d expect from the comparison curriculum. For a curriculum serving 100 children, that makes a meaningful difference. That does not mean every child will move exactly 10 percentile points. It means the observed effect size can be translated into a practical estimate that helps leaders understand the magnitude of the finding. What Did The Study Find For Children Learning English? Children learning English in Guilford County classrooms using the Frog Street Pre-K curriculum showed an effect size of +0.62, indicating a larger observed difference within that subgroup and statistical significance at p < .001. That finding matters for several reasons. The study population reflected a diverse, multi-ethnic district, and the English learner (ELL) subgroup, while smaller than the overall sample, still demonstrated statistically significant outcomes within the context of the study. Johns Hopkins found that English learners in Guilford County classrooms using the Frog Street Pre-K curriculum showed stronger kindergarten-readiness outcomes compared with English learners in the comparison group. While results can vary across districts and implementation settings, this finding may be relevant for leaders evaluating curriculum support for children learning English as a second language. For funding and evaluation conversations, this point matters. Districts and early childhood programs are often asked to show how curriculum decisions support children with diverse language backgrounds. This study provides one independently conducted evidence point that may help inform those discussions. Download the Research Summary for Leaders Full findings, plain-language effect size explanations, and ESSA documentation in one place. What Do The Domain-Level Outcomes Mean for Everyday Classroom Experience? The NC-ELI measures five developmental domains: Language and Literacy, Mathematics, Cognitive Development, Social-Emotional Development (SED), and Physical Development. Guilford County children using the Frog Street Pre-K curriculum showed positive gains across all five. The domain with a statistically significant finding was Physical Development, with an effect size of +0.31 and a p-value of less
