"Our aim in this book is to provide a comprehensive treatment of an area of knowledge that has been neglected for too long and is need of systematic attention. We want to help organize and frame the debate on critical issues regarding the early primary education of an increasingly diverse group of young children." The above quote is from the preface of a new book, The Transition to Kindergarten, which has been published as the first in a series by the National Center for Early Development & Learning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.