Experts Tackle Transition to Kindergarten

Charlottesville, Va.

In 1989, the nation's governors and President Bush met in this hilly college town to discuss the future of American education. Out of that summit came six (later expanded to eight) national goals, the first of which is that by 2000, every child will start school ready to learn.

Almost nine years later, policymakers and experts on child development who gathered here for a recent conference spent more time trying to avoid the terms "readiness" and "ready to learn" than they did...