Jun 18, 2025
New backpack. New schedule. New faces. For students, the start of a new school year can feel less like a fresh chapter and more like stepping into the unknown.
To mitigate their stress, many districts host summertime transition events like ice cream socials and classroom open houses. These time-honored traditions set the tone for some of the most important experiences of students’ lives. Decades of research have shown how meaningful a successful transition from one grade or school to another is for both academic achievement and emotional health.
School transitions stretch every domain of children’s development. For children entering elementary school, for example, sitting quietly in a chair or carrying a food tray from the cafeteria line to a table requires focus and determination to develop motor and body awareness skills. They are also learning to read (language development) and do math (cognitive development) while mastering executive function skills like self-control.
Researchers point out the transition from elementary to middle school or junior high is especially challenging because it lines up with early adolescence and all the cognitive, social, and emotional changes this stage of development brings. How well (or poorly) students adjust can determine their future academic achievement.
Without a single source of truth for student data, educators often start the year without access to critical insights from the previous grade. Otus changes that.
In Otus, data provides insight into each student's academic progress, learning preferences, behavior patterns, and social-emotional development. Instead of starting from scratch, teachers can begin the year with a well-rounded picture of:
- Strengths and areas for growth in core subjects
- Preferred learning strategies and accommodations
- Behavioral supports or interventions that worked
- SEL benchmarks or concerns
- Communication preferences for families
Providing safety and support
Stress over school performance and uncertainty about the future are among the strongest predictors of anxiety and depression in adolescents. But even at the elementary age, academic anxiety can become multidimensional with symptoms such as lack of concentration, withdrawal, task avoidance, and difficulty solving problems that worsen over time.
Integrated frameworks such as Multi-Tiered Systems of Supports (MTSS)—which Otus is designed to support—ensure educators can create and track personalized strategies for addressing students’ diverse needs through data-based decision-making around interventions and resource allocation.
Factors schools can control
Many of the factors in a successful transition are outside educators’ control. These wildcards include children’s existing beliefs about their learning environment, their emotional responses to change, their relationships with peers, and their social support network.
But school administrators and teachers can shape many other variables, including opportunities to form relationships with supportive adults, class size, and classroom structure. They can foster welcoming environments, facilitate a sense of belonging, and explain what to expect in new, unfamiliar settings. They can prepare students for the new autonomy they will experience—and the higher expectations and academic standards that go along with it. All of these factors can impact students’ well-being and achievement.
School staff often start the transition process before the end of the year with articulation meetings where teachers have conversations about:
- Academic and behavior support strategies for individual students
- Behavior management strategies that work for a cohort of students
- Portfolios of individual work showing progress
The consolidated data in the Otus student profile serves as a bridge, ensuring that all information about a student goes from one teacher to the next as they continue their academic journey. With Otus, educators don’t have to wait until fall to understand incoming students. Our Student Profile delivers a holistic view of each learner—academics, behavior, SEL, and more—making transitions smoother and supports more personalized.
Imagine being a teacher who learns through Otus during the first week of school that the behavior problems John demonstrated at the beginning of the previous school year improved over the following months through an intervention. That teacher may examine the plan and figure out a way to keep the progress moving forward this year, before problems manifest.
Otus provides a clear place to record and access information that might otherwise stay under the radar until a student is further into the school year and already further behind. With Otus, teachers would know up front:
- Claire's math performance is best when she completes 5 or more Dreambox Math lessons per week.
- Tim seems to miss school on Mondays frequently.
- James does well with formative assessments but not summative.
All info that gives teachers an idea how to approach each student as an individual from day one.
If all students developed and learned at the same rate, having this individualized overview would be less important. But we are all beautiful mosaics, so having academic and social-emotional learning data—and the context around it—benefits teachers in getting to know students so they can make customized plans, track milestones, and engage families in the learning journey.
Connecting home and school
Leaving behind what’s familiar in their child’s educational setting means a big adjustment for parents and caregivers, too. Keeping them informed strengthens the link between home and school—and Otus helps accomplish this from the start of the new school year.
For instance, teachers who have developed customized plans can share specific information with families about growth and learning expectations. When families receive proactive communications from school, they tend to feel more welcome and engaged, which leads to higher grades and test scores, increased graduation rates, better attendance, higher self-esteem, and other important student objectives.
By contrast, reactive communication about problems—especially before rapport is established with new educators and institutions—can inhibit home-school relationships. Fortunately, with tools like the Otus Family Gradebook, carryover from one grade and teacher to another becomes smoother over time.
An ice cream social is a great start, but real support lasts all year. With Otus, educators can ensure every student feels prepared, supported, and known—from day one to year’s end.
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