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28 Jun 2017
Report

The Impact of Transitional Kindergarten on California Students

Final Report From the Study of California’s Transitional Kindergarten Program

Karen Manship, Aleksandra Holod, Heather Quick, Burhan Ogut, Iliana Brodziak de los Reyes, Jennifer Anthony, Jodi Jacobson Chernoff, Alison Hauser, Alejandra Martin, Shannon Keuter, Emily Vontsolos, Elena Rein, and Emily Anderson

California’s Kindergarten Readiness Act of 2010 established transitional kindergarten (TK), the first year of a two-year kindergarten program for students affected by the change in the birthdate cutoff for entry into kindergarten from December 2 to September 1.

This final report from the program’s evaluation focuses on results from a five-year study. The study used a rigorous regression discontinuity design to examine whether TK, as a new approach to prekindergarten education for age-eligible students, leads to positive outcomes, for which students, and under what conditions. The findings are based on direct assessments of over 6,000 kindergarteners in California in the fall and spring of the 2014-15 and 2015-16 school years, surveys of their teachers, and statewide data on students’ English language proficiency.

Key Findings

  • TK gives students an advantage at kindergarten entry on a range of literacy and mathematics skills, including letter and word identification, phonological awareness, expressive vocabulary, problem solving, and knowledge of mathematical symbols and concepts.  Students who attended TK were also rated as more engaged by their teachers, compared to their peers. These advantages are notable given the large percentage (over 80%) of students in the comparison group who attended preschool while eligible students were enrolled in TK.
  • TK is effective for all groups of students who participated. It showed a particularly notable impact on language skills for English learners and mathematics skills for low-income students at kindergarten entry.
  • TK has no detectable impact on students’ executive function or incidence of problem behaviors at kindergarten entry.
    teacher reading to exuberant young students
    Watch a transitional kindergarten teacher describe his work with his young students, and hear Karen Manship describe how the program helps ensure children receive a strong start to their educational careers.
  • Impacts of TK are smaller at the end of kindergarten, though TK students continue to have an advantage over non-TK students on letter and word identification skills. Overall, non-TK students appeared to catch up with their TK peers on most measures, although both TK and comparison students demonstrated growth at or above what would be expected for their age on several assessments. The impact of TK on the literacy and mathematics skills of low-income and Hispanic students also persisted through kindergarten.
  • There was little variation in the impact of TK by classroom or instructional characteristics. Standalone classrooms were not significantly different from TK/kindergarten combination classrooms in their impact; half-day and full-day classrooms showed similar effects; and differences in assessed quality of teacher-child interactions did not change the program’s impact. These findings suggest TK’s positive impact for students may be driven by the characteristics that TK programs have in common (and that make TK a unique approach to prekindergarten): credentialed teachers with bachelor’s degrees, close alignment with kindergarten, and inclusion of students from all income-levels.
PDF icon The Impact of Transitional Kindergarten on California Students: Final Report (PDF)
PDF icon Research Brief: Summary of Findings from The Study of California’s Transitional Kindergarten Program (PDF)

Related Projects

tk image.jpg

Happy young students
Project

Study of California's Transitional Kindergarten Program

California's Transitional Kindergarten (TK) is intended to provide an additional year of early education for younger children, with the goal of promoting their success in school. The Heising-Simons Foundation and The David and Lucile Packard Foundation are partnering with AIR to study the impact of TK on children’s academic and social-emotional skills in kindergarten, and how these impacts are related to program quality characteristics.

Related Work

28 Jun 2017
Spotlight

How Transitional Kindergarten Helps Younger Children Prepare for School

Created in 2010 by the Kindergarten Readiness Act, transitional kindergarten offers younger children in California additional time to prepare for school. Transitional kindergarten provides an additional year of early education to approximately 120,000 children each year, with the goal of promoting their school readiness. Explore resources that show what we’ve learned about transitional kindergarten so far.
Topic: 
Social and Emotional Learning, Education, Early Childhood and Child Development
28 Jun 2017
News Release

AIR Study Finds California’s Transitional Kindergarten Gives All Students an Advantage for Kindergarten

Students who attend California’s transitional kindergarten (TK) program enter kindergarten with stronger mathematics and literacy skills and are more engaged in their learning than students who did not attend TK, according to a new study released today by AIR. The program provides advantages for all students, with particular benefits for English learners and low-income students, and its benefits hold up regardless of variations in instructional practices or classroom structure.
30 Jun 2017
Video

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teacher reading to exuberant young students

Transitional Kindergarten: Growing Children’s Early Academic Skills

Transitional kindergarten is a universal, age-based early childhood program in California that is intended to prepare five-year-olds for kindergarten. Karen Manship explains how student outcomes compare between those who attend transitional kindergarten and those who do not and how the program helps ensure children receive a strong start to their educational careers.
Topic: 
Education, Early Childhood and Child Development
21 Jun 2017
Infographic

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Infographic based on results from a study of California’s Transitional Kindergarten program compares literacy and math scores of students entering kindergarten

Does Transitional Kindergarten Improve School Readiness?

Transitional kindergarten is a universal, age-based early childhood program in California that is intended to prepare five-year-olds for kindergarten.
Topic: 
Education, Early Childhood and Child Development

Further Reading

  • Impact of California's Transitional Kindergarten Program, 2013-14
  • The Impact of Transitional Kindergarten on English Learner Students
  • AIR Study Finds California’s Transitional Kindergarten Gives All Students an Advantage for Kindergarten
  • The Impact of Transitional Kindergarten on Kindergarten Readiness
  • How Transitional Kindergarten Helps Younger Children Prepare for School
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Karen Manship

Karen Manship

Principal Researcher

Heather Quick

Managing Researcher

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Education
Early Childhood and Child Development

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