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11 Jun 2013
Brief

Transitional Kindergarten in California: A Review of the First Year

Initial Findings from the First Year of Implementation

Diana Mercado-Garcia, Heather Quick, Aleksandra Holod, and Karen Manship

Research suggests that providing high-quality early education experiences for young learners can support positive outcomes for these children, including higher achievement test scores and even higher graduation rates.

Transitional kindergarten (TK) aims to provide an additional year of kindergarten to California’s youngest students to help them obtain the necessary preparation to succeed in school. In the fall of 2012, districts began the rollout of TK by moving back the kindergarten entry age by one month and offering TK to children who turned five between November 2 and December 2, 2012.

AIR Transitional Kindergarten report June 2013Through an analysis of data from a survey of all elementary and unified districts in California, this research brief provides an initial glimpse of transitional kindergarten in its first year of statewide implementation. The study finds that the majority of districts in California implemented TK in 2012-13, serving approximately 39,000 students. While large districts were most likely to offer standalone TK classrooms, small districts with fewer students almost exclusively provided TK in combination classrooms. Future research briefs based on this continuing study will explore this variation as we describe the implementation of TK in greater depth at the district, school, and classroom levels.

PDF icon Research Brief: Transitional Kindergarten in California

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

11 Jun 2013
News Release

Report Gives First Look at Transitional Kindergarten Implementation in California

About 39,000 students enrolled this year in California's Transitional Kindergarten program, according to a study by AIR that looks at the program's first year of implementation.

Further Reading

  • Study of California’s Transitional Kindergarten Program: Report on the First Year of Implementation
  • Transitional Kindergarten in California: Comparing Transitional Kindergarten and Kindergarten Classrooms
  • Impact of California's Transitional Kindergarten Program, 2013-14
  • Transitional Kindergarten in California: Early Outreach, Enrollment, and Parent Perspectives
  • The Impact of Transitional Kindergarten on California Students
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Heather Quick

Managing Researcher
Aleksandra Holod

Aleksandra Holod

Senior Researcher

Topic

Education
Early Childhood and Child Development

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