Transitional kindergarten

Transitional kindergarten is a school grade that serves as a bridge between preschool and kindergarten, functioning to provide students with time to develop fundamental skills needed for success in school in an age- and developmentally-appropriate setting.

Implementation in California

In California, the grade was created by the Kindergarten Readiness Act (SB 1381), which was authored by Senator Joseph Simitian and Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, and signed into law in 2010 by Gov. Schwarzenegger. The act also changed California’s relatively late kindergarten entry date from December 2 to September 1, so children enter kindergarten at age 5.^[1]

Transitional kindergarten is a part of the public school system and is free for families. Classes are taught by credentialed teachers from the K-12 system. Existing funding for these children with fall birthdays that would have been eligible for kindergarten under the old kindergarten entry dates is redirected to transitional kindergarten and used to employ existing teachers and classroom facilities.^[2]

The law phases in the new age requirement by moving the cutoff date one month a year for three years, beginning in the fall of 2012. At full implementation, approximately 125,000 children – including more than 52,000 English language learners and about 79,000 who attend Title I schools – will benefit from transitional kindergarten.

AIR, the American Institutes for Research, recently released a report on the first year of statewide TK, which finds that 89% of districts reported they offered transitional kindergarten, representing 96% of the state’s kindergarten population. An estimated 39,000 four-year-olds were served in the first year of implementation.

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