Transitional kindergarten nearly universal in California, study shows
Published: June 18, 2013
California school districts are quickly progressing toward full implementation of transitional kindergarten, a study released last week by the American Institutes of Research shows.
According to “Transitional Kindergarten in California: Initial Findings from the First Year of Implementation,” nearly nine of every 10 districts that offered kindergarten classes in the school year that’s now drawing to a close also offered transitional kindergarten. “The 89 percent of districts offering transitional kindergarten serve 96 percent of California’s kindergarten population,” AIR reported in a press release announcing the study, which is based on survey responses from approximately three-quarters of districts with kindergarten enrollment.
Another 7 percent of districts indicated that they had planned to offer transitional kindergarten, but either no students were eligible or no families enrolled in the voluntary program, according to AIR’s five-page report, the first in a planned series on transitional kindergarten in California.
Kindergarten readiness
State lawmakers enacted Senate Bill 1381 in 2010 in response to longstanding concerns that children born late in the year wound up entering kindergarten before they were ready. The bill “gradually moves the [kindergarten] birthday cutoff from Dec. 2 to Sept. 1, giving children who turn 5 in the fall a new option,” this article in the Spring 2011 issue of CSBA’s California Schools magazine explained. “Schools will receive Average Daily Attendance funding for students in transitional kindergarten, which will now be part of a two-year kindergarten program. The curriculum will be aligned to the kindergarten content standards, but delivered at a pace more appropriate to the child’s age and stage of development.”
The AIR study indicates that a quarter of districts with transitional kindergarten increased their enrollments by expanding the eligibility window sooner than required by the legislation to include students with October or September birthdays. Researchers also found that a number of districts—approximately 15 percent—had begun implementing transitional kindergarten one or even two years earlier than required by SB 1381.
Districts offered transitional kindergarten both in stand-alone and combination classrooms. Over half—57 percent—combined their transitional kindergarten students in classrooms with kindergarten students; 35 percent offered stand-alone transitional kindergarten classrooms, and 8 percent offered both stand-alone and combination classrooms.
Classroom configuration was associated with district size: Ninety-five percent of small districts—those with 50 or fewer kindergarteners—offered transitional kindergarten only in combination classrooms.