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Despite expanding eligibility requirements, California鈥檚 transitional kindergarten program showed declining rates of participation, according to a recent report by the .

After the state launched the program in 2021, school districts offering optional transitional kindergarten began incrementally accepting younger 4-year-olds into the program in 2022 鈥� an expansion from the original requirement that students must be 5 or turning 5 in the fall. The report examined recent enrollment trends in the program to patterns before the expansion and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Although the program showed an overall increase in enrollment in recent years, the rate of participation in transitional kindergarten dropped by 13% since before the pandemic. In the 2023-24 school year, the state鈥檚 transitional kindergarten program served over 150,000 students out of an estimated 215,000 eligible children, roughly 70% participation, according to the report.

Latino children showed the largest drop in participation, by 18%, while participation among Black children fell by 12%. Dual language learners had an 18% decline compared to pre-pandemic participation, and children from Pacific Islander, Native American, and Black communities also enrolled in transitional kindergarten at lower rates than their white and Asian counterparts.

Declining participation may be attributed to family preferences for availability and duration, location, learning environment and curriculum for younger 4-year-olds, according to the report. Although most school districts offer the program, basic aid districts, which are funded mostly through property taxes rather than state funding, are also less likely to offer transitional kindergarten due to the expense, the report states.

鈥淲hat might suffice for a nearly five-year-old is inadequate for an early four-year-old who may need help with toileting, opportunities for rest, and lots of play-based, behavioral learning,鈥� the report states. 鈥淥f the districts we interviewed, the top challenges included upgrading facilities to be age-appropriate, developing [transitional kindergarten] curriculum, and building staff and leadership capacity to accommodate early childhood education in K-12.鈥�

To draw in families, the report鈥檚 authors recommended that schools provide clear, accessible information about local transitional kindergarten programs to families, including location and after-care options, and that they transition from academic kindergarten-like curriculum to play-based curriculum to accommodate the developmental needs of younger 4-year-olds.

This was originally published on .

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