Transitional Kindergarten Kick-off
This year, schools across California will be launching their first classes of Transitional Kindergarten (or “TK”), the first new grade level created in the state in over one hundred years. TK, established by Senator Simitian’s SB 1381, the Kindergarten Readiness Act of 2010, provides age-appropriate instruction for four-year-olds who will not turn five in time for the state’s new, earlier age cut-off to start regular kindergarten. Senator Simitian will be visiting TK classrooms throughout the 11th Senate District this fall.
More information about Senator Simitian’s classroom visits and about TK, including a history of Kindergarten in California, is available in:
- the press release about Senator Simitian’s first TK visit, to George Miner Elementary in San Jose
- the SB 1381 bill page
Additional Background on the Kindergarten age change and Transitional Kindergarten
- PPIC Report on Changing the Kindergarten Cutoff Date
- RAND Research Brief on Kindergarten Age
- 2010 brief by the Legislative Analyst’s Office recommending a change in the Kindergarten age cut-off
- “Transitional Kindergarten Explained” by Preschool California
- a graphic explainer on TK’s Cost Neutrality