蜜桃影视

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In 2021, Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers set out a plan to create the largest universal preschool program in the country for 4-year-olds, through a massive ramp-up of an elementary grade known as transitional kindergarten, or TK.

At a , Newsom  鈥渁 commitment that all 4-year-olds will get high quality instructional education,鈥� and said that the investment could close learning gaps. 鈥淧eople aren鈥檛 left behind, as often as they start behind,鈥� he added.

The state set a deadline that every district offer transitional kindergarten to all eligible 4-year-olds by fall 2025, and in the intervening years, schools have enrolled more than 175,000 children in TK. They鈥檝e also had  and  so that kids have enough space and quick access to .

LAist spoke to more than a half dozen early childhood researchers who say a key piece has been missing in the state鈥檚 implementation: California itself hasn鈥檛 evaluated the program as it’s expanded, nor does it have plans to going forward. This, despite studies showing how critical the early years are for a child鈥檚 learning, and research from another state鈥檚 public preschool program that found students tested lower on state assessments and had more behavioral problems compared to those who weren鈥檛 in that program..

鈥溾�奍t is a huge mistake to not evaluate the implementation of TK and whether or not the classrooms are providing developmentally appropriate practice,鈥� said Jade Jenkins, associate professor of education at the University of California, Irvine.

The criticism comes as California has invested , and is paying about  to administer the new grade level.

鈥溾�奧e need to know whether this investment is actually lifting kids. We know it’s a huge economic windfall for parents, and that’s a great boost for families. But is it lifting kids without government research?鈥� said Bruce Fuller, a professor emeritus of education and public policy at UC Berkeley.

A spokesperson for the California Department of Education said money for research has not been allocated in the state budget, and the department would 鈥渨elcome a legislative appropriation鈥� to 鈥渟tudy the impacts of TK on students and families.鈥�

鈥淎t this time, the Legislature and Governor have not appropriated funding for the CDE to conduct evaluations,鈥� the agency said.

It鈥檚 not the first time the agency has brought up the need for a study 鈥� especially as the program was rolling out statewide. A state official told LAist in 2022 , but they opted not to suggest how it should be funded.

鈥淵ou could launch a very high quality study at a tiny, tiny, tiny percentage of the total funding for that program, and that would help people figure out what we are actually offering our families and how to improve it 鈥� and that seems really important,鈥� said Alix Gallagher, 鈥奷irector of聽聽for the research organization Policy Analysis for California Education. 鈥淎s a taxpayer, I don’t find it acceptable that billions of dollars are being spent with no attention to how our systems can learn to use that in ways that are most beneficial for kids.”

TK experiences can look different school to school

The state sets , which can have a max of 24 kids and need a 10:1 student to adult ratio. Teachers must be credentialed with early childhood educational experience or units. And while the state  should learn in TK, it has 鈥� meaning  to more academic.

Lyse Messmer, a parent of a TK child in northeast L.A., has seen even variation between two schools her son has attended in the same area. His first program relied more on screen time and worksheets; Messmer transferred him to another program with more outdoor play. And the teacher at the former school had not previously taught TK, she said, which made for a harder transition into school.

But she said the overall experience has been beneficial for her child, and a welcome financial relief. 鈥淚 think the benefits of him getting used to a bigger classroom and like a bigger elementary school and navigating all that stuff for him has been really positive,鈥� she said.

Adding a new grade is a massive endeavor for districts. As in Messmer鈥檚 case, it can be especially hard to find teachers with experience teaching kids this age, said Austin Land, a researcher at UC Berkeley鈥檚 Equity and Excellence in Early Childhood.

鈥溾�奩ou can’t require that every kid that wants a TK spot gets a TK spot and then also require this workforce to exist that has all this preexisting training,鈥� Land said.

Land, who has been studying TK before the expansion, said he would like to know basic characteristics of TK classrooms today.

鈥淒o you have a sixth grade teacher that got reassigned leading your classroom or is it somebody who’s been working with little kids for a while?鈥� Land said. 鈥溾�奍s the teacher having a one-on-one interaction with a child or a one-on-two interaction with some children? Or are they spending most of their time up at the front?鈥�

Lack of data on quality

Without data, it鈥檚 hard to know what children are learning, said Allison Friedman-Krauss, an associate research professor at the  at Rutgers University.

鈥淲e want to make sure we’re investing in quality for kids. And one way to know that we’re doing it is to be able to monitor it鈥� we want to make sure that the state can sort of have a pulse on what’s going on in the classroom,鈥� she said.

The institute  across the country on a number of benchmarks of quality. According to the institute鈥檚 tracking, about two-thirds of public preschool programs in the country have a classroom observation system in place, she said. California鈥檚 TK program does not.

Researchers said it鈥檚 especially important to know what these youngest students are doing because early experiences can affect their learning later on.

鈥淎t the very least, we want to make sure it’s not doing harm,鈥� Jenkins said.

Tennessee: A cautionary tale

Researchers point to  as an example of where good intentions were not enough to benefit kids. The state has similar standards to what California put in place: max class sizes, low ratios, specialized teachers.

Dale Farran, a professor emeritus at Vanderbilt University, found in her research that children who attended the pre-K program ended up faring worse academically and behaviorally than their peers who didn鈥檛 attend. Farran said standards don鈥檛 guarantee quality, much less equity between students from different social, economic and racial backgrounds.

鈥淭hose structural elements 鈥奱re the easiest things for states to make rules about, but are they having the kind of interactions in the classrooms that will be positive for children? That鈥檚 much harder to put into place,鈥� she said.

Farran has said that one possible reason for this was the overly academic nature of the program and structured settings: kids sitting at desks and listening to a teacher up front, when kids this age need to move around and play.

Katie Flynn, a mom of a TK student in Pasadena, said while she鈥檚 had an overall positive experience with her son in TK this year, it still feels more like elementary school than preschool.

At the beginning of the year, her son wouldn鈥檛 drink his water all day, or avoided going to the bathroom until he got home, because teachers didn鈥檛 remind or prompt him like they did in private preschool.

鈥溾�奍 know it’s also his responsibility, right? Like he needs to listen to his body. So it’s a mutual, collaborative enterprise, but it just shows how limited this age group is in ensuring that that happens,鈥� she said.

What can the state do?

The California Department of Education said absent funding from the state Legislature for the department to evaluate the program, it convenes a regular group of early childhood researchers in the state to share their work into TK. But researchers LAist talked to from that group said that approach can only go so far.

Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, chair of the Assembly Education Committee, said he wasn鈥檛 familiar with the Tennessee study, but funding for evaluation is something he will look into.

鈥淲e definitely need to make sure that we’re again evaluating our most effective programs so that we can focus on best practices to continue to support those statewide,鈥� he said.

When LAist asked how the state will assess the current program, Muratsuchi and a State Board of Education spokesperson pointed to one large-scale study of TK done by the , in 2017. (The governor鈥檚 office also directed LAist to the state board.)

That AIR study found that kids who went to TK when it first started in California had stronger literacy and math skills when entering kindergarten compared to similar-age peers who didn鈥檛 go to TK at the beginning of the year. (Those differences mostly faded by the end of the year).

Land, the UC Berkeley researcher, and Gallagher, of PACE, said the AIR study was done nearly a decade ago, and on a TK program that looks different from TK today.

That’s because when TK started in 2012, they said, it was intended for kids who were nearly 5 years old, but had just missed the cutoff for kindergarten. Today, kids as young as 3 are entering TK in California.

LAist also reached out to Karen Manship, principal researcher of the AIR study. She said they鈥檙e still investigating topics related to transitional kindergarten, 鈥渂ut we do not have any funding or current plans to evaluate the program overall now that it is fully rolled out.鈥�

The state education board spokesperson also cited research by economist Rucker Johnson, who looked at TK between 2013 and 2019, which found low-income children had greater reading and math gains by third grade than students who did not attend TK.

鈥淭hese points tell us that an early start has proven to be beneficial for California students,鈥� said a spokesperson for the board, which sets state policy.

LAist reached out to Johnson, who said that while his study of TK in the early years is promising, it鈥檚 鈥渘ot a sufficient condition.鈥�

鈥淔or improvements to be sustained, meaning even if they were good in the past, it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t continue to be monitoring the success as they’re expanded and expanded that scale to universal,鈥� he said.

Kevin McCarty, Sacramento鈥檚 mayor and a former state assemblymember who championed the legislation to expand TK, told LAist funding is a challenge 鈥� given  鈥� but that he welcomes evaluation.

鈥淲e want to make sure that it’s effective, that it works, and if there are any issues that we need to address and improve going forward,鈥� he said. 

In the meantime, he said the program has given many parents a huge economic relief 鈥� and parents have a choice on whether to send their kids.

鈥淭his is free, this is 鈥� California paid for free universal pre-K,鈥� he added, 鈥渨hich is a big deal because, we reminded people, paying for  than sending a kid to UCLA.鈥�

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