Dive Brief:

• Transitional kindergarten, defined as being the first year of a two-year kindergarten program, improves the mathematics and literacy skills for English Language Learner students, offering a more than six months advantage over ELL students who did not partake in TK, according to a new report from the American Institutes for Research.
• The report showed that TK also offered improved the English language development skills of ELL learners, including in speaking and listening skills as well as proficiency. This was true for ELL students in all studied language groups.
• The report advises that more study and support of TK is necessary, with the study’s authors saying that it was still uncertain as to what benefit, if any, TK learning has on the social-emotional growth of ELL students, as well as what the long-term benefits in terms of English proficiency are.

Dive Insight:

As transitional kindergarten assists ELL students who may be at different levels of proficiency and understanding when entering kindergarten, the approach could also be used as a way to combat the lack of universal early childhood education. While some children benefit from pre-K, with some cities pushing for universal pre-K (and even early childhood education for all 3-year-olds), it is not possible for educators to depend on all students having benefited from some educational experience prior to entering kindergarten.

Teachers report varying levels of grade level performance within each classroom, which is only exacerbated the longer the problem goes unchecked. TK can be a method to achieve grade level performance parity among all students, or at least as much as is possible. The program has reported great results in California, where the American Institutes for Research has conducted other analyses of the program’s efficacy in addition to its latest report.

Studies have also indicated that universal early childhood education would close achievement gaps. The Center for American Progress found that the learning gap between wealthy and poor students could close by as much as 41% with high-quality pre-K, and the more stringent regulations of TK (educators need additional accreditation, including a Bachelor’s Degree) could help ensure more uniform quality between all TK programs, should school districts opt to pursue that approach.