Briefs · Education and Upskilling
California Added a Whole Grade Before Kindergarten — and It Worked
California invented a new school year, and the children who took it are still ahead years later.
A UC Berkeley report, “Who Benefits From Universal Prekindergarten?”, tracked 1.6 million children who were kindergarten-age between 2011 and 2014, across some 6,100 elementary schools in 935 districts, following them to third and fourth grade. Those who went through the state’s expanded prekindergarten programmes were nearly 11 months ahead in reading and eight months ahead in mathematics, compared with earlier classes.
The recipe was simple, if expensive. State preschool at age three, transitional kindergarten at age four, under the 2010 Kindergarten Readiness Act — a whole extra grade, built before kindergarten even began.
The gains were largest where they mattered most. Children from low-income families whose parents spoke English were about seven months ahead in third-grade maths and reading. Those from low-income families whose parents did not speak English gained roughly half a year when they attended both preschool and transitional kindergarten.
One caveat, and the authors insist on it: the gains lasted longest in well-funded elementary schools. A good start, it turns out, needs a good follow-through — or it fades, fast and furious.
Conclusion: pre-K is not daycare, but rather a down payment — and California’s has paid out in months of learning, years later.
Read the original at UC Berkeley News
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