Episode Details

California set an ambitious goal of making transitional kindergarten universal by fall of 2025. TK was originally created for kids born in the fall who were too young to enroll in kindergarten. Now, state leaders want to make it accessible to any 4-year-old. That means adding a whole new grade to all of the state’s elementary schools within a five year period that started in 2021. The rollout has come with a plethora of challenges from a shortage of classroom space to a lack of qualified teachers to logistical headaches for parents. We’ll look at how California’s $2.7 billion expansion of TK is going.

Guests:

Elly Yu, senior reporter, LAist

Daisy Nguyen, early childhood education and care reporter, KQED

Hanna Melnick, senior policy advisor and director of early learning policy, Learning Policy Institute

Blanca Torres, producer and reporter, KQED