California's new Transitional Kindergarten: a glimpse into universal Pre-K | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC

California's new Transitional Kindergarten: a glimpse into universal Pre-K | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC:

California's new Transitional Kindergarten: a glimpse into universal Pre-K

by Deepa Fernandes

Transitional kindergarten and kindergarten students line up to sing a song before their parents arrive for a graduation ceremony at Stanley Mosk Elementary School in Winnetka.; Credit: Grant Slater/KPCC
Emma Chavez sat on a mat in her classroom, her face buried in her hands, sobbing.
“Why are you crying?” teacher Veronica Azizi asked the five year old?
“Because it’s the last day of school,” Chavez blurted out as she heaved deep breathes in between sobs. “And I’m going to miss you.”
Azizi hugged her and broke down into tears herself.
This was no ordinary last day. The 23 children in Azizi’s Winnetka classroom were a combination of Kindergarten and Transitional Kindergarten students. Transitional Kindergarten (TK) is the new grade level that California created for children who just missed the age cutoff for kindergarten.
The new grade, which started this year, is meant to get those kids ready for the rigors of Kindergarten by learning numbers and words. Education experts across the country are watching the program for lessons on how the Obama Administration’s proposal for universal Pre-K would work -- or stumble.