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California Launches First New Grade Level Since 1891 | 08.20.2012

Public News Service
Starting today, California is launching its first new public school grade level in more than a century. Some 800 school districts will be offering transitional kindergarten, or TK, for children who have fall birthdays and will be too young under a new cutoff date to enter regular kindergarten. more

Excitement builds across the county for new school y ear | 08.20.2012

Santa Cruz Sentinel
Several hundred children countywide are expected to qualify for transitional kindergarten, according to officials with the county Office of Education. Transitional kindergarten is a program initiated by state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, to give younger kids a stronger foundation before beginning kindergarten. Too often, education officials say, kids show up for kindergarten not properly prepared. more

California Launches New Grade Level | 08.17.2012

Capital Public Radio
More than 800 California school districts are offering transitional kindergarten for the first time. more

California School Districts Embrace Transitional Kindergarten | 08.17.2012

Education Week - Early Years Blog
In California, more than 800 districts are preparing to offer a second year of kindergarten to prepare the youngest kids for regular kindergarten. more

School Year Begins with Transitional Kindergarten | 08.16.2012

Carmichael Patch
Thursday was the first day of the 2012-13 school year in the San Juan Unified School District and there's a new program to help the youngest students prepare for school. The district is offering transitional kindergarten, a precursor to regular kindergarten. The transitional program is the first year of a two-year kindergarten program and educators and parents say it gives students extra help for learning. more

San Gabriel Valley Catholic schools offer transitional kindergarten program | 08.16.2012

San Gabriel Valley Tribune
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles encouraged local Catholic schools to offer TK, providing them with curriculum and materials. more

Summer's over for many Bay Area kids | 08.16.2012

San Jose Mercury News
The back-to-schoolers include thousands of 4-year-olds enrolled in California's newest grade: transitional kindergarten, which prepares them for school. more

Learning to transition | 08.14.2012

Santa Maria Times
All the students in Robin Patchett’s classroom at Mary Buren Elementary recited days of the week, learned teacher rules and sang the “Good Morning” song on the first day of school Monday morning. The only visible difference between the kindergartners and the “transitional kindergartners” was the color of their name tags. more

Press Release: As School Starts, California Launches Its First New Grade Level in More Than a Century | 08.14.2012

Senator Simitian
SACRAMENTO – As the school year begins, districts throughout California will begin offering transitional kindergarten (TK) – the first new grade level in the state since 1891. more

Resource website launched for Transitional Kindergarten | 08.14.2012

Tri-City Voice
Preschool California's newly-expanded and revamped TKCalifornia.org launched on July 30, with expert-recommended transitional kindergarten (TK) resources, tips and sample teaching strategies. more

Child Care Advocates Achieve Victories in Several States | 08.14.2012

Opposing Views
Without the efforts of advocates, child care cuts in several states would have been far worse. In California, advocates managed to reduce the size of the cut to child care and early education programs from $500 million in the governor’s original proposal—which could have resulted in 60,000 fewer children able to participate in these programs—to $130 million in the final budget. more

First 5 LA and DonorsChoose.org Double Your Impact | 08.13.2012

First 5 LA
First 5 LA is continuing its four-year partnership with DonorsChoose.org and is offering a new round of Double Your Impact funds to preschool, pre-K and transitional kindergarten public school teachers in L.A. County. more

Our View: Smooth implementation of transitional kindergarten a positive sign | 08.10.2012

Imperial Valley Press Online
One word heard over and over that would sum up what Valley educators said they are feeling in advance of its implementation was “excited.” Considering the promise that the transitional classes hold, we too feel the same way. more

ESCUELAS: Cambia requisito de edad para entrar al kinder | 08.10.2012

La Prensa
Los papás de Quetzalli Martínez están felices porque su hija tendrá la oportunidad de cursar dos años de kinder. Les emociona esta posibilidad porque saben que mientras más se familiarice su hija con el ambiente académico, más posibilidades de éxito tendrá en el futuro. more

Local kindergartens prepare for age transition | 08.07.2012

Imperial Valley Press Online
Harding Elementary School teacher Evelyn Rubalcava said she is looking forward to the coming school year. In a departure of sorts from her past 18 years as a kindergarten teacher, Rubalcava will now be the campus’ transitional kindergarten teacher. “It’s going to be a great program,” she said, referring to transitional kindergarten. “It’s going to help students move on through kindergarten and the upper grades.” more