CONCORD, California — A year before I-Ting Quinn’s son was old enough to start kindergarten, she and her husband had the option to enroll him in “transitional preschool,” a program offered free by California elementary schools for four year olds.
Instead, they kept their son, Ethan, in a private daycare center in Concord, California, at a cost of $400 per week.
The academic emphasis of transitional kindergarten was appealing, but Ethan would have attended a half-day program and after-school child care options were limited. And for two parents with hectic work schedules in the hospitality industry, there was the convenience of Ethan and his younger brother being in the same daycare, with a single stop for morning drop-off and evening pick-up.
“Ethan is going through changes at home with a new younger brother and possibly then moving to a new school where he is the youngest,” Quinn said. “That doesn’t even take into account the concerns surrounding drop-off and pick-up, including transportation to and from his classroom to after-school care at another location. There’s just a lot involved.”
Investments that California and other states have made in public preschools have helped many parents through a child care crisis, in which quality options for young students are often scarce and unaffordable. But many parents say the programs aren’t working for their families. Even if Pre-K lasts the entire school day, working parents struggle to find childcare before 9 a.m. and after 3 p.m.
No state has a more ambitious plan for universal preschool than California, which plans to expand access to transitional kindergarten to all four-year-olds by fall 2025 as part of a four-year, $2.7 billion expansion. The idea is to offer a two-year preschool program to prepare children earlier for the rigors of primary school.
Enrollment in the elective program has grown more slowly than expected. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, estimated that about 120,000 students would enroll last year; however, average daily attendance was approximately 91,000 students.
Through December of this year, the average daily attendance was about 125,000 students, said Sara Cortez, a policy analyst with the California Legislative Analyst’s Office.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, some families no longer see the same value in traditional preschool. Some are just as happy with courses without an academic component. School days that require lunchtime pick-up can also move families toward private childcare, Head Start programs and other all-day care alternatives.
Some schools that organize transitional kindergarten offer childcare before or after teaching, but not all.
“If your school does not offer this comprehensive child care at the beginning or end of school, then staying in child care may be the only option parents have,” said Deborah Stipek, former dean of Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education, who has advocated for equal access to early childhood education in California.
States such as Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, and Washington have offered preschool learning options similar to transitional kindergarten, and there is evidence of the program’s benefits.
In California, where the programs are taught by teachers with the same qualification requirements as preschool teachers, a five-year study found that their students entered kindergarten with stronger math and literacy skills. In Michigan, where the kindergarten transition program is not offered statewide, the programs have been linked to increases in third-grade test scores in math and English. However, a study in California found that such test scores did not increase in third or fourth grade.
“Children have an opportunity to become familiar with the school environment before they enter kindergarten,” says Anna Shapiro, a policy researcher at RAND who has studied the effectiveness of early childhood programs for about a decade and analyzed Michigan’s TK program.
Another advantage of transitional kindergarten is that it is free.
María Maldonado, who has seven children and works at a deli in Los Angeles, sends her four-year-old daughter Audrey to transitional kindergarten at Para Los Niños Charter Elementary School. Her daughter likes it so much that Maldonado said she would happily pay for it even if it wasn’t free.
The program includes after-school care, so Audrey stays at school from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Audrey is learning to read and count to 35, and asks to stay at school longer if her parents arrive well before pick-up time, her mother said.
Maldonado only wishes she had heard about the program sooner for her other children. She said she was sold on the school after visiting and speaking to the teachers.
“Academically, they have to learn everything they are taught. But if the atmosphere is good, it is a combination that makes children happy. As a result, this girl enjoys going to school,” she said.
Starting this school year, transitional kindergarten in California was only open to four-year-old children who will turn five in early April. The border will expand this fall to include more children in a gradual expansion.
For Ethan’s parents, the emphasis on learning through play at his daycare center, run by KinderCare, was a major factor in their decision to keep him there, in addition to day care.
“There are families who choose to stay with us because we have full-time, year-round care,” said Margot Gould, senior government relations manager for KinderCare, which operates in 40 states.
Ethan’s father, Scott Quinn, remembers thinking, “How bad can it be?” when they opted out of transitional kindergarten. But he is discouraged when he sees Ethan – one of the oldest children in his daycare class – copying the behavior of children several years younger than him.
“In retrospect, it would have been better to send him to school so he could be with children his age and older,” he said.
I-Ting Quinn said she also has feelings of regret when she sees Ethan outgrow some of his previous needs, including an afternoon nap. The couple considered enrolling him in TK midway through the school year, but ultimately concluded that it would cause too much stress in managing the logistics of their work schedules.
Raising Ethan was her first exposure to the fragmented landscape of early education, and she said she wishes she had started thinking about her options before her pregnancy.
“That’s easier said than done,” she said. The Quinns plan to move to Connecticut this year to be closer to family and are exploring preschool options for Ethan. “We will definitely enroll him in a public kindergarten. Not only is he ready, but so are we.”
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AP data reporter Sharon Lurye reported from New Orleans.
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