UC Berkeley Study: Children Who Attended Transitional Kindergarten Read Nearly 11 Months Ahead by Third Grade
Children who attended transitional kindergarten (TK) in California scored nearly 11 months ahead in reading and about 8 months ahead in math by third and fourth grade, with the largest gains among low-income children, according to a research brief released October 22 by UC Berkeley and the Learning Policy Institute.
The study, commissioned by Stanford University, followed more than 1.6 million students who entered kindergarten between 2011 and 2014, across 6,100 schools and 935 districts, tracking their achievement through 2019. Students in cohorts affected by the Kindergarten Readiness Act had reading achievement nearly a grade level higher and math about two-thirds of a grade level higher than comparable earlier cohorts. Low-income children scored about seven months beyond peers in the same cohort who did not attend TK, in both math and reading, and gains were higher for children who attended state preschool at age 3 and then TK at age 4. Gains for higher-income children were smaller.
Co-author Rucker Johnson, a UC Berkeley professor, said the combination of public preschool at ages 3 and 4 dramatically helped young children build stronger reading and math skills, and that the cumulative effect of investing in the early years matters.
California now offers free TK to all 4-year-olds. The state budgeted about $4.1 billion for universal TK and $2.8 billion for state preschool in 2025-26, while TK enrollment stands at just over half of eligible 4-year-olds.
Source: GSM·USA
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：美国一所学前班课堂（资料图）。摄影：Pete Souza，白宫官方照片，公共领域，经Wikimedia Commons。Photo: A pre-kindergarten classroom in the United States (file photo). By Pete Souza, official White House photo, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
