Transitional Kindergarten Expansion and School Segregation: District Perspectives and Policy Landscape Analysis

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Sunday 11:45 am
  In Poster Session: Constructing Early Childhood Education: Ideologies, Influences, and Discourses

Abstract

California has been gradually expanding its Transitional Kindergarten (TK) program to include all 4-year olds by 2026. Given research on the importance of racially integrated environments for preschoolers, this study aims to understand how different TK placement policies are related to racial segregation in TK. Results from initial interviews suggest that district leaders do not often consider racial segregation in their planning, and that TK dual-immersion programs and hubs are potential strategies to reduce racial segregation. Results from a district survey and analysis of extant data, available by the time of the conference, will describe the landscape of segregation in TK programs and their host schools and identify placement policies associated with reduced segregation.

Authors

• Karen Manship, American Institutes for Research

• Austin Gragson, North Carolina State University

• Noli Brazil, University of California - Davis

• Michael Middleton, University of California - Davis