Early Childhood Education: TK, Pre-K & UTK

Reflections on Universal Transitional Kindergarten versus Preschool

I have advocated for universal and publicly funded early care and education for my entire adult life as a former First 5 Commissioner and Head Start Director.

I have participated in numerous visits over the course of 32 years to Washington DC and Sacramento to talk to legislators about the importance of this. Life is such that it is crystal clear that young children need high-quality early care and education. No longer having to convince people about this, the case has verifiably been made politically on both sides of the aisle.

This has taken its shape in California with the recent availability of Universal Transitional Kindergarten (UTK) for 4-year-old children. The voters have spoken and UTK is being provided – through schools.

However, as UTK has been situated in schools and its stated purpose is kindergarten readiness presents several concerns. As it is written in the law, UTK is “not a preschool program”. Huh? Then what is it? I am speculating that this is written to help align UTK more closely with schools and educational programs. But for UTK to be developmentally appropriate for 4-year-old children, of course, it is a preschool program despite what the law says, these are preschoolers!

A Concern for Self-Discovery

I am concerned that as UTK is so closely aligned with schools and kindergarten readiness, will children’s critical need for exploration, nurturing, individualization, self-discovery, and play be minimized? Unfortunately, experience reminds us that despite what ALL the experts in early care and education have advised on the best practices in early learning, kindergarten has continued to become more and more academic over the years. Now we need to take a year out of children’s precious time of self-discovery to prepare for kindergarten and this is very disappointing. Will standardized testing which has brought questionable benefits to elementary schools be extended to our youngest learners and will we need to teach to the test? Is this what happens when legislators make decisions for our public education systems?

As the internationally renowned ECE expert Suzanne Axelsson stated, “We are, essentially, stealing from children when they are forced to train for the future instead of allowing them to play in the now. Trust in play.”

The Benefits of Play

With parents now having the choice of preschool or UTK for 4-year-old children, I rejoice that UTK exists for all 4-year-olds in the State of California. As it stands now, if you have choices in selecting the best early learning experience for a four-year-old, please ensure that wherever they spend this precious year in their lives, children are nurtured and have plenty of time to play, socialize and explore. Important child development theories are grounded in research by Piaget and Vygotsky on the critical role human development plays in children’s lives. Play benefits every aspect of children’s development. But does play prepare children for kindergarten? Year after year, parents tell us how well prepared their children were for kindergarten because of our play-based curriculum which is tailored to each child, inclusive of children of diverse abilities and backgrounds, family-centered, relationship and literature-rich.