Overview
- The study published Thursday found children exposed to California’s early TK policy scored about 11 months ahead in reading and eight months ahead in math by third and fourth grade.
- Low-income students gained the most, with roughly seven extra months of learning by third grade, and dual-language learners saw much larger gains when they attended both state preschool and TK.
- Researchers tracked 1.6 million students who entered kindergarten between 2011 and 2014 and compared outcomes across districts that did and did not offer TK to isolate the program’s effects.
- California has expanded TK to all 4-year-olds and budgeted roughly $4.1 billion for TK and $2.8 billion for state preschool for 2025–26, but enrollment is below targets and only about 18% of eligible 3-year-olds now attend the state preschool program.
- Experts warn the long-term payoff depends on solving practical problems—hiring and training more early-childhood teachers, improving program quality, and boosting outreach—so early gains translate into higher graduation and college-readiness rates.