How can site administrators, and district leaders ensure that TK classrooms are inclusive, and provide for positive long-term learning outcomes? How does inquiry-driven instruction help make learning more equitable and accessible?
The California Governor’s Master Plan for Early Learning and Care recommends the expansion of Transitional Kindergarten (TK) to all four-year-olds by 2025-2026, and seamlessly integrate TK and California State Preschool Programs (CSPP) to make high-quality preschool opportunities equally accessible for young children. However, early childhood development and early education program implementation remain a foreign terrain for many school and district leaders. Currently, there is wide variation in the early implementation of TK among diverse districts to date with small and mid-size districts holding less capacity to implement universal TK (Slovick et. al., 2023). It is crucial that they understand effective learning environments for English Learners and other underserved populations.
The UTK Collective, featuring the collaboration with the Alameda, Contra Costa, and Solano County Offices of Education, is excited to announce a series of professional learning opportunities. These osessions aim to support education leaders throughout the Bay Area in effectively designing, integrating, aligning, and supervising high-quality, equitable, play-based TK programs at school sites.The sessions will blend visits to early learning sites, collaborative discussions, personal reflection, and valuable resources to increase the capacity of teacher leaders, principals, and district administrators in creating developmentally appropriate learning experiences for TK through 3rd-grade students.
Participants will:
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Leaders will be able to identify specific “look-fors” in TK classrooms that foster equitable learning opportunities for all children
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Explore the new California Preschool/Transitional Kindergarten Learning Foundations (PTKLF) and other guiding documents, which provide insights into the knowledge and skills typically acquired by preschool children in high-quality programs
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Gain insights into effective TK classrooms through the observation of hands-on experience of play-based and inquiry-oriented instructional methods