How can district and systems leaders effectively support, integrate, and align inclusive, developmentally appropriate, and culturally and linguistically relevant UTK programs within school sites and systems?
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 21CSLA Bay Area Regional Academy, in collaboration with the Solano County Office of Education, is excited to announce a professional learning opportunity connecting education leaders throughout Solano County and the Bay Area to effectively support, integrate, and align high-quality, equitable play-based TK programs at school sites. Sessions blend collaborative discussions, personal reflection, and valuable resources to increase the capacity of teacher leaders, principals, and district administrators to create developmentally appropriate learning experiences for TK through 3rd-grade students.
Participants will:
- Develop the knowledge necessary to effectively lead UTK programs that are of high quality, developmentally appropriate, and promote equity.
- Broaden their understanding of integrated, developmentally appropriate subject matter instruction in TK to foster equity.
- Gain insights into effective TK classrooms through the observation and hands-on experience of play-based and inquiry-oriented instructional methods.