As The New School Year Begins, Hopes are High for LAUSD Pre-K for Four-Year-Olds
Thousands of young children have enrolled in LA Unified's Universal Transitional Kindergarten classes.
;)
Education news and commentary, delivered right to your inbox.
Sign up for The 74 newsletter.
Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter
Outside 135th Street Elementary School in Gardena, a colorfully-decorated sign welcomes pre-K students 鈥 boasting they will be 鈥#ready4theworld!鈥 with the help of Los Angeles鈥 Unified new universal program for young learners.
鈥淲e want to hear smiles,鈥 said Dean Tagawa, executive director of early child education for LA Unified who is overseeing the district鈥檚 new Universal Transitional Kindergarten program for 4-year-olds.
Hopes are high the new classes will help bolster declining literacy rates in California and , which has attracted thousands of brand new young students to LAUSD schools.
After seeing the success offering pre-K dual language and special education classes to 14,000 students as of last May, the district has opened the doors to all 4-year-olds for the free UTK program, enrolling an additional 5,000 this academic year in more than 480 schools. The district had hoped to enroll
鈥淓arly investment really sticks with kids long-term,鈥 said Tagawa, 鈥淵ou can just see it.鈥
Inside Lourdes Serrano鈥檚 UTK dual-language classroom, the investment comes in the form of hands-on learning of concepts that will also be taught in kindergarten 鈥 letters and numbers, and social skills, but at a slower and more deliberate pace for the younger students.
Obstacles do come with such an early introduction into the classroom. Teachers do not potty train students. Attachment to parents becomes a more prevalent issue.
鈥淭he first day of school, all of these kids cried,鈥 said Serrano, a teacher at 135th Street Elementary.
Yet, the benefits of early education are clear: With young learners in classrooms, it allows students to more likely earn higher wages, score higher on exams and graduate high school, according to the National Education Association.
UTK teacher Teri Anderson is working hard in her classroom at 135 Street Elementary School to prepare her young students for the future.
鈥淓veryday learning is really a superpower,鈥 Anderson said while teaching children to practice drawing the letter 鈥淏鈥 on a worksheet. 鈥淚 look at these kids, they鈥檙e like little sponges. The LAUSD funds us well, and it really gives us an opportunity to work with [kids] right where they start.鈥
In Anderson鈥檚 class, colored furniture complemented by endless crayoned art work of birds and trees adorn the walls. Classes are small, with a 6-1 ratio of teachers to students, helping young children be prepared for kindergarten classes.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e young,鈥 said Serrano, 鈥溾ut they鈥檙e prepared for kindergarten, socially, and even sometimes academically.鈥
Kids regularly use Play-Doh to sculpt letters in both languages in Serrano鈥檚 classroom, while simultaneously learning the various pronunciations.
鈥淲e start with Spanish in the morning now, with English in the afternoon,鈥 Serrano said.
Tagawa acknowledged that some parents may have concerns that such young children attending school is not productive, but emphasized the district would focus on 鈥渄evelopmentally appropriate鈥 skills.
鈥淎s long as the students come,鈥 said Tagawa, 鈥渨e鈥檙e in a really good place.鈥
This article is part of a collaboration between The 74 and the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.
Did you use this article in your work?
We鈥檇 love to hear how The 74鈥檚 reporting is helping educators, researchers, and policymakers.