LONG BEACH – When California school districts were required by state law to start a new early kindergarten class for some 4-year-olds for the first time this year, Long Beach Unified had an easier task than most: to simply expand the existing “preppy kindergarten” program it started five years ago.

The Long Beach program, originally the brainchild of kindergarten teachers Kris Damon and Michelle Woolwine, is not the first transitional kindergarten program in the state, but it is one of the largest. And since it has been around for several years, the program will produce the first significant data set, expected this spring, on how children from diverse economic backgrounds who attend transitional kindergarten perform in later grades, based on their grades and standardized test scores.

via Long Beach has jumpstart on transitional kindergarten – by Lillian Mongeau.