Black children less likely to enroll in transitional kindergarten, analysis finds

A new analysis finds Black children are less likely to enroll in transitional kindergarten than white children.

Only 60% of eligible Black children in the state enrolled in TK compared to 68% of eligible white children in the 2024-25 school year, according to an analysis of state education data by the advocacy group EdTrust-West.

This despite officials praising the rollout of the new grade as a way to increase equity and opportunity.

“We’ve seen that the lack of support in and training in ensuring that there are culturally affirming spaces for children has been a barrier to children of color receiving equitable access to TK,” said Natalie Wheatfall-Lum, director of TK-12 policy at EdTrust-West.

California requires every school district to offer TK to all 4-year olds, but uptake in the free preschool program has been uneven.

EdTrust-West looked at parent survey data from the Stanford Center on Early Childhood, and found Black parents and caregivers were most likely to list wanting to keep their kids in their current child care arrangement as the primary reason they don’t enroll their child in TK.

A quarter of Black families also said that TK hours do not cover the hours they’re at work.

The preschool workforce is also much more diverse than the TK-12 system, Wheatfall-Lum pointed out. And she said that there’s mistrust among families because Black children have faced disproportionate discipline in the public school system.

“ TK sets the tone for a child's school experience. It's the entry point for school for young children,” she said. “ There's a lot of hesitancy and there's a lack of feelings of safety and having their little 4-year-olds enter what can be, and what has historically been, a hostile environment for Black families in particular.”

The findings in uptake mirror other research that found that the introduction of the universal program hasn’t increased participation among children from underrepresented communities. A study last year found that enrollment has grown fastest among middle to upper-income neighborhoods in the state.