California's Transitional Kindergarten plan gets its first report card

Transitional kindergarten students Adamaris Duran, left, and Sophia Lopez reach for pencils to begin a writing exercise.

It's not every day that a brand new school grade is created, and many in the world of education have been asking how Transitional Kindergarten is doing. To date there has been little other than anecdotal evidence from teachers and principals to evaluate it on.

Transitional Kindergarten is a brand new grade that the state of California created for 4-year-olds who would miss out on starting kindergarten in the Fall because they would turn 5 just after September 1. It began in 2012 and is currently in its second year.

It's not every day that a brand new school grade is created, and many in the world of education have been asking how Transitional Kindergarten is doing. To date there has been little other than anecdotal evidence from teachers and principals to evaluate it on.

Until yesterday, when the first comprehensive analysis of Transitional Kindergarten was released. Here to break it down for us is KPCC's early childhood development correspondent, Deepa Fernandes.