November 1, 2024
The release of the updated Preschool/Transitional Kindergarten Learning Foundations (PTKLF) marks a new era in California early childhood education. The California Department of Education’s (CDE) Early Education Division collaborated with WestEd’s Early Childhood Learning and Development team in revising the foundations to ensure they align with the latest research in early childhood learning and development.
The PTKLF will equip educators with tools to support every child’s growth and reflect California and WestEd’s commitment to high-quality, inclusive, and culturally and linguistically affirming early learning environments.
The PTKLF will guide curriculum selection, implementation, and instructional support. They will also help educators, families, and the public understand the typical knowledge and skills children ages 3 to 5.5 develop in quality early education programs. The following foundations apply to all California early education programs, including transitional kindergarten; the California State Preschool Program; and other state-funded, federally funded, and private preschool programs of various settings:
- Approaches to Learning
- Social Emotional Development
- Language and Literacy Development
- Mathematics
- Science
- Physical Development
- Health
- History-Social Science
- Visual and Performing Arts
The PTKLF are a revision of the original Preschool Learning Foundations released in 2008. This update reflects recent research in early childhood development, including enhanced considerations for multilingual learners and children with disabilities. The revision process included two rounds of focus groups with educators and interest holders; input from subject matter experts in nine domains of child development; reviews by diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) experts; and specialized DEI educator focus groups.
In this Q&A, WestEd experts Osnat Zur, director of Early Childhood Learning and Development work, and Ann-Marie Wiese, a senior research manager, discuss the significance of this revision and what it means for early learning in California.
How do the revised PTKLF differ from the previous Preschool Learning Foundations, and what are the key changes educators should be aware of?
Approaches to Learning: A New Domain
To attend to the whole child and encompass all aspects of learning and development, the revised PTKLF include a new domain, Approaches to Learning. This domain is based on recent research highlighting the knowledge, skills, and behaviors that support learning in any domain, including curiosity and initiative, engagement, perseverance, planning, collaborative effort, and executive functions.
Representative of California’s Diversity
The revised PTKLF represent the diversity of children, families, and educators in California. They provide examples reflecting the sociocultural experiences that shape children’s development and are inclusive of their lived experiences, cultures, racial–ethnic backgrounds, and languages. The Language and Literacy Development Domain describes development in any language, including English, elevating home language development as part of children’s overall language and literacy growth.
Variability in Development
The revised PTKLF also honor and reflect individual variation in children’s learning, recognizing that each child develops in their own way and at their own pace. Children may exhibit competencies beyond the level described in a particular foundation, while others may need more time to reach that level. To be inclusive of the variability in when children demonstrate their skills and knowledge, the foundations include two age ranges: (a) early foundations for children ages 3–4.5 years and (b) later foundations for children 4–5.5 years.
The overlap between the “Early” and “Later” age ranges highlights learning and development as existing on a continuum rather than as tied to discrete age-related expectations.
The new PTKLF include a significant emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion. How is this reflected in the foundations and how will it benefit California’s diverse young learners?
The revised PTKLF emphasize DEI, which is critically important given California’s diversity of children and families. Children’s development takes place in the context of relationships and is shaped by their cultures, racial–ethnic backgrounds, languages, and life experiences. Learning opportunities that build on these elements help children connect their family life with early education, reinforcing their sense of identity and belonging.
The PTKLF are inclusive of children, families, and educators in California in the following ways:
- The introduction of each domain highlights considerations for specific populations of children with an equity lens.
- Foundation statements represent the diversity of children in California in ways that elevate children’s and families’ funds of knowledge.
- Examples represent children’s connections to the knowledge and experiences of their cultural and racial–ethnic communities, with intentional focus on the representation of children from racially and culturally diverse backgrounds, children who are multilingual learners, and children from Native Nations and Tribal communities.
- Examples elevate multilingual learners’ use of the home language. In particular, the Language and Literacy domain includes many examples of children speaking 14 different languages, including American Sign Language (ASL), as well as translanguaging.
- They highlight inclusive learning opportunities for all children, representing diverse learning abilities and educational needs.
- Examples represent diversity of communication styles and ensure inclusivity of any language and modes of communication, such as sign language, nonverbal communication, or the use of assistive technology communication devices.
- They are currently available in English and will also be available in Spanish, Mandarin, and Cantonese.
How do the revised PTKLF promote inclusiveness of the many ways young children demonstrate their knowledge and skills?
The foundations illustrate inclusive learning opportunities for all children, acknowledging that each child is unique and may require different approaches to demonstrate their development. Some children may have diverse abilities that could benefit from alternate methods for demonstrating their knowledge and skills. Examples show how children with varied abilities can demonstrate their knowledge and skills. For inclusion of children with disabilities, the foundations include both person-first language (e.g., “a child with autism”) and identity-first language (e.g., “a Deaf child”). Examples also mention a specific IDEA disability category, but in other instances only “a child with a disability” is noted for inclusivity of all disability types that may require children who have them to demonstrate a skill in a certain way (e.g., nonverbal communication).
To promote inclusivity, the PTKLF illustrate how children communicate their knowledge and skills through a variety of modalities. For example, a child may communicate their knowledge and skills verbally in the home language, English, or a combination of languages. They may communicate in American Sign Language (ASL) or by using an augmentative and alternative communication device. A child may also communicate their knowledge and skills nonverbally through drawing, role-play, modeling, movement, or body gestures.
The Language and Literacy Development domain has been restructured to include both English and home language development. How does this change support multilingual learners?
The 2008 version held Language and Literacy Development and English Language Development separate. The PTKLF in Language and Literacy Development represent a more inclusive approach to language development and consist of two complementary subdomains: Foundational Language Development (FLD) and English Language Development (ELD).
FLD describes language and literacy development in any language, elevating the home language as a linguistic asset that a multilingual learner brings to an early education program. It is intended for use with all children regardless of their home languages, which may be English, Spanish, Mandarin, or any one of the many languages spoken in California. FLD includes notes alongside foundations to highlight when language development varies between languages. The examples that accompany the foundations include child speech in 14 languages to represent the diversity of California’s children and families.
ELD may be used for children learning English in dual language programs and in early education programs in which English is the primary language of instruction. It is intended for use together with FLD. While ELD foundations represent children’s growing knowledge and skills in English, they are designed to recognize and encourage children’s continued use and development of their home languages. Learning English does not, and should not, replace children’s home language development.
How do the revised PTKLF align with California’s Universal Prekindergarten (UPK) initiative, and how can educators use these standards to support the transition from preschool to kindergarten?
A primary goal of the updated foundations is to create stronger alignment between preschool, Transitional Kindergarten (TK), and kindergarten, which comports with the CDE’s Preschool through Third Grade (P–3) Alignment initiative. With full Universal Prekindergarten (UPK) implementation planned for the 2025–26 school year, the PTKLF align with California’s K–3 standards in Mathematics, Language and Literacy, and Science. Since the Kindergarten Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are often too advanced for younger 4-year-olds, the PTKLF set developmentally appropriate milestones for children in TK. The PTKLF provide developmentally informed milestones for children enrolled in TK because the Kindergarten CCSS are in most cases beyond the knowledge and skills younger 4-year-old children should have.
In the domains of Mathematics and Language and Literacy, the PTKLF are designed to be a stepping stone between preschool/TK and kindergarten. For example, the mathematics foundations are aligned with the CCSS for Kindergarten Mathematics, helping teachers reinforce and build on the knowledge and skills children develop in their prekindergarten years.
The Mathematical Practices in the PTKLF mirror those in the CCSS, with added context to help teachers understand how these concepts apply to younger children.
Similarly, the Foundational Language Development substrand in the PTKLF aligns with the CCSS for English Language Arts. The new Foundational Literacy Skills strand strengthens this alignment. Some areas that were previously under the “Reading” strand are now part of Foundational Literacy Skills, highlighting the importance of these skills for both reading and writing.