Age Requirements for Kinder, TK, and ETK
About Transitional Kindergarten
TK is year one of a two year kindergarten program. TK provides an early childhood education program that builds a bridge between the preschool years and traditional kindergarten. With increasing demands and structure in kindergarten, some parents are aware that their child may not be ready for the traditional kindergarten program. The TK program also offers children the benefit of socializing and becoming students while learning to work in a school setting.
About Transitional Kindergarten Expansion
ETK is also available for younger children. The Transitional Kindergarten program follows the full day 6-day hour daily schedule of traditional kindergarten Monday through Friday during the 180-day school year. The ETK program is designed to provide a quality preschool experience for low-income students in order to lower the dropout rate and increase the high school graduation rates by cultivating strong language and literacy skills at a very young age. ETK students will not be able to accelerate to first grade at the end of the ETK under any circumstances; these children are very young.
Kindergarten students must be 5 years old on or before September 1, 2019 for the 2019-20 school year.
TK is designed for students who turn 5 years old between September 2 and December 2, 2019.
- Students who may benefit from an enriched foundational early childhood education program to prepare them for success in traditional kindergarten are also eligible. If your child is eligible to enroll in kindergarten, but you feel your child would benefit from a TK experience, you can request a waiver to have your child placed in a TK classroom. Please call the main office for more information.
Transitional Kinder Expansion Program (ETK)
ETK is designed for students who turn 5 years old between December 3, 2019 and June 30, 2020.
- The goal of ETK is to provide a quality preschool experience for low income children. Family residency within the school boundary is a priority. After all neighborhood children have been offered enrollment, students may enroll students outside of the school boundaries. A one year, no extension, ETK permit will be made available to facilitate this process.
- For more details about ETK, visit the ETK Resource page on the LAUSD website.
