Transitional Kindergarten Pilot
We are excited to announce that Olympia School District (“OSD”) will offer a Transitional Kindergarten (“TK”) pilot this coming January 2023! TK provides free full-day schooling for students who have not participated in a regular early childhood program. This program is designed to support students who face barriers to future school success. Students can be eligible to participate in this program the spring semester prior to their kindergarten year.
The TK pilot will be located at Madison Elementary School and staffed by a teacher and paraprofessional using developmentally-appropriate curricula. There will be up to 18 students in the classroom. Applications are now being accepted from across the Olympia School District. Priority access will be given to eligible students from the Madison Elementary School attendance area.
The current anticipated start date for the TK pilot is January 30, 2023. If you are a parent who is interested in learning more or submitting an application for your child, please see the Parent Information section of this page.
OSD's Transitional Kindergarten program is designed to meet the needs of students who have not had access to a regular early childhood program. Olympia School District is committed to non-competition with community-based regular early childhood programs. We invite Olympia-area providers to visit our website for more information about our program and to learn how to participate in coordinated enrollment.
OSD needs your help to shape TK in our district! If you are an Olympia parent, regular early childhood provider, or community member, please consider participating in our TK Leadership Team. If you are interested, please complete the application form linked here. Feel free to contact Thomas Parnell (Assistant Director for Early Learning) or Domenico Spatola-Knoll (Principal at Madison) with questions about this team.
Parent Information
All students deserve access to quality early childhood programming before they start kindergarten. While there are several community-based early childhood programs in Olympia, current data indicates that there is a significant number of students who are not accessing programming before they enter kindergarten.
OSD hopes to help address this need with Transitional Kindergarten. OSD’s Spring 2023 TK pilot is focused on identifying children who face barriers to school success and have not had access to a regular early childhood program.
This TK pilot will be based at Madison Elementary School. Participating students will have access to a full-day program that is comparable to regular kindergarten. The teacher and paraprofessional in the classroom will use a developmentally-appropriate curricula. Lunch and recess will be incorporated into the daily schedule, and transportation will be available for students who live in the Madison Elementary School attendance area.
Which children are eligible to attend?
Students must meet the following criteria:
Priority access will be granted to the following situations:
How do I apply for my child?
Please leave a message with OSD Early Learning at 360-596-7539 or email [email protected] indicating your interest in Transitional Kindergarten or submit an application for your child online.
- If your family needs Spanish language interpretation support, please contact our interpreter, Nancy Swanson, [email protected].
- If your family needs Vietnamese language interpretation support, please contact our interpreter, Phuong Tong Kamimura, [email protected]
Information Sessions
All information sessions have been concluded for Winter/Spring 2023. Please email [email protected] with any additional questions regarding the Transitional Kindergarten Pilot.
Community Early Childhood Providers
Olympia School District values the work our community providers do to prepare our students for kindergarten! Olympia has a diverse and flourishing group of early childhood providers that is essential for our community to function. Thank you all for the hard work that you do every day!
OSD's Transitional Kindergarten program is committed to non-competition for student attendance as one of our core beliefs. Because of this, OSD will only admit children who do not have access to a regular early childhood program into our TK program. At the same time, we must work to seek out eligible students who are unable to access a program to prepare them for kindergarten.
Washington State defines a “regular early childhood program” as follows:
“Regular early childhood program means a program that includes fifty percent or more children who do not have an IEP. Programs may include, but are not limited to, the following: Head start; early childhood education and assistance program (ECEAP); transitional kindergarten; kindergarten; preschool classes offered to an eligible prekindergarten population by the public school system; private kindergartens or preschools; group child development centers; or child care.”
Please note that home-based daycare programs are not considered to be regular early childhood programs per federal guidelines.
In order to avoid local competition, OSD will engage in coordinated enrollment with area providers. This system of coordinated enrollment will work to route interested families to the appropriate early childhood program to meet their needs. This includes both public and private community-based regular early childhood programs!
If you are interested in having your name added to our communication list for coordinated enrollment, please email [email protected]. Please be patient as we work to develop our system for coordinated enrollment over the course of Spring 2023!