California has approved a new way for its youngest public-school students to show what they know in English: storyboards, colorful pictures, simple conversations and games instead of a test built for older children. The playful approach is aimed at making transitional kindergarten language screening more useful for teachers and less bewildering for four-year-olds.
The California Department of Education approved IPT Early Childhood and preLAS as the state’s two transitional kindergarten screeners in spring 2026. The move follows a 2024 law exempting TK students from the English Language Proficiency Assessments for California, or ELPAC, after concerns that the assessment was not validated for California’s younger four-year-olds, as reported by Times of San Diego.
What The New TK Screeners Ask Kids To Do
IPT Early Childhood uses a storyboard with characters and objects, asking children to follow a story, answer questions, and explain what they think is happening. The assessment’s developer says it is designed for preschool multilingual learners and gives educators age-specific information about language strengths and support needs, according to Ballard & Tighe.
PreLAS takes a similar play-based route with colorful images and oral-language activities. Children may point to their own eyes or ears, repeat phrases, describe a pretend art show and listen to a story before retelling it; the assessment is available in English and Spanish, according to Data Recognition Corporation.
The design reflects a broader concern that early screening should focus on listening and speaking rather than reading and writing skills most four-year-olds have not yet developed. A 2024 review by New America found that states increasingly use specialized tools to identify young multilingual learners before kindergarten.
California’s Rollout Starts With Pilots
Districts may field-test the two screeners during the 2026–27 school year, while mandatory statewide implementation begins in 2027–28. Under California Education Code Section 48004, eligible TK students whose home language survey indicates a primary language other than English must be screened within 30 days of enrollment, according to the California Legislature.
The state’s official guidance says the tools can be administered to children with a primary language other than English, but the approved versions are currently listed for English and Spanish. The California Department of Education also says the screeners are meant to help teachers adjust classroom support, add resources and better understand children’s multilingual development.
The New Tests Will Not Create An Official Label
There is an important catch for schools and families: the results cannot officially identify a transitional kindergarten student as an English learner or be used for high-stakes decisions such as promotion, retention or teacher evaluation. That means the screeners can guide instruction, but they do not immediately unlock the same federal English-learner funding or mandatory services that begin with official identification in kindergarten.
That funding wrinkle could become a policy fight of its own. Times of San Diego reported that California’s temporary funding workaround relies on kindergarten English-learner percentages to estimate TK needs through 2027, leaving lawmakers to decide whether a longer-term fix is needed.
