California Approves Play-Based Language Assessments for Transition Kindergarten
California education officials have approved two new play-based language assessments for 4-year-old transitional kindergarten students, replacing a standardized test that critics said caused severe stress and misclassified fluent English speakers. The California Department of Education greenlit the tools this spring to evaluate multilingual learners through stories, illustrations, and interactive games rather than traditional reading and writing tests, according to state officials.
The state’s move directly addresses long-standing concerns regarding the California English Language Proficiency Assessment, or ELPAC. State law previously barred administering the ELPAC to transitional kindergarten students following widespread reports from teachers and advocates that young children cried, hid their faces, or refused to participate because the exam measured literacy skills beyond their developmental stage.
Replacing the ELPAC for Young Learners
State guidelines require public schools to test students within their first 30 days of enrollment if they speak a language other than English at home. However, education specialists found that the previous testing format frequently mislabeled young children as English learners simply due to their age, according to Alesha Moreno-Ramirez, director of the Multilingual Support Division at the California Department of Education.
To fix this, the state selected two widely used national assessment instruments: IPT Early Childhood and preLAS. Both tools are currently utilized across nine other states, according to a 2024 study by New America and the American Institutes for Research. Moreno-Ramirez stated that these approved tests are developmentally appropriate for 4-year-olds and can be administered in multiple languages.
How the New Assessments Work
The IPT Early Childhood tool uses a visual board featuring scenes, characters, and objects to evaluate oral comprehension and expression. An examiner narrates a story in stages, prompting the child to answer questions about what characters will do next. Similarly, the preLAS assessment relies on colorful images and interactive tasks, such as asking students to point to body parts on themselves or describe events depicted in an art exhibition illustration.
Carolyne Crolotte, public policy director at Early Edge California—an organization that advocated for the exemption of transitional kindergarten students from the ELPAC—welcomed the change. She noted that moving away from tests that fail to match early childhood development milestones marks a significant improvement for the state’s classrooms.
Implementation Timeline and Funding Rules
School districts across California will pilot the two new tools during the current academic year ahead of a planned statewide rollout for the 2027–2028 school year. Moreno-Ramirez noted that the pilot phase aims to refine district training and guidance rather than test the validity of the exams themselves.
Under current state legislation, these new assessments cannot officially classify transitional kindergarten students as English learners. Consequently, schools cannot receive federal funding tied to English learner counts until those children formally enter traditional kindergarten. To bridge this gap, the Legislature enacted a temporary measure allowing districts to estimate transitional kindergarten language numbers based on kindergarten percentages, though that provision is set to expire in 2027.
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