The Transitional Kindergarten (TK) Certificate will fulfill the child development units required for the newly passed law based on Transitional Kindergarten Senate Bill 837. The law states that a credentialed (or preliminary credentialed) teacher must have 24 units of early childhood education or child development to teach transitional kindergarten in a California school district.
The University of La Verne Child Development Program’s Transitional Kindergarten Certificate is designed to provide preliminary and credentialed K - 8 teachers with upper division units that cover the knowledge, skills, and strategies to teach effectively in a transitional kindergarten classroom. Courses are designed around the California Learning System which includes Foundations and Framework and the alignment of the California preschool Learning Foundations with California Content and Common Core State Standards.
Upon completion of the TK certificate, students may exercise an option to transfer 21 certificate units to a Master’s degree.
Program requirement: Candidates must have a valid Preliminary or Clear Multiple Subject Teaching Credential.
Program Dismissal
Students may be dismissed from the program under several circumstances, including but not limited to: academic dishonesty, academic disqualification, failure to maintain minimum academic standards, failure to maintain satisfactory academic progress, removal from a fieldwork placement, unethical or unprofessional conduct, failure of program activities measuring student competencies/or dispositions, circumstance interfering with training or well-being of others, and/or felony conviction. Students dismissed from the program may not apply for readmission.
Course Delivery
The TK certificate is comprised of 6 courses (24 units) delivered fully online for California residents. The term for each course is 8 weeks. It is possible to complete the TK certificate in as little as one year. Each course is four (4) upper-division, transferable units delivered through the Child Development Program of the Education and Teacher Development Department.