The preschool learning foundations are a critical step in the California Department of Education’s efforts to strengthen preschool education and school readiness and to close the achievement gap in California. They describe competencies—knowledge and skills—that most children can be expected to exhibit in a high-quality program as they complete their first or second year of preschool. In other words, the foundations describe what all young children typically learn with appropriate support.

In California priority has been placed on aligning expectations for preschool learning with the state’s kindergarten academic content standards and complementing the content areas with attention to social-emotional development and English-language development.