If you have a child in preschool or entering preschool it’s important that you know that all preschool programs are not created the same. Many programs are nothing more than supervised play, with no organized curriculum or very little organized curriculum that is loosely aligned to developmentally appropriate activities. It is important that your child’s school has a developed curriculum that aligns to the preschool learning foundations.
The creation of these foundational standards was 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.
All 50 states either have developed preschool standards documents or are in the process of doing so. Many of them have sought to align early learning standards with their kindergarten content standards. 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. 
The preschool learning foundations cover the following domains:
•Social-Emotional Development
•Language and Literacy
•English-Language Development (for English learners)
•Mathematics
Information from: www.cde.ca.gov
