(Updated 3/11/2026)

We strive to personalize learning for each student and make individual decisions based on the long-term, best interest of the whole child within the guidelines of state compliance.

Pacific Coast Academy has a board-approved 2025-26 Promotion, Acceleration, and Retention Policy which you should share with parents/guardians. Please review the policy if you receive a request from a parent about retaining a student (sometimes phrased as “holding back” a child or repeating a grade) or mid-year accelerated promotion (sometimes called “skipping a grade”). The policy includes important guidelines and timelines pertaining to these grade-level changes.

Grade-level changes (acceleration or retention) are never guaranteed and are always driven by student achievement data.

Grade-Level Corrections & Placement Topics

Grade-Level Corrections

If you notice that a student's grade level in School Pathways is not correct, please contact Gillian at gradelevelhelp@pacificcoastacademy.org. Include the following information:

• The student's first initial and last name
• The student's District ID number
• A brief note explaining the situation/correction

I will review the student's CALPADS record and request further documentation as needed.

Grade Level Placement Chart: 2026-2027 *New: 3/3/2026*

PCA's Enrollment Department places incoming students in a grade level based on their CALPADS record and/or their date of birth. Please refer to the chart linked below to see the appropriate grade-level placement for a child's date of birth.

• 2026-2027 South Schools' Grade Level Placement Chart

Grade Level Placement Chart: 2025-2026

PCA's Enrollment Department places incoming students in a grade level based on their CALPADS record and/or their date of birth. Please refer to the chart linked below to see the appropriate grade-level placement for a child's date of birth.

• 2025-2026 South Schools' Grade Level Placement Chart

Transitional Kindergarten & Kindergarten Topics

Transitional Kindergarten Eligibility

Updated 3/11/2026

Students who turn 4 by September 1, 2026 are eligible for TK enrollment during the 2026-27 school year.

• Please refer to our Grade-Level Placement Chart for each grade level's birthdate ranges.
• California does not require students to enroll in school until they turn 6, so families of young children may consider waiting until a child is a little older before enrolling.

Here is a little clarification on TK versus KN:

• During the 2026-2027 school year, only students whose date of birth falls between September 2nd, 2021 and September 1st, 2022 are eligible for TK.
• Students born between September 2nd, 2020 and September 1st, 2021 will enroll in Kindergarten for the 2026-27 school year.
• Per California’s Education Code, we cannot enroll a student who turns 5 before September 2nd, 2026 in TK.
  • We enroll those students in KN.

TK students are not eligible for KN Continuance:

California only allows students to complete up to two years of kindergarten instruction. Those two years include the following two options:

• A partial or full year of TK followed by KN.
• A partial or full year of KN followed by KN Continuance.

Students who have had any time in TK do not qualify for KN Continuance because their time in TK counts as one of the two allowable years of KN.

Families cannot enroll in TK, leave for a year, and come back and do KN. Our enrollment team will use the child's CALPADS record and our grade-level placement chart (2026-27 version) to enroll the child in 1st grade when they return.

TK to KN Acceleration

• Students can move from TK to KN on or after their 5th birthday.
• TK to KN Acceleration Survey (2025-26)

Kindergarten Continuance

KN Continuance requests for the 2026-27 school year will open on March 30th, 2026. The 2026-27 KN Continuance survey will close on September 4th to allow time to process grade-level changes before the end of LP 1.

Questions? Contact Gillian at gradelevelhelp@pacificcoastacademy.org.

• Please note:
  • Students who had a full or partial year of TK or KN during the 2024-2025 school year are not eligible for KN Continuance for the 2026-2027 school year.
  • These students have already had their two allowable years of KN instruction.

• KN Continuance requests for the 2026-27 school year will be due by September 4th, 2026 to allow time to process grade-level changes before the end of LP 1 (9/11/2026).
  • Kindergarten Continuance is not the same as grade-level retention.
    • You should not complete the retention request survey for a student who is interested in KN Continuance.

Accelerated Promotion

• Start here:
  • We only consider accelerated promotion requests during the fall semester of each school year.
  • We must complete all 8th-9th grade-level changes before the high school add-drop deadline (September 12th, 2025). That means that we must process all paperwork and change the student's grade in School Pathways before September 12th.
    • Please review the due dates below or in the HST information document (25-26).
  • Next steps for HSTs following accelerated promotion approval (AWRs, work samples, etc.).

Grade-Level Retention

Grade-Level Retention Surveys (HST use only)

• 2025-26 PCA General Education Retention Request Survey (for students without IEPs)
• 2025-26 PCA Retention Request Survey for Students with IEPs
  • November 3rd, 2025: The retention request surveys are now open.
  • 🎯 Retention requests are due no later than January 16th, 2026.
• A Retention Incident should also be added in EduClimber after the survey has been submitted (Tango: How to Add A Retention Incident)
• Kindergarten Continuance is not the same as grade-level retention. You should not complete the retention request survey for a student who is interested in KN Continuance.
  • Please refer to the KN Continuance section above.

2025-2026 Due Dates Related to Grade Level Changes

• Kindergarten Continuance Requests: September 3rd, 2025
  • We must process all KN Continuance requests and paperwork before you claim attendance for LP 1.
• Accelerated Promotion Requests:
  • Grades K-7: November 19th, 2025
  • Grade 8: August 27th, 2025
    • Remember, we must complete the acceleration process for students wishing to accelerate from 8th to 9th grade before the Fall 2025 high school add-drop deadline (September 12th, 2025).
• Accelerated Promotion Assessment Folders:
  • Grades K-7: December 10th, 2025
  • Grade 8: September 3rd, 2025
    • Remember, we must complete the acceleration process for students wishing to accelerate from 8th to 9th grade before the Fall 2025 high school add-drop deadline (9/12/25).
• Retention Requests: January 16th, 2026

Questions?

Please contact Gillian Simcox, Director of Accreditation and Achievement, at gradelevelhelp@pacificcoastacademy.org.

Key Words: Retention, Promotion, Acceleration, Accreditation and Achievement, Grade-Level Corrections, Grade-Level Changes, Grade Level Placement Chart, TK, Kindergarten Continuance