article on entering K and acceleration

[A&A]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/opinion/sunday/dont-delay-your-kindergartners-start.html

I especially found this paragraph interesting:

The benefits of being younger are even greater for those who skip a grade, an option available to many high-achieving children. Compared with nonskippers of similar talent and motivation, these youngsters pursue advanced degrees and enter professional school more often. Acceleration is a powerful intervention, with effects on achievement that are twice as large as programs for the gifted. Grade-skippers even report more positive social and emotional feelings.

[Freeman]

"These differences may come from the increased challenges of a demanding environment. Learning is maximized not by getting all the answers right, but by making errors and correcting them quickly. In this respect, children benefit from being close to the limits of their ability. Too low an error rate becomes boring, while too high an error rate is unrewarding. A delay in school entry may therefore still be justified if children are very far behind their peers, leaving a gap too broad for school to allow effective learning."

Agree with this. The "low error rate" of my second-grader concerns me, but he is already the youngest.

[whatsnextmom]

It's nice to see an article that doesn't wholly support red-shirting. Our local schools have really been struggling because of the abuse of red-shirting practices. Instead of the occasional child who is close to the cut-off but really could use another year (and there are a few,) it's become routine for kids who are developmentally on-target or even advanced! My DS started kindergarten on schedule as an older 4. Most of the kids were already 6. Some were turning 7 during the school year... in kindergarten! Parents are super happy with it in the beginning. Around 2nd and 3rd grade they start complaining about the academic standards being too low. They beam with pride that their 2nd grader is already doing multiplication while ignoring that their 2nd grader really should be in 3rd grade where ALL the kids are doing multiplication. Then, GATE testing starts and they don't understand why their "advanced" child did not get accepted. Then middle school happens and many discover that their child is totally misplaced academically and socially. "Grade correction" is happening more and more in our area during middle school. After school activities are struggling to accomodate.... they have to go by age now as the grade thing backfires in sports and such. Programs that are meant for kids up to 18 and in high school have to now contend with 19-year-old high schoolers who frankly, don't act like high schoolers. 

Sigh, big issues here with red-shirting. I support the few cases were it's a benefit just like I support the few cases where acceleration is a benefit.

[serenbat]

this is such an issue and most parents are totally clueless to the effects later on- I was one of only 2 in my class (and for the most part I was with the same kids K-12, 115 of them) that were 5 and turned 6 right away in K. My school district later reversed it's cut off date policy. It really is a nightmare in high school, at least it was for me.

The Times did a nice but too little (IMO) story-glad to see it.

[Freeman]

IME, it's not just the parents. Schools push it too, esp. private schools. Some change their cutoff dates to be several months earlier than the public schools and have a "junior kindergarten" set up to accommodate those who are younger (providing another year of tuition!) One school encouraged me to "give the gift of time," but I am glad that I didn't. Each child is different, though, and I would never argue that red-shirting is wrong in every situation. IMO, too many do it for a perceived advantage that will eventually disappear, though. For a child who is already academically advanced, I don't see any advantage.

[Linda on the move]

Originally Posted by Freeman 

Schools push it too, esp. private schools. Some change their cutoff dates to be several months earlier than the public schools and have a "junior kindergarten" set up to accommodate those who are younger (providing another year of tuition!)

Really? Private schools are the opposite here -- many have later cut offs. The cut off for K and 1st is set by law -- no kid starts those grades early in public school. The private schools have far more leeway and are a way around the law for parents who feel their child should start early.

The law requires kids be 5 by Sept for K. The private school school my kids go to require the child be 5 by Dec. 31st. We have several very bright 4 1/2 year old Kindergarteners this year.  

[Freeman]

Originally Posted by Linda on the move 

Really? Private schools are the opposite here -- many have later cut offs. The cut off for K and 1st is set by law -- no kid starts those grades early in public school. The private schools have far more leeway and are a way around the law for parents who feel their child should start early.

The law requires kids be 5 by Sept for K. The private school school my kids go to require the child be 5 by Dec. 31st. We have several very bright 4 1/2 year old Kindergarteners this year.  

Yes, it must depend on where you are. I can't think of any private schools here that allow children to start K early. I can think of a few that moved their cutoff date up, though (one to June 1!) I'm not sure if they make exceptions or not. I never asked about early entry, since ds was already going to be "young for grade."

[KCMichigan]

Originally Posted by Linda on the move 

Really? Private schools are the opposite here -- many have later cut offs. The cut off for K and 1st is set by law -- no kid starts those grades early in public school. The private schools have far more leeway and are a way around the law for parents who feel their child should start early.

The law requires kids be 5 by Sept for K. The private school school my kids go to require the child be 5 by Dec. 31st. We have several very bright 4 1/2 year old Kindergarteners this year.  

Originally Posted by Freeman 

Yes, it must depend on where you are. I can't think of any private schools here that allow children to start K early. I can think of a few that moved their cutoff date up, though (one to June 1!) I'm not sure if they make exceptions or not. I never asked about early entry, since ds was already going to be "young for grade."

Yes, it depends on where you are!

We lived in two states over the past year.

State #1   Sept 15th cut-off date. Private schools had a Sept 1st cut-off, but the two we looked into would allow our Oct girls in K at 4 turning 5 if they 'tested' in. Public schools NO EXCEPTIONS to cut-off. All day K. Must be age 6 for 1st by Sept 15th as well. Private schools often accepted 'fall ' kiddos to help boost enrollment for kids that just missed the cut-off or for parents that did a year of private K then public K. Red-shirtiing was heavy in this area. Many if not all public K kids were at least 5.5 or 6 upon starting.

State #2  Dec 1st cut off. Private schools we looked into adhered to Sept 1st cut off, we looked into a bunch. Few if not any exceptions. Public is 1/2 day K and most privates were all day K. No cut-off age for 1st grade. Little red-shirting. 1/4 of classes were still 4 upon starting K (Sept- Dec 1 stBdays). Few kiddos were 6- mostly kiddos that did developmental K or were repeating K.

K not mandatory in either state. We did preschool in state #1 (could not afford private tuition for two) and then moved to state # 2 and placed kiddos in public 1st grade- skipping K. They were age appropriate for each location, but the way it worked out that we could choose for K or 1st in state #2 due to age for public. The two private schools we considered would have placed them in K.

[whatsnextmom]

Originally Posted by KCMichigan 

State #2  Dec 1st cut off. Private schools we looked into adhered to Sept 1st cut off, we looked into a bunch. 

This is how it is around here. Private schools go with Sept 1st, public is Dec 1st. I'm sure some private schools will allow a younger child in but that's not what they have on paper. I know red-shirting still continues to be prevalent at several of the private schools. We have one public district that gives any child who aren't 5.5 or older two years of kindergarten. They have high scores in elementary but their middle and high schools aren't any different from similar schools throughout the county with no double kindergarten rule.

[Freeman]

This is interesting... I believe that "red-shirting" is a lot more common in private schools here than in public...When you think about it, it can be seen as more of a "luxury" to be able to either afford child-care or pre-school for that extra year that the child is supposed to be in K or not work that year, etc., when compared to sending a child to a public school when age-eligible. I don't think that the public pre-schools here allow children to be age-eligible for K but attend the pre-schools instead, thereby essentially eliminating red-shirting for those using the public pre-schools, at least (which are for those who qualify based on income or for those who choose to pay tuition - they aren't "free"). To state the obvious, a $15,000 +/- year of "junior kindergarten" is not an option for everyone.