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Note that while it used to be true that cutoffs were in December only Connecticut remains after October now and only 8 states have cutoffs in October. Most have cutoffs in August or September. In a few, local districts decide their own cutoff dates.
Interesting. Back in the 90s when my kids were starting school, our district had a newly established cut-off of June 1. I thought they were making children be their "guinea pigs" and I wasn't pleased, hence I got my two August-born sons in under "early admission" (which really was "standard admission" historically in our district, and apparently in line with the test of the country.) I googled and found that that district has now moved the cut off to Aug 1.
I wonder if any school districts make readiness assessments available for parents, to help parents make the decision about starting kindergarten? I don't remember any such thing back in the 90s.
Local education agencies decide (the state may set a date range) – Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont
I guess they missed Colorado.
Well, they made up a date for Colorado, or more likely, they copied from a list that had it wrong.
I was wondering if you looked at the link. Here's an excerpt:
"That said, recent research on kindergarten retention found that the youngest students in a cohort were held back more often than older students with similarly poor academic performance. The same held true for children who were short. In other words, age and height figured into a decision that most people would assume is based on performance."
I know teachers who say that every child with a summer birthday, this in a district with a September 30 cutoff, takes until December to catch up. Having a short child as well, I know the prejudice that goes with that, too.
I wonder if any school districts make readiness assessments available for parents, to help parents make the decision about starting kindergarten? I don't remember any such thing back in the 90s.
Our youngest (fall birthday) took a readiness test in the 1990s in CA....but it measured academic readiness, not emotional readiness. At the recommendation of her teacher, she repeated kindergarten. Back then they called it "retention." Despite the stigma, she was much happier as the oldest in the class than she was as the youngest.
Our son turned 5 in June (September 1 cutoff), and we're waiting a year for him to enter kindergarten. It has absolutely nothing to do with athletics, as I don't think he'll be the type to get into team sports, or academics, as he's a bright kid who is definitely ready for K level work. It also isn't due to maturity, as he's pretty good at sitting still and paying attention, and following directions. The adults who have evaluated him have said he's ready for K this year.
We're choosing to wait a year for social confidence. It dawned on me over the last year or so that his behavior is very different if he is in a cohort of children mostly younger than him vs. older than him. All his friends in his mixed age preschool class are younger than him, and all but one aren't eligible to go to K until the following year. In addition, we found out that about 50% of parents in our school zone with kids (especially boys) with summer birthdays opt to wait a year, meaning even fewer kids his age or younger in the class going to K this fall.
I have some concerns about him not being challenged and much of the material being repeat when he actually starts K. But ultimately, I believe it will be easier to find ways to challenge him academically if needed rather than try to get him to fit in with a peer cohort in which he feels out of place. One of the most convincing resources I found that seemed particularly applicable to our son was a dissertation a lady did on adolescent boys with summer birthdays, some who had been redshirted, and others who had not. The author found that the "redshirts" had higher levels of life satisfaction at that point in their lives, and that the effects of the decision were greater in high school than early elementary school. That study was also one of the very few that focused on the non-academic aspects of redshirting.
I did it with my son, who was born in Mid - November, which in a district such as ours with a "Five by December 1st" cut off, made sense to me.
He would have been almost a full year younger than many of the children in class. We wanted to give him the competitive edge. It seems to have worked.
He recently graduated from a very competitive college Magna C*m Laude. He did an internship in his field, and is currently working in his field and planning to return to graduate school next year.
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I don't think there's anything wrong with what you did. In most states, he wouldn't have even been eligible to start at 4. And I doubt his accomplishments had anything to do with him being the oldest. He probably would have done just as well had he gone a year earlier. Success has very little to do with age, but almost everything to do with drive and talent.
I was red shirted, and spent two years in kindergarten. My birthday is in April. I have no memory of either year. That's probably why I was red shirted.
I was red shirted, and spent two years in kindergarten. My birthday is in April.
Now that's going way too far IMO. I disagree with redshirting kids with summer birthdays, but redshirting kids with Spring birthdays is just plain ridiculous. I'm sorry your parents did that. You must have felt really insulted. I know I did.
Uuummmm no....you mean it's another way for parents to give their children the same chance at doing well as others, that they are equal and not behind and always struggling!!!
No, what I meant by that is that most kids will probably turn out to be normal, productive, tax paying citizens, who will have their own kids who do the same, and so on and so forth. There's no need for all of this overparenting.
Most efforts by overcompetitive parents end up hurting the child in the end.
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