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This is interesting. Can anyone explain when and why this happened?
Though I am not the poster who put that, I will say what has happened has been a slow moving change over the years and I don't think it's quite accurate to say that there is a full 2 years ahead.
My oldest was in Kindergarten in 1987 and my youngest in 2008.
Neither was expected to come in already reading, but both were expected to recognize all letters and know most of the sounds.
Neither was expected to come in doing simple addition or subtraction, but both were expected to recognize numbers and count by rote up to 20.
Neither was expected to write full sentences upon arrival, but both were expected to be able to recognize and write their names.
What has changed the most is what they are expected to be able to do by the end of the year. That began to change sometime around the same time we went from 1/2 day K to full day K, which was in the 90's.
I believe it was a culmination of many things that brought about the changes. For instance, studies that showed how much more children actually learn before age 5 than previously believed, results in comparisons to other countries, the need for child care increasing due to dual income families, federal spending on education, state testing and so on all contributed to changing expectations.
I think I entered first grade at age 6.
I was born in June, so this worked out fine.
The school year started in August or September. So, I was age 6 (plus a couple months).
What about kids born in September - December?
They would be under age 6, if their birthday was in the year they entered school. If they were born in September - December of the previous year they'd actually be closer to age 7, than age 6.
What age must a child be, to enter first grade?
Does it vary from state to state, or school to school?
Thanks.
Everything varies by state and in some states by district.
These are the kindergarten dates and children would need to be 5 by these dates to enter K
Many states are moving the dates back so that children have to be older or at least be 5 by the beginning of the school year.
Back in the 1950s, things seem to have been more flexible. I started K in a catholic school at 4. I did not turn 5 until March. I switched to public school in 2nd grade and stayed in the grade I would have been in in the Catholic school.
This is interesting. Can anyone explain when and why this happened?
My daughter is 27 and that was the expectation for her. I was taken aback, I guess because I thought she (my firstborn) was so very smart, but then I found that what she knew was pretty much the norm. Starting first grade, they are expected to know how to recognize dozens of words. I was an early reader, but back when I was little reading before first grade was very rare.
My daughter is 27 and that was the expectation for her. I was taken aback, I guess because I thought she (my firstborn) was so very smart, but then I found that what she knew was pretty much the norm. Starting first grade, they are expected to know how to recognize dozens of words. I was an early reader, but back when I was little reading before first grade was very rare.
I was reading before I went to school at 4, but it was not expected.
Now kindergarten is like first grade was back in the 50s, 60s and 70s. It's a shame because the schools overseas that do well do not start this pressure at 4 and 5. For many of them actual instruction in reading begins at 7 or 8 although I am sure that some kids read early.
More than 60 percent of Finnish children under age 7 attend municipal kindergarten programs, about 30 percent are at home with their parents, and the remainder attend a mix of publicly subsidized private and family home care centers. But these numbers understate the degree to which Finnish children participate in early education programs during at least some period in their early childhood. That’s because Finnish children are more likely to stay home during the first three years of life—when stay-at-home parents can collect a “home care allowance†of 294 euros per month—than they are after they turn three years old.
Note that children in Finland go to play based preschools and kindergartens with some academics, but no expectation that they will learn to read until they are 7 and in first grade.
Compulsory age of starting school in European countries, 2002
Four Northern Ireland
Five England, Malta, Netherlands, Scotland, Wales
Six Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece,
Hungary, Iceland, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania,
Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain
Seven Bulgaria, Estonia, Denmark, Finland, Latvia, Poland, Romania,
Sweden
Source: European Commission. EURYDICE and EUROSTAT (forthcoming) Figure D1.
I entered first grade at 6, straight out of preschool- skipped kindergarten. I think it's a norm though. Everyone I graduated high school with was either my age or a year older, because they were born in like, December, and that counted as 'my' age for school.
Many states are moving the dates back so that children have to be older or at least be 5 by the beginning of the school year.
Back in the 1950s, things seem to have been more flexible. I started K in a catholic school at 4. I did not turn 5 until March. I switched to public school in 2nd grade and stayed in the grade I would have been in in the Catholic school.
I've seen this list before and it has some errors. For example, Colorado is a "local control" state and each district sets their own cutoff, just like PA does. My district's cut-off is Sept. 30, not Sept. 15.
Private schools even now do not have to follow the state/local cut-offs. Here in CO, as someone else said about their state, if you finish first grade at a private school, you can move up to second even if you do not meet the deadline. Ditto if you went to school in a different state that let you start earlier. I don't know what they do about kids from a different state who finished only K, but my educated guess is that most districts would let that child start 1st.
I was enrolled in Pre-K and K at a private school when my parents lived in Philadelphia. I was 3 starting Pre-K and 4 in K, so when we moved out to the suburbs I was 5. Before the district let my parents enroll me in 1st grade, they had me take a test to make sure that I was ready for it. The normal deadline was September 30th, and I was born in very late November. I ended up being the youngest person in my class, which wasn't that great in high school.
I entered Kindergarten at age 4. There were no state or local laws governing age, but the principal was opposed, and gave me a test, both written and oral, which I got every question correct, outside of confusing a lower cased q for a backwards lower case p after the principal brow beat me and made me doubt myself.
So, needless to say, I got in, ended up in the advanced program, and entered first grade at age 5, which they wanted me to actually skip, but I was already a year or 2 younger than the rest of the class, so my Mom wouldnt let me.
I continued being unchallenged for the rest of elementary, and middle school, before I just burnt out in high school, and didnt give a crap any longer.
This is interesting. Can anyone explain when and why this happened?
I dont know, I graduated high school in 1999, and I remember helping my ex-sister in law with her 3rd or 4th grade homework.....which was stuff I didnt remember doing until like 7th or 8th grade. It also wasnt possible to take 15 AP courses, and have an associates degree practically completed by graduation.
I think this huge shift happened in the 2000's. I feel like I was one of the last classes of kids to grow up without such accelerated academic pressure.
I was enrolled in Pre-K and K at a private school when my parents lived in Philadelphia. I was 3 starting Pre-K and 4 in K, so when we moved out to the suburbs I was 5. Before the district let my parents enroll me in 1st grade, they had me take a test to make sure that I was ready for it. The normal deadline was September 30th, and I was born in very late November. I ended up being the youngest person in my class, which wasn't that great in high school.
nor is it great in college when you're not 21 til your senior year and you can't get into all of the 18 and up clubs the freshmen go to during orientation week/parties.
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but then I found that what she knew was pretty much the norm. Starting first grade, they are expected to know how to recognize dozens of words. I was an early reader, but back when I was little reading before first grade was very rare.
