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Old 08-17-2010, 06:39 PM
 
3 posts, read 19,854 times
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Hi All,

Seeking the wisdom of the group about our strategy....

After a long and hard deliberation we have decided to put our kid in a private school which will take her in for K even though she missed the Wake County Aug 31st cut off date by a few weeks.

Our plan is to move her to a public school for 1st grade (private is nice but I don't think we can afford it for the long run). Is this something that's common practice? Are we missing any technical details here? We obviously don't want our strategy to backfire for any technical reasons.

Thanks
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Old 08-17-2010, 07:46 PM
 
Location: Raleigh
205 posts, read 486,088 times
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We had the same strategy. Here's what we learned.

If your child goes through Kindergarten in a private school he or she does not automatically enter first grade in public school. They will have to "test" into first grade once they enter Kindergarten in the public school system. This did not happen for us .... actually, I'm anticipating that it will not happen, as the school year has not started yet, but all indications are that my child was not adequately prepared for 1st grade via his private Kindergarden experience.
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Old 08-17-2010, 08:01 PM
 
3 posts, read 19,854 times
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Thanks for the feedback! Are you saying the kid has to go through K again in the public school system even after going through K in the private school system, just because he missed the original K cutoff? That's a bummer Is there any online links in the Wake county school system site that you can refer me to regarding this?

Thanks again.
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Old 08-18-2010, 10:18 AM
 
22 posts, read 79,729 times
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We have the same situation (our child missed the new cutoff date by 11 days), and have enrolled him in a private K. When we spoke with the principal of our base elementary school, she said that the rules were a bit unclear on this issue. Apparently your child does have to be evaluated for placement into 1st grade, but she was unsure of whether that was a formal test or just an interview type thing with the principal. If you find a more definitive answer, please let us know!
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Old 08-18-2010, 10:27 AM
 
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I'm in the same boat and was told that when it comes time to register in February that we would have to register as a rising Kindergartner but once we had a certificate of completion showing that the student had graduated from kindergarten and standardized test stores (Iowa or Stanford) at the end of this school year they would then promote to 1st grade for next year. The only problem with that is that you don't get first dibs on track request...you are limited to what spaces are available in 1st grade come June or July (whenever your current Kindergartner graduates.)
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Old 08-18-2010, 10:54 AM
 
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My understanding is that somewhere in state law, its stipulated that the initial point of entry into the public school system is kindergarten. If a child has been through a non-public kindergarten, and then is enrolled in a public school, the child is enrolled as a kindergartner. When the child shows up for the kindergarten assessment, a determination is made on which grade the child should be in.
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Old 08-18-2010, 10:58 AM
 
9,196 posts, read 24,859,000 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Emitchell View Post
My understanding is that somewhere in state law, its stipulated that the initial point of entry into the public school system is kindergarten. If a child has been through a non-public kindergarten, and then is enrolled in a public school, the child is enrolled as a kindergartner. When the child shows up for the kindergarten assessment, a determination is made on which grade the child should be in.
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Old 08-18-2010, 02:19 PM
 
1,832 posts, read 5,075,437 times
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I would just caution you to really think about why you want to do this and maybe accept the cutoff date--it was moved for a reason, and I think it's a good one. I have an Oct. 17 child (yep, missed it by a DAY) who is old for her grade, and school has always been a walk in the park for her. Fortunately she's a child who loves a challenge and has had teachers willing to challenge her (and she's in AG), so boredom hasn't been a problem. She is confident about her ability and that's very, very, important in school--as important as IQ, IMO.

Her younger sister has an August 24 birthday and was a preemie and by rights should have been born after the cutoff where it used to be. And though she went to a private K out of state, we wanted her to redo K here. They wouldn't let her b/c her age was appropriate for 1st grade. She has struggled, though her tests indicate she's just as "smart" as her sister, if not more so. She has a cousin born in October whose parents held her back from K so she's 6weeks younger but a grade behind--and though my daughter is going 3rd grade work and her cousin is doing 2nd grade work, they're the same age. But her cousin's having an easy time of it b/c she is mature.

Sometimes I worry about my younger child's progress because she doesn't seem to be reading at as high a level, or doing math as easily as her sister. Then I remember that her sister was nearly a year older when she did the same work.

Confidence and maturity are hugely important. Sure, there are some fall babies who will do fine, but I've heard it gets very dicey in middle school when everything academic and social changes.

Still kicking myself for not pushing the issue....seriously. Think on it.
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Old 08-18-2010, 03:30 PM
 
9,196 posts, read 24,859,000 times
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I have kids who are little older now and went to kindergarten in another state. One barely met the cutoff for kindergarten, and we put her in at the earliest opportunity. I wished we hadn't - I think she would have benefitted by waiting. She was younger by more than a year than some of her elementary school classmates - a huge disadvantage developmentally at that age, academically as well as socially. Another child just missed the cutoff date, and I was mad that we couldn't get her in because she was "smart." Turns out to have been a good thing. She always did well, was socially well adjusted and mature relative to her peers.
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Old 08-18-2010, 03:36 PM
 
Location: Morrisville, NC
9,126 posts, read 14,673,466 times
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I was going to post something similar, but held off because of the line about long and hard deliberation. But I have to say I could not agree more with annesg and CHTransplant.

I was born in 1970 and was born mid September. I do not know what the exact cutoff was in 1975, but I know according to my parents that I just made it to start Kindergarten that year. All my school life, I struggled with fitting in and always seemed to gravitate toward those younger than me. Everyday interactions even in lower grades just never seemed easy to me and as you get older, the fact that you are the youngest amongst your peers to celebrate each and every milestone sucks more and more. Somehow, kids see who is "on their level" and tend to include those kids into their social interactions more easily. Not that I never had friends and have turned into a psychopath or anything , but as I said, it was usually with younger kids or I had fewer friends than those olde and just felt left out more often.

I may have had other issues as they were not that on top of minor learning disabilities then, but I also always had a hard time with schoolwork, even though I always tested in the 99th percentile in most things (heard not living up to potential so many times, you would think I was Bart Simpson or something ). Coupled with the just announced correlation between ADHD diagnoses and age (or immaturity) New research fuels skepticism (and questions) about those ADHD diagnoses - Los Angeles Times I think there is plenty of good evidence that it is better to wait and not try to go around the system.

In the end, it is your child and you know them best, but I would just say, take a step back and think about the long haul and make sure what you are doing is truly right. Unless your child is the center of attention with kids older than he/she is, like the one kid that everyone gravitates to, I would bet waiting a year will be much better.
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