@@facebook=
@@
While most parents send their child to kindergarten when he or she is 5 years old, some people delay their child’s entry to give them an academic, social or athletic advantage.
About 9 percent of U.S. kindergartners are purposefully held back, or academically redshirted, each year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
This practice of delaying an age-appropriate child’s entry into kindergarten is debated by educators and parents. Some say it can lead to academic success and confidence, while others contend it can cause alienation and behavioral problems.
Still others believe the educational system has caused some families to feel they have to make this choice, since kindergartners are expected to know concepts that require more maturity due to the nation’s reliance on standardized testing.
The term redshirting is borrowed from the practice of postponing a college athlete’s participation on a team for a year based on player growth or eligibility.
In Ohio, school districts may choose either Aug. 1 or Sept. 30 as the date by which a child must be age 5 to be admitted to kindergarten.
Some districts also offer kindergarten screenings, which can provide a guideline about whether a child is academically and socially ready for elementary school. But parents ultimately decide whether their child attends.
Schools administer the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment — Literacy, a mandatory assessment tool, in the fall. But that is for enrolled students to let teachers know where kids stand academically so they can provide individualized instruction.
Kids with summer birthdays near the district’s cutoff date often are among those who decide to postpone kindergarten.
This especially affects boys, who can be more developmentally delayed than girls.
“Kindergarten’s not established in a way that is age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate to meet the needs of kindergartners,” said Shauna Adams, executive director for the Center for Early Learning and associate professor at the University of Dayton. “That limits the number of eligible children who can be successful.”
According to the NCES, demographics also play a role in whether parents delay kindergarten.
A 2008 study found that parents of boys were more than twice as likely to delay entry into kindergarten; also twice as likely were families from more affluent backgrounds who may have greater access to quality child care.
As far as statistics on whether academic redshirting benefits students, the many factors involved in a child’s academic experience make the outcomes less clear cut.
A 2011 Canadian study by the National Bureau of Economic Research reported that starting kindergarten later can reduce a child’s chances that he or she will repeat the third grade, and result in improved math and reading scores in 10th grade.
The effects were highest for boys and low-income students.
Other studies have found that the practice may be short-lived, and that any perceived advantage to redshirting in the kindergarten year all but disappears by the third grade.
Further research reported that adolescents whose school entry had been delayed exhibited more behavioral problems linked to boredom and physical dominance than their age-appropriate classmates.
Robyn Lightcap, director of Montgomery County’s kindergarten readiness initiative ReadySetSoar, said often a parent knows their child best. However, they should consider whether their child would be better served at home or in an educational setting.
“You have to look at all aspects: socially, emotionally and academically,” Lightcap said. “But, if a child needs help, sometimes it is better to receive that help at school.”
Angela Stroud, a Kettering mother of three boys, said she held each of her sons back from entering kindergarten when they were chronologically eligible.
Stroud said it was an easy decision to retain her first and third sons, since they each have August birthdays. The age cutoff in Kettering City Schools is Sept. 30.
“I was going to hold them back no matter what,” she said. “I put them in the Young Fives program in Kettering.”
Many area districts have programs, such as Young Fives, that bridge preschool and kindergarten, and provide another option for families.
Stroud said the decision about when to send her middle son, born March 1, was more difficult.
“In his kindergarten screening he fell dead center, and we didn’t know which way to go,” Stroud said. “So we talked to a couple of teachers, a couple of principals and a school counselor and they all said they had never had a single parent complain about holding a child back, but they had had some complain about sending them ahead.”
She said, nearly a decade down the line, she is happy with that advice and her choice. She said her son — who is now 14, stands 5-foot-10 and is entering eighth grade — has thrived.
“Learning comes pretty easy to him and he makes pretty much straight As and Bs,” Stroud said. “He loves being older. In fact, when he was in fifth grade, he thought it was great that he was the oldest kid in the school.”
Adams said academic redshirting can work for some kids, but she believes parents should follow the school’s age and readiness guidelines and that kindergarten should teach to the whole child — not just to the tests.
“When you talk to businesses, they want creative, innovative problem-solvers, and those are the skills you are supposed to learn in kindergarten,” she said. “When the classroom adheres to age-appropriate curriculum and instructional practices, it becomes a welcoming place where children can be successful learners.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7325 or jikelley@Dayton DailyNews.com.
About the Author