On "Red-shirting" Kindergarteners
Several readers had some thoughts on this practice of holding back a child to enter kindergarten much later than at age five.
I came across a couple of good articles on this topic I wanted to pass along.
From the Bright blog, Everything You Need to Know about "Redshirting"
The second article is from Slate - The Downside of Redshirting
I came across a couple of good articles on this topic I wanted to pass along.
From the Bright blog, Everything You Need to Know about "Redshirting"
Kindergarten’s role as “the new first grade” was further cemented when — beginning in the mid-1970s — many states began to raise their cutoff dates, resulting in a consistently older pool of students, and consequently raising teachers’ expectations for behavior and learning skills.
Is redshirting effective?
Researchers have found varied results. While some studies assert that younger students are more likely to underperform on standardized tests, and that older students may fare better academically or take on more leadership roles, a number of other studies have demonstrated the opposite. In 2006, one comprehensive study noted that adult students who had been redshirted were actually slightly less likely to earn a bachelor’s degree, and earned less in the workforce on average. The only benefit their slightly older age seemed to offer them, researchers noted, was an enhanced ability in organized sports. Other studies have shown that older students demonstrate a lack of motivation in class, and might even have lower IQ scores than their non-redshirted peers.
I note that this blog is funded by the Gates Foundation but this is one of the more straight-forward blogs I have seen.What’s next for redshirting?
Most school districts do not track or officially encourage or discourage redshirting. However, the nation’s largest school district, New York City, has adopted policies that make the practice much more difficult for parents.
The second article is from Slate - The Downside of Redshirting
At what age should children go to kindergarten?
At what age should your child go to kindergarten?
What if these questions appear to have different answers?
A new study suggests that the effects of kindergarten redshirting are more serious and long-term than one might have thought.
As Elizabeth Weil noted in a great piece on redshirting in the New York Times Magazine last year, almost half the states have pushed back their birthday cutoffs since 1975, several of them fairly recently.It's easy to see what the states are up to: They're worried about test scores, and they figure that older kids plus academic kindergarten will produce better ones.
If this delay did help, we could expect to see a cheery rise in the scores of 17-year-olds along with the rise in the number of 6-year-old kindergartners. Instead, the basic level of proficiency of 17-year-olds on the National Assessment of Education Progress "has not risen at a rate that would suggest the majority of students are learning at a grade level higher than they were 20 years ago," Deming and Dynarski write.But guess what? It's probably not good for lower-income students whose parents can't do this and
There is substantial evidence that entering school later reduces educational attainment (by increasing high school drop out rates) and depresses lifetime earnings (by delaying entry into the job market)," the authors write. Also, "recent stagnation in the high school and college completion rates of young people is partly explained by their later start in primary school."
No evidence of a lasting redshirting benefit, though, isn't the same as convincing evidence of no benefit. What a lot of parents really want to know is whether redshirting improves a kid's chances of grabbing the brass ring—admission to an elite college. Deming and Dynarski say they are "exploring whether age effects persist in this competitive arena."Historically,
This does not mean that redshirting upper-middle-class kids turns them into high-school drop-outs. Deming and Dynarski show that in 1968, 96 percent of 6-year-olds were enrolled in first grade or higher. In 2005, the rate was 84 percent.
Redshirting explains two-thirds of the change, the authors find, and changes in state laws explain the rest.
The kids who start later because of the legal changes—a group that is socio-economically broad—are probably fueling the second trend that Deming and Dynarski point to: fewer 17-year-olds in 12th grade or in college, which translates to fewer years of school for more kids. Laws in the United States (as opposed to some European countries) mandate that kids stay in school, not for a requisite number of years but until they are 18. "Poor kids are disproportionately likely to drop out as soon as they can, when they turn 18," Dynarski explains. "If they start at 6 instead of 5, that's one year less of school."Last,
The place where redshirting is a proven advantage is the sports field. For example, 60 percent more Major League Baseball players are born in August than in July, and the birthday cutoff for youth baseball is July 31. But athletics, Dynarski points out, isn't academics.
Comments
Now, that said, there are cases where it makes sense to hold someone back in school who needs more time to develop a skill or skills, or for someone who needs the advanced work (eg, highly capable kids) to be promoted. So I'm not blanket opposed to cohorts of non-age-peers. But the practice should be treated much more skeptically than it is at the moment. For all the stink people unjustly raise about HCC, I see redshirting as far more pernicious a problem that is somehow off of equity advocates' radar.
-AginIt
-Pollyanna
http://www.seattleschools.org/admissions/faq
-parent
The way this plays out in kindergarten classrooms is often that children from relatively wealthier families (who were already more likely not only to have had access to better preschool programs and are statistically more likely to have had their parents speak more words to them before entering school) are able to benefit from an extra year of this better preparation. In my child's kindergarten that really widened the achievement gap a lot. There would already have been a gap even if the kids were the same chronological age. But the gap was dramatically widened by the better prepared kids being better prepared AND older with more time to prepare better. The kids who would have benefited from waiting a year to start but whose families couldn't afford it were physically smaller, had less "fancy" preschool CVs, were a year less coordinated, had had a year less of socioemotional learning, were often less prepared to start reading, etc. The gap was exacerbated.
One study of kids from families with upper social economic status found that, “On the Life Satisfaction Scale, redshirted students showed significantly higher levels of life satisfaction than those who had not been redshirted.” Conversely, a variety of studies for redshirted kids from families with lower social economic status have found them to be less academically successful later on.
Redshirting can absolutely be the right decision for an individual family and child.
bs
-AginIt
SEnder
Suspicious
Redshirting just bumps the disadvantage back to earlier months if they are among demographic peers (there will always be the youngest kids in the class), and exaggerates the shift if there is some diversity in the group.
It is a good idea for an immature kid who is in an increasingly demanding academic-based kindergarten. Also, if it's done to get ahead--and the HCC achievement section is an example--it might work.
Then again, when SPS finally starts functioning in terms of best practices (about 10 years after many parts of the country), cut-off scores won't matter so much anymore (and I know that the CogAT is based on age).
In the meantime, it is helpful for some. I just regret when it's used as a tool to one-up (yet in the long run, it will mostly level out for them anyway).
We didn't even hear about redshirting for academics until Outliers (circa 2008).
Advantage Seekers
I sometimes wonder if schools are inadvertently encouraging redshirting, especially for active boys. If girls are better able to sit for longer periods, even if it may be developmentally inappropriate to expect so much at that age, they may be seen as more mature.
gender bias?
Malcolm Gladwell appeals to the NRP audience, not "schools" in general.
Redshirting for sports was always based on gender bias. Redshirting is class
biased but the former gender bias from sport and (nature/nurture) is also impacting
choices.
Kindergarten is the new first grade (just like Orange is the New Black).
Active boys (and active girls) are always at a disadvantage in most schools.
Girls are often taught (and expected) to behave more than boys, and there
also may be some nature involved (but don't quote me on that).
Again, without Gladwell's book, this wouldn't be happening.
Advantage Seekers
They each were in a 5s program or tiny private school for their initial introduction to school.
I wanted them to have a better school experience than I did, which had been starting kindergarten when I was 4, basically because I was a reader, but really struggling with social and gross motor activities, and eventually dropping out of high school.
They were always among the youngest in their class, which wasnt ideal, but they did both graduate from college.
If a child was born prematurely and the parents decide a later school start may be in their child's best interest, who are we to judge? There are many, many reasons for either an early or late entry to K. I like to think most parents are acting in the best interest of their children.
good golly
2) I agree that parents are acting in their child's own best interests. However, there should not be a 7 or 8 year old in a kindergarten class.
(Full disclosure - I did red-shirt my own September birthday kid as being one of the youngest and smallest (if you know how short I am, you can see the issue) in the class his entire school career. )
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reports that, nationally, during the 2006-2007 school year, 7% of children had parents who planned to delay their entrance into kindergarten. This statistic included a higher percentage of boys than girls and a lower percentage of children living in poor households compared with nonpoor households (O’Donnell, 2008).
It was considered a "low-incidence practice that clusters in certain communities."
http://illinoisearlylearning.org/faqs/redshirting.htm
Fall 2010 data from NCES indicates 6% percent of students were "redshirted," and 1% of children were early entry.
https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_tea.asp
-parent
https://www.leportschools.com/blog/dont-redshirt-for-kindergarten-eliminate-fixed-timeline/
-parent
I wish parents would remember that if their kid wasn't ready for kindergarten at 5, they probably aren't ready to start the driving process in 9th grade.
* Class Bully: Summer birthdays can either be the youngest in the class or the oldest in the class. If they are the oldest, perhaps they may turn out to be the class bully. On the other hand, if they are the youngest, they may turn out to be the one that is bullied. Or perhaps not.
* HCC: Will redshirting help in gaining HCC admission? The achievement tests are grade-normed, so redshirting with an extra year of high qualify pre-k can absolutely help early on just as if they are not redshirted they will be at a significant disadvantage during K achievement testing. The CogAT tests, on the other hand, are age-normed, so redshirting plus high-quality pre-k can compensate during K testing, but as they grow older, redshirting may hinder CogAT testing.
* Sports: If you are thinking ahead to middle school or high school sports, then redshirting could absolutely help. But early on, many sports such as Soccer are based on age, not grade. In fact, some parents even have their kids play "up an age" for an additional challenge.
* Chess: Most of the early chess tournaments are done based on grade, so being red-shirted could provide an advantage.
* Driving in 9th Grade: Po3 suggests above that red-shirted kids shouldn't be allowed to drive based on their age, but instead based on their grade. I actually would prefer there to be different driving ages based on height and gender.
* Academic Achievement and College: Some kids from upper socio-economic-status families that take advantage of the extra year may seem to benefit academically while some kids from lower EES families may not.
* And so on...
No two kids are the same. No two families are the same. Parenting is hard. The goal should be to provide parents with the best information possible so they can make informed decisions. Not judging from the outside. Life is not a race.
Yes - there are things to consider st the other end. My daughter's bday is Oct 5 and she started just before turning 6. She liked voting as a senior but I didn't realize that it can make some things more complicated since they are legally an adult but still in HS. Like healthcare stuff (had to have her sign a form at the Dr so they would talk to me), housing if you are a renter (had to fight with landlords to keep her as a 'tenant' not an adult financially/legally responsible on the lease since she aged into adulthood when living there), etc. and you stop getting the Child Tax Credit at 17....but we worked through it all. But I wish I'd known some of those things when she started K - though I didn't technically redshirt her - her birthday was just after the cutoff by a month of so....
(former) Franklin Parent
For HCC, there was (or is?) an unwritten policy about not advancing students to HCC if they had already been grade skipped or early entry. In elementary, they recommended repeating a grade if enrolling in HCC, but for middle school that practice (policy?) went away. Best to know district policies and practices before making decisions.
decisions decisions
West
From my experience, Seattle kindergartens are reasonably good, but have a rigid one-size-fits-all mentality. They are especially unwilling to tolerate a boy whose intellectual development or curiosity doesn't match up in girl fashion to his ability to sit still or willingness to follow a schedule or directions, or persevere through something that doesn't make sense at that moment, or do boring busywork just because the teacher says so. Even if it would be best for your son to start into school work at age 5.1 in a supportive, flexible environment, that is not what SPS kindergarten has to offer. You could end up instead with a lot of conflict between the child and teacher and the start of a lot of negative dynamics that are hard to get out of later.
Another perspective from The New Yorker:
http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/youngest-kid-smartest-kid
As West suggests, bypassing K in SPS is also an option. Go private for K, with the possibility of smaller classes and more individualized attention.
-parent
Younger students attended in the morning and older students attended in afternoon. ( Actually when my oldest was in the North Seattle 5's, that was also a half day program)
I realize many parents would still need childcare, however, if schools offered space on site ( as some do), this would be an easy solve, instead of forcing the students into a situation which may not be developmentally appropriate. Potentially setting them up for associating frustration and boredom with school.
When my mother attended Kindergarten, they went as far as to have students start halfway through the year.
Her birthday was not until November, so she did not start until January.
I wonder if academic outcomes would improve if we considered what fit developmentally.
Can we give a placement test and start some in 1st?
West
Interesting that you mentioned your mother starting school in January. My mother, as well, in the 1950's started 1st grade in January, shortly before her 6th birthday. This was 7 months early, compared to when one would start today. It worked phenomenally well for her (early graduations continuing into college), and we've always lamented that practice disappearing.
The other issue I note is that Seattle has a relatively late (or early) birthdate cutoff, depending on how you look at it. I know of other districts where the cutoff is January 1, not September. Seattle is essentially forcing red-shirting for a subset of students & giving the option to NOT redshirt with early K entrance. Those born between September and December could be enrolled a year earlier elsewhere.
Back in 2004, when there was a switch to all day K, the three elementary schools closest to my home, directly and unequivocally, told me to hold back my summer birthday child and not hold back the rest of the K classroom.
The schools at that point, were very clear that all day K was the equivalent of first grade and that they needed the kids to be ready for first grade to go into K.
Gladwell may have made this more common knowledge but .... NCLB really pushed this practice ... hard.
NE Parent
-
- Mama NE
Thanks for the information. It makes sense since many idea changes are based on a convergence of influences and may or may not be beneficial over time.
Advantage Seekers
https://nces.ed.gov/programs/statereform/tab5_3.asp
-parent
Yes, many factors in a change of norms and practices.
What has been very surprising to me is how "transparent" this conversation was back in 2004, relative to now. NCLB testing and the requirement for year-over-year progress for all schools, including high performing schools, meant that is was a very open conversation about how "progress" could only be made by pushing some standards down a grade.
On the K tours we took in 2004 and again in 2006, a very large focus on each tour was the third grade test scores and what the school was doing to maintain those score. At that time, Kindergarten teachers spoke openly about how K had changed dramatically in a short window.
What surprised me then was that they all kept saying that the point of K was previously socialization but now it was to ensure that all of the students started first grade reading. That if the student was not reading in first grade, they needed to start interventions. Therefore, it was better to just start that in K. This only makes sense when you realize that because of the choice system, K was the big entry grade and only a handful of students were admitted to any of the "good" schools in first grade or beyond. So teachers really did think in terms of starting at K with the students who would be tested in later years.
The message to families was very clear, if you want socialization, you need another year of pre-school, because K was academic. Two principals told me pointedly and directly that they really didn't want summer birthdays entering K and that you should "pick" another school. As this was the height of the choice era, that was a common and accepted practice, to directly tell families that this school was not a fit and that there would be no effort made on behalf of your child.
One local elementary was "infamous" for their 100% 5th grade pass rate. This happened in large part, because any child who was not likely to pass was "counseled" to apply via choice to another local school that was more likely to give services.
Redshirting was a natural consequence of the test score obsession.
- NE parent
At barely-5, my kid was toward the bottom of the heap at the start of K, especially in reading. But she flew up the ranks that year, and I think she thinks of herself as someone who rises in achievement not just in absolute terms, but relatively. Obviously, that has to top out somewhere, but that expectation has served her well in first grade.
I imagine that most redshirted kids have an opposite trajectory. They see their initial advantage dwindle over the first few years of school, maybe start to expect to lose ground every year.
That said, my kid is AL-designated, while if we'd held her "back" last year she'd likely be HCC. I think we'd have chosen to keep her in her neighborhood school, anyway, but the option would be nice and might become important later.
Fix AL
Our late summer Bday child has few regrets about being the youngest and now can't imagine being back a year in high school. When weighing our options, we reasoned if K ended up being a poor fit, it would be logistically easier to deal with that rather than wait a year and look at the prospect of trying to then skip to first grade.
You know your child best. I'm guessing most parents are ultimately happy with the choice for their child as they made the decision based on their own knowledge of their child and their gut parent instinct. We have family members equally happy with their decision to start their summer Bday children a year later (boys and girls).
decisions
Advantage Seekers
-MamaNE
If not, next....(as in, why are you replyin'?)
Advantange Seekers