MCPS elementary schools and birthday cutoff

[Anonymous]

My kindergartener, currently in DCPS, has a late-September birthday. If we move to Montgomery County next summer, after he's completed Kindergarten in D.C., will he be allowed into first grade even though his birthday is after the cutoff?

[Anonymous]

Yes, as long as the student completed K in a public school. But if you would prefer your child to repeat K, you could do that too. K in MCPS in our experience was more academic than in DCPS, but it may be dependent on the specific schools.

[Anonymous]

Some require test in. It’s only automatic after 2nd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some require test in. It’s only automatic after 2nd.

Pre-pandemic at least they let anyone who completed K in a public school go onto 1st. Maybe the pandemic changed that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some require test in. It’s only automatic after 2nd.

Pre-pandemic at least they let anyone who completed K in a public school go onto 1st. Maybe the pandemic changed that?

No, they didn't. I have a fall child. We either had to do 6 weeks in 1st for the school to decide or transfer in in second. It may depend on the principal but ours was very against fall kids starting so we stayed private for a few years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some require test in. It’s only automatic after 2nd.

Pre-pandemic at least they let anyone who completed K in a public school go onto 1st. Maybe the pandemic changed that?

No, they didn't. I have a fall child. We either had to do 6 weeks in 1st for the school to decide or transfer in in second. It may depend on the principal but ours was very against fall kids starting so we stayed private for a few years.

It was in the reg that you had a right to go to first if you attended a public k school elsewhere. Maybe that has changed, and maybe your principal didn’t mention it to you, but you did have the right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some require test in. It’s only automatic after 2nd.

Pre-pandemic at least they let anyone who completed K in a public school go onto 1st. Maybe the pandemic changed that?

That was not the rule prepandemic. The rule was and is this. You test in for kindergarten if you do not meet the age cutoff.

For first grade you enter at age level. So if your child is kindergarten age level, they go to kindergarten. At the discretion of the school they can move the kid to first grade. A decision is made within six weeks. There is no test, it’s observation.

For second grade forward, kids enter at grade level.

[Anonymous]

Here’s what the MCPS site says : If a child has previously completed the kindergarten year in a public school kindergarten program, the child may be considered as a transfer, although the child's birthdate may not be aligned with the state's age requirements.

Parents/guardians should submit the child's attendance record and any end-of-year transcripts, along with the application, MCPS Form 271-1, Application for Early Entrance First Grade Program, to the school principal for consideration.

From https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/dtecps/earlychildhood/early-entrance.aspx

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here’s what the MCPS site says : If a child has previously completed the kindergarten year in a public school kindergarten program, the child may be considered as a transfer, although the child's birthdate may not be aligned with the state's age requirements.

Parents/guardians should submit the child's attendance record and any end-of-year transcripts, along with the application, MCPS Form 271-1, Application for Early Entrance First Grade Program, to the school principal for consideration.

From https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/dtecps/earlychildhood/early-entrance.aspx

The words “may” and “consideration” leads me to believe the principal can decide whether to admit to 1st grade or not. Application for Early Entrance also leads me to the same conclusion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some require test in. It’s only automatic after 2nd.

Pre-pandemic at least they let anyone who completed K in a public school go onto 1st. Maybe the pandemic changed that?

That was not the rule prepandemic. The rule was and is this. You test in for kindergarten if you do not meet the age cutoff.

For first grade you enter at age level. So if your child is kindergarten age level, they go to kindergarten. At the discretion of the school they can move the kid to first grade. A decision is made within six weeks. There is no test, it’s observation.

For second grade forward, kids enter at grade level.

This is what I always knew... If you wanted to do private to start an earlier year you had to do K and 1 to be guaranteed the year you want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here’s what the MCPS site says : If a child has previously completed the kindergarten year in a public school kindergarten program, the child may be considered as a transfer, although the child's birthdate may not be aligned with the state's age requirements.

Parents/guardians should submit the child's attendance record and any end-of-year transcripts, along with the application, MCPS Form 271-1, Application for Early Entrance First Grade Program, to the school principal for consideration.

From https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/dtecps/earlychildhood/early-entrance.aspx

The words “may” and “consideration” leads me to believe the principal can decide whether to admit to 1st grade or not. Application for Early Entrance also leads me to the same conclusion.

If you look at the page..there is an application process for early grade 1 for consideration. It is not a guarantee.

[Anonymous]

Public K: you go to first
Private K: you have the 6 weeks and then evaluate whether or not they can move

It's clearly to prevent parents from circumventing the cutoff by doing a year of private kindergarten first. Families who move from other districts are not trying to do that.

Citation: I'm a 1st grade teacher in MCPS and I've had younger students that moved here from other states, as well as one or two students that joined our grade after the 6 weeks. This has been the standard procedure in the schools I've worked in for 10 years or so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some require test in. It’s only automatic after 2nd.

A friend had their kid with an early September birthday take the test to enter K early and from what they said it assumes the kid had learned the entirety of K content and material almost perfectly. It sounded like they want kids to fail. I would definitely get more info.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some require test in. It’s only automatic after 2nd.

A friend had their kid with an early September birthday take the test to enter K early and from what they said it assumes the kid had learned the entirety of K content and material almost perfectly. It sounded like they want kids to fail. I would definitely get more info.

I agree with you. I have a friend where the same thing happened. Mcps doesn’t want your September child to enter kindergarten, they want to delay them another year so that it easier for the kindergarten teacher to teach older kids. That’s how mcps rolls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some require test in. It’s only automatic after 2nd.

A friend had their kid with an early September birthday take the test to enter K early and from what they said it assumes the kid had learned the entirety of K content and material almost perfectly. It sounded like they want kids to fail. I would definitely get more info.

Yeah, MCPS does not really want kids to start early, and the test is designed to weed out most kids.