Redshirting consequences at Lafayette

[Anonymous]

https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/dc/dc-wants-to-stop-academic-red-shirting-parents-say-they-worry-about-their-childrens-development-skip-kindergarten-go-to-first-grade/65-c610746c-1cca-4629-a29c-f1fcc82e9a59

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Now that Bowser is involved, these parents have no chance. For all her flaws, Bowser will absolutely stand up to entitled parents who are trying to gain favor for their own kids -- I think she hates it.

From the most recent article:

"Bowser supports the crackdown, saying it ensures fairness in classrooms.

“We don’t want some kids to be advantaged to the disadvantage of other kids – that’s why we have the rule,” Bowser said."

Politically. Her close friends certainly send their children to private schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The jealousy and pettiness and sense of victimhood on this thread is something to behold. A gentle reminder that DC public schools are not very good. Standardized testing suggests your kids would get a better education if they went to any random public school in Iowa. So the idea that if a kid "reshirts" or, put more directly, repeats a grade at a mediocre school, that he or she will get some amazing benefit and be transformed into a math whiz or something seems disconnected from reality.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“He does not read at all. He does not know the alphabet,” Siegel said. “In kindergarten, you learn to read.”

From the article. LOL. maybe if they had put the child in kindergarten, he/she wouldn't be so far behind.

And now a whiney mom wants special treatmetn.

I'll take BS for $100, Alex? But why is she so determined to publicly embarrass her kid??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“He does not read at all. He does not know the alphabet,” Siegel said. “In kindergarten, you learn to read.”

From the article. LOL. maybe if they had put the child in kindergarten, he/she wouldn't be so far behind.

And now a whiney mom wants special treatmetn.

Good lord, the child doesn't know the alphabet? These days, kids entering kindergarten are absolutely expected to know all their letters. I just cannot fathom an UMC child who is about to turn 5 and doesn't know the alphabet barring some significant intellectual delays, let alone one who is about to turn 6. And if significant intellectual delays were the reason she was asking to redshirt this child, you know she would have made sure to mention it from the mountaintops. Repeatedly.

Which makes me think she's not at all being truthful.

That was also my reaction. A 6 year old who doesn't even know his letters either has special needs or his parents have gone out of their way to keep him from pre-literacy skills. These kids have been in preschool. You're telling me these private preschools don't sing the alphabet song? Please.

I also think she's lying.

There were a number of kids in my child's 1st grade classroom who were still working on learning some letter sounds and were not doing much more than c-v-c words in terms of reading. It's not that unusual. DCPS does dyslexia screening at the start of 1st grade to help identify and LDs that might be impacting kids, and many kids learn to read in 1st grade. Yes, some learn in K as well. There is a range. It's normal. Being on the low end of the range does not mean you are behind. It just means you are on the low end of the range.

And that her previously redshirted kid (entered K at 6) wasn't even prepared for 1st grade. I can't even tell if it's being a helicopter parent or a bad parent or what, but the lack of personal responsibility for these children's development is insane. But I'm glad these children will be able to Google forever how highly their own mom thinks about them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All these anti-redshirters must hate ENCL soccer. The cutoff is 8/1. Imagine being in one grade for soccer and another for DCPS. Ridiculous.

It's actually not. It's December 31st. They're changing it to 8/1 the year after next.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The jealousy and pettiness and sense of victimhood on this thread is something to behold. A gentle reminder that DC public schools are not very good. Standardized testing suggests your kids would get a better education if they went to any random public school in Iowa. So the idea that if a kid "reshirts" or, put more directly, repeats a grade at a mediocre school, that he or she will get some amazing benefit and be transformed into a math whiz or something seems disconnected from reality.

The idea that Lafayette moms are saying that other folks have a "sense of victimhood" is amazing. If you hate DCPS so much, go elsewhere. It sounds like folks at Lafayette would rather you did too.

Not a Lafayette mom. Just saying that parents can have good reasons to hold their kids back; you don't actually know what those reasons are and they dont have to tell you; and if a child is held back, it has zero consequences for your child. Reading this thread you'd think all the kids who didnt "get" to repeat a grade are getting completely screwed over.

1) no one is arguing that parents who want to redshirt should have to share their reasons with me, personally. But DCPS policy was at principal's discretion, not parents. So they did need to share their reasons with the principal, who deemed them insufficient

2) Redshirting can of course have an impact on other children. It changes the composition of the class. It can impact behavioral expectations, disadvantaging on-time kids who may now be viewed as immature for the grade because redshirted kids pull the average age up. It could also have consequences down the road in HS applications, when being a year older may make it easier for kids to compete on factors like leadership, interview skills, and relationships with teachers.

Catastrophize much? This is so utterly ridiculous it's hard to believe an adult human believes this. Get a grip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The jealousy and pettiness and sense of victimhood on this thread is something to behold. A gentle reminder that DC public schools are not very good. Standardized testing suggests your kids would get a better education if they went to any random public school in Iowa. So the idea that if a kid "reshirts" or, put more directly, repeats a grade at a mediocre school, that he or she will get some amazing benefit and be transformed into a math whiz or something seems disconnected from reality.

The idea that Lafayette moms are saying that other folks have a "sense of victimhood" is amazing. If you hate DCPS so much, go elsewhere. It sounds like folks at Lafayette would rather you did too.

Not a Lafayette mom. Just saying that parents can have good reasons to hold their kids back; you don't actually know what those reasons are and they dont have to tell you; and if a child is held back, it has zero consequences for your child. Reading this thread you'd think all the kids who didnt "get" to repeat a grade are getting completely screwed over.

1) no one is arguing that parents who want to redshirt should have to share their reasons with me, personally. But DCPS policy was at principal's discretion, not parents. So they did need to share their reasons with the principal, who deemed them insufficient

2) Redshirting can of course have an impact on other children. It changes the composition of the class. It can impact behavioral expectations, disadvantaging on-time kids who may now be viewed as immature for the grade because redshirted kids pull the average age up. It could also have consequences down the road in HS applications, when being a year older may make it easier for kids to compete on factors like leadership, interview skills, and relationships with teachers.

Catastrophize much? This is so utterly ridiculous it's hard to believe an adult human believes this. Get a grip.

On the flip side, how narcissistic do you have to be to think that your behavior has no effect on others? It just seems like you absolutely have your head in the sand. Unless you truly believe parents should -- at their absolute discretion -- be able to enroll their kids in any year they want to, you also understand that having similarly aged cohorts has *some* utility and that when that breaks down, there is *some* effect on other kids. People are trying to explain to you not what one kid being redshirted would do (very little in most cases), but what would happen if DC became a district where redshirting proliferated... and, yes, it would absolutely become a self-fulfilling prophecy where expectations change and redshirting certain birthdays becomes the norm, just like at the private schools that permit redshirting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The jealousy and pettiness and sense of victimhood on this thread is something to behold. A gentle reminder that DC public schools are not very good. Standardized testing suggests your kids would get a better education if they went to any random public school in Iowa. So the idea that if a kid "reshirts" or, put more directly, repeats a grade at a mediocre school, that he or she will get some amazing benefit and be transformed into a math whiz or something seems disconnected from reality.

The idea that Lafayette moms are saying that other folks have a "sense of victimhood" is amazing. If you hate DCPS so much, go elsewhere. It sounds like folks at Lafayette would rather you did too.

Not a Lafayette mom. Just saying that parents can have good reasons to hold their kids back; you don't actually know what those reasons are and they dont have to tell you; and if a child is held back, it has zero consequences for your child. Reading this thread you'd think all the kids who didnt "get" to repeat a grade are getting completely screwed over.

1) no one is arguing that parents who want to redshirt should have to share their reasons with me, personally. But DCPS policy was at principal's discretion, not parents. So they did need to share their reasons with the principal, who deemed them insufficient

2) Redshirting can of course have an impact on other children. It changes the composition of the class. It can impact behavioral expectations, disadvantaging on-time kids who may now be viewed as immature for the grade because redshirted kids pull the average age up. It could also have consequences down the road in HS applications, when being a year older may make it easier for kids to compete on factors like leadership, interview skills, and relationships with teachers.

Catastrophize much? This is so utterly ridiculous it's hard to believe an adult human believes this. Get a grip.

That's not catastrophizing. It's just describing the potential impacts of redshirting on cohorts. *Of course* redshirting impacts the make-up of grade cohorts and will alter the make up of applicant classes at application schools. This idea that shifting a child's school entry for a year will have a meaningful impact on that child but ZERO impact on anyone else in class is bizarre to me. The whole point is that kids are impacted by their peers. Anyone who has ever had a child in a classroom, anywhere, is aware that the composition of the class will impact their child's experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The jealousy and pettiness and sense of victimhood on this thread is something to behold. A gentle reminder that DC public schools are not very good. Standardized testing suggests your kids would get a better education if they went to any random public school in Iowa. So the idea that if a kid "reshirts" or, put more directly, repeats a grade at a mediocre school, that he or she will get some amazing benefit and be transformed into a math whiz or something seems disconnected from reality.

The idea that Lafayette moms are saying that other folks have a "sense of victimhood" is amazing. If you hate DCPS so much, go elsewhere. It sounds like folks at Lafayette would rather you did too.

Not a Lafayette mom. Just saying that parents can have good reasons to hold their kids back; you don't actually know what those reasons are and they dont have to tell you; and if a child is held back, it has zero consequences for your child. Reading this thread you'd think all the kids who didnt "get" to repeat a grade are getting completely screwed over.

1) no one is arguing that parents who want to redshirt should have to share their reasons with me, personally. But DCPS policy was at principal's discretion, not parents. So they did need to share their reasons with the principal, who deemed them insufficient

2) Redshirting can of course have an impact on other children. It changes the composition of the class. It can impact behavioral expectations, disadvantaging on-time kids who may now be viewed as immature for the grade because redshirted kids pull the average age up. It could also have consequences down the road in HS applications, when being a year older may make it easier for kids to compete on factors like leadership, interview skills, and relationships with teachers.

So, you're assuming:

1. Redshirting will become basically a fad and every parent will want their kid to repeat a grade (or grades! why stop at one redshirting?)

2. None of the redshirted kids will have any legitimate issues. It will just all vanity redshirting.

3. Repeating a grade isn't a waste of a child's time. In fact, an education at DCPS is such a potent thing that it's patently unfair for a child to be allowed to do it again.

4. The parents will all believe that redshirting is the shortcut to turning their kids into academic and/or athletic superstars, and that's all they care about.

5. The teachers will be too stupid to know the ground is shifting under their feet. Even though some have been teaching the same grade for 30 years, somehow they won't realize that expectations are changed, even though that's so readily apparent to DCUM

6. Repeating a grade is all gravy for the kids. They won't care about being separated from their friends. No one will be self conscious about being older than they're supposed to be. The social stigma that comes with repeating a grade will vanish.

I dunno. Seems like a lot of thin reeds you got here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The jealousy and pettiness and sense of victimhood on this thread is something to behold. A gentle reminder that DC public schools are not very good. Standardized testing suggests your kids would get a better education if they went to any random public school in Iowa. So the idea that if a kid "reshirts" or, put more directly, repeats a grade at a mediocre school, that he or she will get some amazing benefit and be transformed into a math whiz or something seems disconnected from reality.

The idea that Lafayette moms are saying that other folks have a "sense of victimhood" is amazing. If you hate DCPS so much, go elsewhere. It sounds like folks at Lafayette would rather you did too.

Not a Lafayette mom. Just saying that parents can have good reasons to hold their kids back; you don't actually know what those reasons are and they dont have to tell you; and if a child is held back, it has zero consequences for your child. Reading this thread you'd think all the kids who didnt "get" to repeat a grade are getting completely screwed over.

1) no one is arguing that parents who want to redshirt should have to share their reasons with me, personally. But DCPS policy was at principal's discretion, not parents. So they did need to share their reasons with the principal, who deemed them insufficient

2) Redshirting can of course have an impact on other children. It changes the composition of the class. It can impact behavioral expectations, disadvantaging on-time kids who may now be viewed as immature for the grade because redshirted kids pull the average age up. It could also have consequences down the road in HS applications, when being a year older may make it easier for kids to compete on factors like leadership, interview skills, and relationships with teachers.

So, you're assuming:

1. Redshirting will become basically a fad and every parent will want their kid to repeat a grade (or grades! why stop at one redshirting?)

2. None of the redshirted kids will have any legitimate issues. It will just all vanity redshirting.

3. Repeating a grade isn't a waste of a child's time. In fact, an education at DCPS is such a potent thing that it's patently unfair for a child to be allowed to do it again.

4. The parents will all believe that redshirting is the shortcut to turning their kids into academic and/or athletic superstars, and that's all they care about.

5. The teachers will be too stupid to know the ground is shifting under their feet. Even though some have been teaching the same grade for 30 years, somehow they won't realize that expectations are changed, even though that's so readily apparent to DCUM

6. Repeating a grade is all gravy for the kids. They won't care about being separated from their friends. No one will be self conscious about being older than they're supposed to be. The social stigma that comes with repeating a grade will vanish.

I dunno. Seems like a lot of thin reeds you got here.

What are you even talking about. Do you have literally any experience in a DCPS school? Your comment has nothing to do with the DCPS policy or the way actual DCPS schools work. You've listed a bunch of weird straw men that have nothing to do with the conversation we're actually having. I have to conclude you don't even live in DC, or your kids are in private, and you just enjoy fighting with people on the internet for fun?

[Anonymous]

In MCPS, it's easy to request kindergarten a year late. If your child is in a special-ed pre-school program, you don't get an extra year of that. So you have to pay out-of-pocket for an extra year of the 4s class. So what is the harm of that happening in DC? I just don't think parents should be entitled to an extra paid year of pre-k. If a kid was born in September, there is no difference from a kid who was born October 1 and is in the next grade. They are days apart from birth even if they fall into the next grade per DCPS' rules.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In MCPS, it's easy to request kindergarten a year late. If your child is in a special-ed pre-school program, you don't get an extra year of that. So you have to pay out-of-pocket for an extra year of the 4s class. So what is the harm of that happening in DC? I just don't think parents should be entitled to an extra paid year of pre-k. If a kid was born in September, there is no difference from a kid who was born October 1 and is in the next grade. They are days apart from birth even if they fall into the next grade per DCPS' rules.

If people want to advocate for a change to DC's rules, they should do that.

The problem here is that DCPS has had the same rules for 20 years, but a handful of schools in upper NW thought they were the exception, so DC is bringing those schools into line with the rest of the city. That's it. They are being asked to follow the same rules as everyone else.

I'd happily have a conversation about whether we should change the rules and if so, to what. But the reason we aren't following MCPS rules here is because we are a different district.

[Anonymous]

I don’t get this, there’s no prize for being “ahead” in the lower grades and I seriously doubt those effects persist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t get this, there’s no prize for being “ahead” in the lower grades and I seriously doubt those effects persist.

At least one well done study finds a small but persistent impact even for high SES kids.
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/08/18/544483397/oldest-kids-in-class-do-better-even-through-college