Age cutoffs - what to do if you move?
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Anonymous
| My DD goes to school in DC, which has a cutoff of Sept 30 (she’s a late September birthday). We are considering moving to MoCo which has a cutoff of August 31. Would she have to repeat the grade? She just finished 5th in DC. |
Anonymous
| No, after 2nd she’d be allowed to stay in her grade. Not a problem. |
Anonymous
| Cutoffs don’t matter anymore after you start. |
Anonymous
Not true. As PP noted, they matter until second grade. |
Anonymous
As long as the child has done kindergarten (not PK) in a public school, they are able to follow the pattern of the school that they came from. Not the case for privates though. |
Anonymous
| Cut offs are for K & 1st grade only. |
Anonymous
| Op here. Thanks everyone! |
Anonymous
In MCPS you have to test in for K and for 1st you have to do a 6 week trial to get into 1st. They don't look at grade/age, after 2nd so OP will be fine but you are giving wrong advice. Privates are different, some will accept young for the grade no issue, some will not. |
Anonymous
A student who has completed kindergarten in another public school system can enter first grade. The principal may not say that, but that is in the reg. They do not need to do early entrance to 1st. It is a transfer. |
Anonymous
It probably depends on the school and principal. We tried to transfer in 1st and were told no. We had to wait till 2nd grade and they still pushed holding back. |
Anonymous
|
Info is on the early entrance website: https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/dtecps/earlychildhood/early-entrance#:~:text=Early%20Entrance%20to%20Kindergarten,-Applications%20for%20early&text=Per%20Maryland%20State%20Department%20of,age%20by%20September%201%2C%202022.
"If Your Child Has Previously Completed Kindergarten in a Public School 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. "More information about the MCPS first grade program's curriculum and expectations." |
Anonymous
If you came from a public school system, you could have pushed/appealed and gotten it approved. But of course the principal has no incentive to tell you this. |
Anonymous
| It seems MCPS is worried about the broad age ranges in a given grade resulting from children arriving in MCPS with less school time then required to attend the typical grade for their age. To avoid 13 year olds in a grade of 11 year olds they are strongly pushing against any early entry or grade skipping. They have to put the 13 year old in the academically appropriate class, they don't have to advance youngers to higher grade levels. Currently some schools are more impacted by this dynamic than others. |
Anonymous
What are you rambling about? Come MS, 6th graders can take classes with 8th graders. Come HS, 9th graders can take classes with 12th graders regardless of age. MCPS doesn't care. MCPS is slowing down the entry of kids as they are overcrowded and they hope families will go private and not return. We have a young for the grade child and it's completely not relevant once they are in the grade like OP child. After 2nd, you remain in the grade you are in without any test-in expectations and it's fine. MCPS has a huge range of ages if parents choose to hold their kids back. Some do, most don't. Or, you have outliers like my kid and other kids who either did private or came transferred in from other school systems. |
Anonymous
It’s in the regs but principals make up their own rules. Ours refused to allow the early entrance exam. She was a witch so glad we did private for a few years. |