Redshirting consequences at Lafayette

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A system where the kids with the most aggressive, entitled, and powerful parents get treated better is a bad system. Which is why redshirting should be based on a school evaluation for readiness, not which parents push the hardest to get it. If this bothers you, I think you would be happier in private schools.

This is how most things in life work.

Correct, which is why public schools should make an effort to do better.

Again, if you prefer a system where having money and power means your kids get more and better, private schools are a good fit for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I doubt this will matter to the already derailed thread, but there have been boys redshirted all over the city.

It's not a strictly Lafeyette, or strictly NW, or strictly Ward 3 thing.

I live in NE. I asked to redshirt my August birthday kid (in part due to Covid -- she missed PK3 due to Covid and seemed immature for K to me) and was told no and that it was not permitted under DCPS rules. We know lots of summer and September birthdays at our school (the young kids from the grade seem to gravitate towards each other) and none are redshirted.

I was very surprised when this story surfaced to learn that redshirting was fairly common at Lafayette or any school. It is unheard of at our DCPS and I can't imagine them allowing it absent SNs.

You just described most of the kids your dd’s age. They couldn’t redshirt everyone who needed it after Covid, because that was the majority of kids.

Perhaps an uptick in redshirting requests due to Covid disruptions is part of what led DCPS to start cracking down on it. Redshirting is a practice that only works if it's fairly limited. If Covid led to it becoming more common, I could see the district deciding they needed to limit parental discretion. What if 5-10% of parents decides, at their discretion, they need to redshirt? And redshirting also begets more redshirting because in districts where most summer birthdays are redshirted, you start to see May and June birthdays being redshirted too, and it kind of becomes a snake eating its own tail.

To be clear, I am NOT anti-redshirting. But I do think you have to limit it somewhere -- it can't just be a free for all. I'm open minded about how the limits should work. Requiring an eval for readiness seems reasonable for me. I also think flexible cutoffs where there is a window would work.

The problem with the Lafayette parents is that they don't seem to care about creating good policy -- they just want a carve out exemption for themselves. That's hard to endorse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I doubt this will matter to the already derailed thread, but there have been boys redshirted all over the city.

It's not a strictly Lafeyette, or strictly NW, or strictly Ward 3 thing.

I live in NE. I asked to redshirt my August birthday kid (in part due to Covid -- she missed PK3 due to Covid and seemed immature for K to me) and was told no and that it was not permitted under DCPS rules. We know lots of summer and September birthdays at our school (the young kids from the grade seem to gravitate towards each other) and none are redshirted.

I was very surprised when this story surfaced to learn that redshirting was fairly common at Lafayette or any school. It is unheard of at our DCPS and I can't imagine them allowing it absent SNs.

You just described most of the kids your dd’s age. They couldn’t redshirt everyone who needed it after Covid, because that was the majority of kids.

Perhaps an uptick in redshirting requests due to Covid disruptions is part of what led DCPS to start cracking down on it. Redshirting is a practice that only works if it's fairly limited. If Covid led to it becoming more common, I could see the district deciding they needed to limit parental discretion. What if 5-10% of parents decides, at their discretion, they need to redshirt? And redshirting also begets more redshirting because in districts where most summer birthdays are redshirted, you start to see May and June birthdays being redshirted too, and it kind of becomes a snake eating its own tail.

To be clear, I am NOT anti-redshirting. But I do think you have to limit it somewhere -- it can't just be a free for all. I'm open minded about how the limits should work. Requiring an eval for readiness seems reasonable for me. I also think flexible cutoffs where there is a window would work.

The problem with the Lafayette parents is that they don't seem to care about creating good policy -- they just want a carve out exemption for themselves. That's hard to endorse.

Many privates have many redshirted children. It creates quieter classrooms. The youngest children with April and May birthdays are just fine.

Imagine a class where the kids are learning addition. All NT children reach a point where there is no relative benefit to being older when it comes to learning addition. Or perhaps at a younger age, kids are learning about sharing. All NT children reach a point where they’re not struggling with sharing because if immaturity. The fact that you’re past this point by a month or six doesn’t make a difference. It doesn’t give the six month older kid an advantage.

What it does do is create learning-oriented classes. This is why I support redshirting. Even for my kids who would never be redshirted because of the way their birthdays fall, I appreciate redshirting. It does impact them: it creates fewer conflicts. It’s better to be around mature, well-behaved children for many reasons.

Behavioral problems do exist in private, but I’m glad the schools eliminate as many as could possibly exist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I doubt this will matter to the already derailed thread, but there have been boys redshirted all over the city.

It's not a strictly Lafeyette, or strictly NW, or strictly Ward 3 thing.

I live in NE. I asked to redshirt my August birthday kid (in part due to Covid -- she missed PK3 due to Covid and seemed immature for K to me) and was told no and that it was not permitted under DCPS rules. We know lots of summer and September birthdays at our school (the young kids from the grade seem to gravitate towards each other) and none are redshirted.

I was very surprised when this story surfaced to learn that redshirting was fairly common at Lafayette or any school. It is unheard of at our DCPS and I can't imagine them allowing it absent SNs.

You just described most of the kids your dd’s age. They couldn’t redshirt everyone who needed it after Covid, because that was the majority of kids.

Perhaps an uptick in redshirting requests due to Covid disruptions is part of what led DCPS to start cracking down on it. Redshirting is a practice that only works if it's fairly limited. If Covid led to it becoming more common, I could see the district deciding they needed to limit parental discretion. What if 5-10% of parents decides, at their discretion, they need to redshirt? And redshirting also begets more redshirting because in districts where most summer birthdays are redshirted, you start to see May and June birthdays being redshirted too, and it kind of becomes a snake eating its own tail.

To be clear, I am NOT anti-redshirting. But I do think you have to limit it somewhere -- it can't just be a free for all. I'm open minded about how the limits should work. Requiring an eval for readiness seems reasonable for me. I also think flexible cutoffs where there is a window would work.

The problem with the Lafayette parents is that they don't seem to care about creating good policy -- they just want a carve out exemption for themselves. That's hard to endorse.

Many privates have many redshirted children. It creates quieter classrooms. The youngest children with April and May birthdays are just fine.

Imagine a class where the kids are learning addition. All NT children reach a point where there is no relative benefit to being older when it comes to learning addition. Or perhaps at a younger age, kids are learning about sharing. All NT children reach a point where they’re not struggling with sharing because if immaturity. The fact that you’re past this point by a month or six doesn’t make a difference. It doesn’t give the six month older kid an advantage.

What it does do is create learning-oriented classes. This is why I support redshirting. Even for my kids who would never be redshirted because of the way their birthdays fall, I appreciate redshirting. It does impact them: it creates fewer conflicts. It’s better to be around mature, well-behaved children for many reasons.

Behavioral problems do exist in private, but I’m glad the schools eliminate as many as could possibly exist.

Because they screen students and also are allowed to kick those out who are disruptive, whereas public schools must serve everyone.

[Anonymous]

We should just have early age grades have classes with 6 month max age gaps instead of 12 months. So say Kindergarten class A will only have kids born September- February and Class B, April March - August. That will eradicate the relative age affect between the real term youngest and eldest in the room.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I doubt this will matter to the already derailed thread, but there have been boys redshirted all over the city.

It's not a strictly Lafeyette, or strictly NW, or strictly Ward 3 thing.

I live in NE. I asked to redshirt my August birthday kid (in part due to Covid -- she missed PK3 due to Covid and seemed immature for K to me) and was told no and that it was not permitted under DCPS rules. We know lots of summer and September birthdays at our school (the young kids from the grade seem to gravitate towards each other) and none are redshirted.

I was very surprised when this story surfaced to learn that redshirting was fairly common at Lafayette or any school. It is unheard of at our DCPS and I can't imagine them allowing it absent SNs.

So you let a faceless bureaucrat who doesn't know jack squat about your kid overrule you? Even though you were confident that you did not think your child was mature enough for kindergarten?

People on this thread are quick to trash "rich NW parents" for standing up for their kids but at least they're standing up and not getting railroaded by some DCPS numskull.

DP. the “faceless bureaucrats” actually understand education and know that most parents who fear their child is “immature” for K are just anxious and their kid will be fine. If you want to decide everything about your child’s education then you need to homeschool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm late to this thread but saw a news story about this recently. We moved from out of state last summer and the state we moved from has a different cutoff date than DCPS's. We enrolled our child in the grade that they would have been in the previous state since this child has only been in daycare until we moved. But based on DCPS's age policy, this child would have been in first grade. We don't really agree with the redshirting across the board since with the previous school district with a different child, it was very prominent and my oldest child with an end of year birthday was actually one of the youngest in their class with a late summer cutoff. Lots of the redshirting parents boasted how their child was "ahead" in the next grade. It was exhausting as a parent with a kid who's kid attended on time. I get case by case but it became the norm. Probably not as bad here with the free preK3-4 options here. Anyways is there any kind of policy for kids who come in from out of state? I looked online and didn't see anything.

This is one scenario where it does seem very unfair to skip the kid a grade ahead. I believe it is part of the cleanup legislation the Lafayette parents are pushing to let them do it.

The rules are that this child would start out in 1st and then they would assess whether he should go to K instead. Seems reasonable to me. If my child in that scenario was not reading or writing yet then I would advocate for them to go to K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: We should just have early age grades have classes with 6 month max age gaps instead of 12 months. So say Kindergarten class A will only have kids born September- February and Class B, April March - August. That will eradicate the relative age affect between the real term youngest and eldest in the room.

That’s a good idea (called “transitional kindergarten” some places) but Lafayette Mom would probably still be mad because the “good” K teacher is with the older cohort or the younger cohort isn’t as “advanced” as her Larlo. The entitlement does not end with these people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A system where the kids with the most aggressive, entitled, and powerful parents get treated better is a bad system. Which is why redshirting should be based on a school evaluation for readiness, not which parents push the hardest to get it. If this bothers you, I think you would be happier in private schools.

This. But it's also unfortunately becoming increasingly common.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I doubt this will matter to the already derailed thread, but there have been boys redshirted all over the city.

It's not a strictly Lafeyette, or strictly NW, or strictly Ward 3 thing.

I live in NE. I asked to redshirt my August birthday kid (in part due to Covid -- she missed PK3 due to Covid and seemed immature for K to me) and was told no and that it was not permitted under DCPS rules. We know lots of summer and September birthdays at our school (the young kids from the grade seem to gravitate towards each other) and none are redshirted.

I was very surprised when this story surfaced to learn that redshirting was fairly common at Lafayette or any school. It is unheard of at our DCPS and I can't imagine them allowing it absent SNs.

You just described most of the kids your dd’s age. They couldn’t redshirt everyone who needed it after Covid, because that was the majority of kids.

Perhaps an uptick in redshirting requests due to Covid disruptions is part of what led DCPS to start cracking down on it. Redshirting is a practice that only works if it's fairly limited. If Covid led to it becoming more common, I could see the district deciding they needed to limit parental discretion. What if 5-10% of parents decides, at their discretion, they need to redshirt? And redshirting also begets more redshirting because in districts where most summer birthdays are redshirted, you start to see May and June birthdays being redshirted too, and it kind of becomes a snake eating its own tail.

To be clear, I am NOT anti-redshirting. But I do think you have to limit it somewhere -- it can't just be a free for all. I'm open minded about how the limits should work. Requiring an eval for readiness seems reasonable for me. I also think flexible cutoffs where there is a window would work.

The problem with the Lafayette parents is that they don't seem to care about creating good policy -- they just want a carve out exemption for themselves. That's hard to endorse.

Many privates have many redshirted children. It creates quieter classrooms. The youngest children with April and May birthdays are just fine.

Imagine a class where the kids are learning addition. All NT children reach a point where there is no relative benefit to being older when it comes to learning addition. Or perhaps at a younger age, kids are learning about sharing. All NT children reach a point where they’re not struggling with sharing because if immaturity. The fact that you’re past this point by a month or six doesn’t make a difference. It doesn’t give the six month older kid an advantage.

What it does do is create learning-oriented classes. This is why I support redshirting. Even for my kids who would never be redshirted because of the way their birthdays fall, I appreciate redshirting. It does impact them: it creates fewer conflicts. It’s better to be around mature, well-behaved children for many reasons.

Behavioral problems do exist in private, but I’m glad the schools eliminate as many as could possibly exist.

Because they screen students and also are allowed to kick those out who are disruptive, whereas public schools must serve everyone.

Private is free of both kinds of disruption. If publics have both, and one can be eliminated at zero cost, why not? Do people like having the young, disruptive kid in their kid’s classes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I doubt this will matter to the already derailed thread, but there have been boys redshirted all over the city.

It's not a strictly Lafeyette, or strictly NW, or strictly Ward 3 thing.

I live in NE. I asked to redshirt my August birthday kid (in part due to Covid -- she missed PK3 due to Covid and seemed immature for K to me) and was told no and that it was not permitted under DCPS rules. We know lots of summer and September birthdays at our school (the young kids from the grade seem to gravitate towards each other) and none are redshirted.

I was very surprised when this story surfaced to learn that redshirting was fairly common at Lafayette or any school. It is unheard of at our DCPS and I can't imagine them allowing it absent SNs.

You just described most of the kids your dd’s age. They couldn’t redshirt everyone who needed it after Covid, because that was the majority of kids.

Perhaps an uptick in redshirting requests due to Covid disruptions is part of what led DCPS to start cracking down on it. Redshirting is a practice that only works if it's fairly limited. If Covid led to it becoming more common, I could see the district deciding they needed to limit parental discretion. What if 5-10% of parents decides, at their discretion, they need to redshirt? And redshirting also begets more redshirting because in districts where most summer birthdays are redshirted, you start to see May and June birthdays being redshirted too, and it kind of becomes a snake eating its own tail.

To be clear, I am NOT anti-redshirting. But I do think you have to limit it somewhere -- it can't just be a free for all. I'm open minded about how the limits should work. Requiring an eval for readiness seems reasonable for me. I also think flexible cutoffs where there is a window would work.

The problem with the Lafayette parents is that they don't seem to care about creating good policy -- they just want a carve out exemption for themselves. That's hard to endorse.

Many privates have many redshirted children. It creates quieter classrooms. The youngest children with April and May birthdays are just fine.

Imagine a class where the kids are learning addition. All NT children reach a point where there is no relative benefit to being older when it comes to learning addition. Or perhaps at a younger age, kids are learning about sharing. All NT children reach a point where they’re not struggling with sharing because if immaturity. The fact that you’re past this point by a month or six doesn’t make a difference. It doesn’t give the six month older kid an advantage.

What it does do is create learning-oriented classes. This is why I support redshirting. Even for my kids who would never be redshirted because of the way their birthdays fall, I appreciate redshirting. It does impact them: it creates fewer conflicts. It’s better to be around mature, well-behaved children for many reasons.

Behavioral problems do exist in private, but I’m glad the schools eliminate as many as could possibly exist.

Because they screen students and also are allowed to kick those out who are disruptive, whereas public schools must serve everyone.

Private is free of both kinds of disruption. If publics have both, and one can be eliminated at zero cost, why not? Do people like having the young, disruptive kid in their kid’s classes?

If DCPS set a bar for academic and emotional readiness that let every UMC kid with a summer birthday and entitled parents redshirt, do you know how many kids they'd have to let redshirt at title 1 schools? Unless you make it specifically exclusive, because the parents have to get outside assessment or something. Which is bad.

Private schools aren't making policies for whole systems. And redshirting is a very small piece of what's different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I doubt this will matter to the already derailed thread, but there have been boys redshirted all over the city.

It's not a strictly Lafeyette, or strictly NW, or strictly Ward 3 thing.

I live in NE. I asked to redshirt my August birthday kid (in part due to Covid -- she missed PK3 due to Covid and seemed immature for K to me) and was told no and that it was not permitted under DCPS rules. We know lots of summer and September birthdays at our school (the young kids from the grade seem to gravitate towards each other) and none are redshirted.

I was very surprised when this story surfaced to learn that redshirting was fairly common at Lafayette or any school. It is unheard of at our DCPS and I can't imagine them allowing it absent SNs.

You just described most of the kids your dd’s age. They couldn’t redshirt everyone who needed it after Covid, because that was the majority of kids.

Perhaps an uptick in redshirting requests due to Covid disruptions is part of what led DCPS to start cracking down on it. Redshirting is a practice that only works if it's fairly limited. If Covid led to it becoming more common, I could see the district deciding they needed to limit parental discretion. What if 5-10% of parents decides, at their discretion, they need to redshirt? And redshirting also begets more redshirting because in districts where most summer birthdays are redshirted, you start to see May and June birthdays being redshirted too, and it kind of becomes a snake eating its own tail.

To be clear, I am NOT anti-redshirting. But I do think you have to limit it somewhere -- it can't just be a free for all. I'm open minded about how the limits should work. Requiring an eval for readiness seems reasonable for me. I also think flexible cutoffs where there is a window would work.

The problem with the Lafayette parents is that they don't seem to care about creating good policy -- they just want a carve out exemption for themselves. That's hard to endorse.

Many privates have many redshirted children. It creates quieter classrooms. The youngest children with April and May birthdays are just fine.

Imagine a class where the kids are learning addition. All NT children reach a point where there is no relative benefit to being older when it comes to learning addition. Or perhaps at a younger age, kids are learning about sharing. All NT children reach a point where they’re not struggling with sharing because if immaturity. The fact that you’re past this point by a month or six doesn’t make a difference. It doesn’t give the six month older kid an advantage.

What it does do is create learning-oriented classes. This is why I support redshirting. Even for my kids who would never be redshirted because of the way their birthdays fall, I appreciate redshirting. It does impact them: it creates fewer conflicts. It’s better to be around mature, well-behaved children for many reasons.

Behavioral problems do exist in private, but I’m glad the schools eliminate as many as could possibly exist.

Because they screen students and also are allowed to kick those out who are disruptive, whereas public schools must serve everyone.

Private is free of both kinds of disruption. If publics have both, and one can be eliminated at zero cost, why not? Do people like having the young, disruptive kid in their kid’s classes?

If DCPS set a bar for academic and emotional readiness that let every UMC kid with a summer birthday and entitled parents redshirt, do you know how many kids they'd have to let redshirt at title 1 schools? Unless you make it specifically exclusive, because the parents have to get outside assessment or something. Which is bad.

Private schools aren't making policies for whole systems. And redshirting is a very small piece of what's different.

As discussed above many privates redshirt freely. Some classes have very little redshirting. Some classes are full of redshirted kids. What matters is the learning environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I doubt this will matter to the already derailed thread, but there have been boys redshirted all over the city.

It's not a strictly Lafeyette, or strictly NW, or strictly Ward 3 thing.

I live in NE. I asked to redshirt my August birthday kid (in part due to Covid -- she missed PK3 due to Covid and seemed immature for K to me) and was told no and that it was not permitted under DCPS rules. We know lots of summer and September birthdays at our school (the young kids from the grade seem to gravitate towards each other) and none are redshirted.

I was very surprised when this story surfaced to learn that redshirting was fairly common at Lafayette or any school. It is unheard of at our DCPS and I can't imagine them allowing it absent SNs.

You just described most of the kids your dd’s age. They couldn’t redshirt everyone who needed it after Covid, because that was the majority of kids.

Perhaps an uptick in redshirting requests due to Covid disruptions is part of what led DCPS to start cracking down on it. Redshirting is a practice that only works if it's fairly limited. If Covid led to it becoming more common, I could see the district deciding they needed to limit parental discretion. What if 5-10% of parents decides, at their discretion, they need to redshirt? And redshirting also begets more redshirting because in districts where most summer birthdays are redshirted, you start to see May and June birthdays being redshirted too, and it kind of becomes a snake eating its own tail.

To be clear, I am NOT anti-redshirting. But I do think you have to limit it somewhere -- it can't just be a free for all. I'm open minded about how the limits should work. Requiring an eval for readiness seems reasonable for me. I also think flexible cutoffs where there is a window would work.

The problem with the Lafayette parents is that they don't seem to care about creating good policy -- they just want a carve out exemption for themselves. That's hard to endorse.

Many privates have many redshirted children. It creates quieter classrooms. The youngest children with April and May birthdays are just fine.

Imagine a class where the kids are learning addition. All NT children reach a point where there is no relative benefit to being older when it comes to learning addition. Or perhaps at a younger age, kids are learning about sharing. All NT children reach a point where they’re not struggling with sharing because if immaturity. The fact that you’re past this point by a month or six doesn’t make a difference. It doesn’t give the six month older kid an advantage.

What it does do is create learning-oriented classes. This is why I support redshirting. Even for my kids who would never be redshirted because of the way their birthdays fall, I appreciate redshirting. It does impact them: it creates fewer conflicts. It’s better to be around mature, well-behaved children for many reasons.

Behavioral problems do exist in private, but I’m glad the schools eliminate as many as could possibly exist.

Teachers set their lesson plans to the middle of what their particular class can handle. So if a class with a large proportion of redshirters can, to use your example, easily handle single digit addition, they might introduce double digit addition to stretch the class. The youngest on time kids might struggle with this and internalise that they are slow or dumb, not realising that the “ smart” kids are over a year older than them and had been exposed to that material more than them. That’s significant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I doubt this will matter to the already derailed thread, but there have been boys redshirted all over the city.

It's not a strictly Lafeyette, or strictly NW, or strictly Ward 3 thing.

I live in NE. I asked to redshirt my August birthday kid (in part due to Covid -- she missed PK3 due to Covid and seemed immature for K to me) and was told no and that it was not permitted under DCPS rules. We know lots of summer and September birthdays at our school (the young kids from the grade seem to gravitate towards each other) and none are redshirted.

I was very surprised when this story surfaced to learn that redshirting was fairly common at Lafayette or any school. It is unheard of at our DCPS and I can't imagine them allowing it absent SNs.

You just described most of the kids your dd’s age. They couldn’t redshirt everyone who needed it after Covid, because that was the majority of kids.

Perhaps an uptick in redshirting requests due to Covid disruptions is part of what led DCPS to start cracking down on it. Redshirting is a practice that only works if it's fairly limited. If Covid led to it becoming more common, I could see the district deciding they needed to limit parental discretion. What if 5-10% of parents decides, at their discretion, they need to redshirt? And redshirting also begets more redshirting because in districts where most summer birthdays are redshirted, you start to see May and June birthdays being redshirted too, and it kind of becomes a snake eating its own tail.

To be clear, I am NOT anti-redshirting. But I do think you have to limit it somewhere -- it can't just be a free for all. I'm open minded about how the limits should work. Requiring an eval for readiness seems reasonable for me. I also think flexible cutoffs where there is a window would work.

The problem with the Lafayette parents is that they don't seem to care about creating good policy -- they just want a carve out exemption for themselves. That's hard to endorse.

Many privates have many redshirted children. It creates quieter classrooms. The youngest children with April and May birthdays are just fine.

Imagine a class where the kids are learning addition. All NT children reach a point where there is no relative benefit to being older when it comes to learning addition. Or perhaps at a younger age, kids are learning about sharing. All NT children reach a point where they’re not struggling with sharing because if immaturity. The fact that you’re past this point by a month or six doesn’t make a difference. It doesn’t give the six month older kid an advantage.

What it does do is create learning-oriented classes. This is why I support redshirting. Even for my kids who would never be redshirted because of the way their birthdays fall, I appreciate redshirting. It does impact them: it creates fewer conflicts. It’s better to be around mature, well-behaved children for many reasons.

Behavioral problems do exist in private, but I’m glad the schools eliminate as many as could possibly exist.

Teachers set their lesson plans to the middle of what their particular class can handle. So if a class with a large proportion of redshirters can, to use your example, easily handle single digit addition, they might introduce double digit addition to stretch the class. The youngest on time kids might struggle with this and internalise that they are slow or dumb, not realising that the “ smart” kids are over a year older than them and had been exposed to that material more than them. That’s significant.

No, teachers teach to national standards. A May birthday will not be as disruptive or impacted like the youngest in late September almost October. This is why privates do it without impacting the younger spring birthdays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I doubt this will matter to the already derailed thread, but there have been boys redshirted all over the city.

It's not a strictly Lafeyette, or strictly NW, or strictly Ward 3 thing.

I live in NE. I asked to redshirt my August birthday kid (in part due to Covid -- she missed PK3 due to Covid and seemed immature for K to me) and was told no and that it was not permitted under DCPS rules. We know lots of summer and September birthdays at our school (the young kids from the grade seem to gravitate towards each other) and none are redshirted.

I was very surprised when this story surfaced to learn that redshirting was fairly common at Lafayette or any school. It is unheard of at our DCPS and I can't imagine them allowing it absent SNs.

You just described most of the kids your dd’s age. They couldn’t redshirt everyone who needed it after Covid, because that was the majority of kids.

Perhaps an uptick in redshirting requests due to Covid disruptions is part of what led DCPS to start cracking down on it. Redshirting is a practice that only works if it's fairly limited. If Covid led to it becoming more common, I could see the district deciding they needed to limit parental discretion. What if 5-10% of parents decides, at their discretion, they need to redshirt? And redshirting also begets more redshirting because in districts where most summer birthdays are redshirted, you start to see May and June birthdays being redshirted too, and it kind of becomes a snake eating its own tail.

To be clear, I am NOT anti-redshirting. But I do think you have to limit it somewhere -- it can't just be a free for all. I'm open minded about how the limits should work. Requiring an eval for readiness seems reasonable for me. I also think flexible cutoffs where there is a window would work.

The problem with the Lafayette parents is that they don't seem to care about creating good policy -- they just want a carve out exemption for themselves. That's hard to endorse.

Many privates have many redshirted children. It creates quieter classrooms. The youngest children with April and May birthdays are just fine.

Imagine a class where the kids are learning addition. All NT children reach a point where there is no relative benefit to being older when it comes to learning addition. Or perhaps at a younger age, kids are learning about sharing. All NT children reach a point where they’re not struggling with sharing because if immaturity. The fact that you’re past this point by a month or six doesn’t make a difference. It doesn’t give the six month older kid an advantage.

What it does do is create learning-oriented classes. This is why I support redshirting. Even for my kids who would never be redshirted because of the way their birthdays fall, I appreciate redshirting. It does impact them: it creates fewer conflicts. It’s better to be around mature, well-behaved children for many reasons.

Behavioral problems do exist in private, but I’m glad the schools eliminate as many as could possibly exist.

Teachers set their lesson plans to the middle of what their particular class can handle. So if a class with a large proportion of redshirters can, to use your example, easily handle single digit addition, they might introduce double digit addition to stretch the class. The youngest on time kids might struggle with this and internalise that they are slow or dumb, not realising that the “ smart” kids are over a year older than them and had been exposed to that material more than them. That’s significant.

I think you can slice it both ways. If the oldest is not catching on, then they feel dumb because they are older. Lots of kids who were redshirted were not the most academic, that’s often why they got redshirted. Maturity and academic prowess doesn’t always correlate to age, which I can see now that our kids and their classmates are college-aged.