PK3 or PK4 lottery if planning to redshirt?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should get in and put your kid in the appropriate class (pk4). They will let you repeat pk4 the following year if you still want to redshirt.

What public school allows this? Our charter does not hold kids back period including those with special needs who could technically benefit.

SN children can be held back but it requires a lot of data and documentation as well as unanimous IEP team agreement. There is pressure on schools NOT to hold back sN kids.

In DC most kids (charter and DCPS) who are red shirted are held back at K. Not before.

Yeah, I know of a few kids who repeated K at my child's charter. No one repeats pk.

[Anonymous]

Don't redshirt.

[Anonymous]

http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/the_kids/2013/09/academic_redshirting_what_does_the_research_say_about_delaying_kindergarten.html

The National Association of Early Childhood Specialists and the National Association for the Education of Young Children fiercely oppose it, saying that redshirting “labels children as failures at the outset of their school experience.” Studies that have evaluated how well redshirted kids fare compared to their schooled-on-time peers conclude that redshirting provides no long-term academic or social advantages and can even put kids at a disadvantage.

[Anonymous]

Why would you do this? I have an October birthday, so was always one of the oldest in my class, and I hated it. Finished highschool, college, grad school always older than most others. It made me feel like I had less time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/the_kids/2013/09/academic_redshirting_what_does_the_research_say_about_delaying_kindergarten.html

The National Association of Early Childhood Specialists and the National Association for the Education of Young Children fiercely oppose it, saying that redshirting “labels children as failures at the outset of their school experience.” Studies that have evaluated how well redshirted kids fare compared to their schooled-on-time peers conclude that redshirting provides no long-term academic or social advantages and can even put kids at a disadvantage.

OP here. That's actually not true, according to more recent research (than the 2013 Slate article): https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/08/18/544483397/oldest-kids-in-class-do-better-even-through-college. But we'd be doing more for social/emotional reasons than academic.

[Anonymous]

OP, I suggest that you lottery for PK4. I think that's the only thing the system will let you do. If your kid has been in a 3-year-old preschool program this year, she will likely do well in a PK4 class. If, at the middle/end of her PK4 year, you still have concerns about maturity and kindergarten readiness, talk to the leadership of the school and try to work out a plan for her to repeat PK4. This has happened at our charter. However, if she is meeting milestones (social, educational, class participation, etc), your preference may not be the final word on the issue. The school would need to agree that repeating the year is in everyone's best interest.

As an aside, absent other issues, your kid's size is not a good reason to redshirt. There are bigger and smaller kids at every grade in every school.

[Anonymous]

You can't decide to redshirt your child - only the school can. You have to lottery for the appropriate grade. Our son started PK3 still 2 yrs old, the year was awful, and he ended up being the first ever kid held back at PK3 and on an IEP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should get in and put your kid in the appropriate class (pk4). They will let you repeat pk4 the following year if you still want to redshirt.

I agree with this. We have a late August boy who has never been higher than 5% in height. We decided to do PK4 to see how he would do, and thought that would be the best way to determine if he was ready for K, since he'd be going to the same school. If he wasn't ready, we figured he could repeat PK4. At the beginning of the year he was obviously behind. So we did OT along with school (he had issues with motor skills) and kept up an open conversation with his teacher, who was amazing and supportive.

Suddenly in March, everything started clicking for my kid. He was on fire. I'd registered him for PK4 again, but by the May conference, his teacher said, you can have him repeat if you want, but I think he's ready for Kindergarten. So we switched him to K and are very happy with our decision. He is on par with his classmates both academically and socially. Yes, he's still the shortest kid in the class but I'm not too worried about it right now.

My point is that you may think your DD isn't ready but maybe it wouldn't hurt to try PK4. You can get a sense of how she's doing as the year progresses and she can get used to her school. If in the spring you want to repeat, then you can. If she really matures over the year then you can go to K. It gives you some flexibility. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

My DD's birthday is 2 days before the cutoff. She has been the youngest in her class since kindergarten. She's on the smaller side but has done remarkably well academically and though she may be a bit behind her peers socially, she's still been able to make an keep friends and doesn't feel left out due to her size or age. Just my perspective. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD's birthday is 2 days before the cutoff. She has been the youngest in her class since kindergarten. She's on the smaller side but has done remarkably well academically and though she may be a bit behind her peers socially, she's still been able to make an keep friends and doesn't feel left out due to her size or age. Just my perspective. Good luck!

My kid is four days before the cutoff. She has always been the youngest in her class, but she does fine socially and academically. I would put your kid in the correct class; if there are still concerns about kindergarten-readiness next spring, you can deal with them then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD's birthday is 2 days before the cutoff. She has been the youngest in her class since kindergarten. She's on the smaller side but has done remarkably well academically and though she may be a bit behind her peers socially, she's still been able to make an keep friends and doesn't feel left out due to her size or age. Just my perspective. Good luck!

My kid is four days before the cutoff. She has always been the youngest in her class, but she does fine socially and academically. I would put your kid in the correct class; if there are still concerns about kindergarten-readiness next spring, you can deal with them then.

+2. My kid's bday is within a week of the cut-off, so it seemed crazy to be starting a 2yo in PK3. Four years later, and she's done fine. She's on par with most other kids in her grade. There's one classmate that is waaay ahead socially and academically, but there's always going to be kids ahead of yours; that's okay with me, so long as I feel she's making a reasonable effort and is having a good experience overall in school. Also, that classmate is even younger!

[Anonymous]

Our son makes the cut off by three days so I understand the desire to redshirt. We specifically choose a Montessori program for this reason. PreK3 and PreK4 were hard to see him struggle emotionally but he learned and grew up quick. Originally we discussed repeating K but his teachers don't think it is necessary, now. Good luck

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should get in and put your kid in the appropriate class (pk4). They will let you repeat pk4 the following year if you still want to redshirt.

Yep. This is how my neighbor did it. Probably also helped that her child had some developmental delays.

This is how it goes, but if you get into preK 4 and they think PreK 3 is better, then the principal can move her down a class from the beginning. But give her a change, there is stigma attached to repeating a grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/the_kids/2013/09/academic_redshirting_what_does_the_research_say_about_delaying_kindergarten.html

The National Association of Early Childhood Specialists and the National Association for the Education of Young Children fiercely oppose it, saying that redshirting “labels children as failures at the outset of their school experience.” Studies that have evaluated how well redshirted kids fare compared to their schooled-on-time peers conclude that redshirting provides no long-term academic or social advantages and can even put kids at a disadvantage.

OP here. That's actually not true, according to more recent research (than the 2013 Slate article): https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/08/18/544483397/oldest-kids-in-class-do-better-even-through-college. But we'd be doing more for social/emotional reasons than academic.

For the record the data in the article you are linking is not actually about redshirting. It data studied is actually about kids who are older because they missed the cutoff, not ones that were held back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should get in and put your kid in the appropriate class (pk4). They will let you repeat pk4 the following year if you still want to redshirt.

Yep. This is how my neighbor did it. Probably also helped that her child had some developmental delays.

This is not redshirting, it’s retention which can have lots of social implications on the child.