How will an increase in redshirting Kindergarteners impact the following school year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the kids who are redshirted will be incredibly bored the following year. If it were me, I would only keep a kid back who wasn’t ready for K. Otherwise, I would enroll in DL at our public school and see how it goes. If it didn’t go well, I’d probably withdraw and homeschool.

Yeah I'm in that boat. I don't want a red shirt my 5 year old when she's ready for kindergarten this year

[Anonymous]

Kindergarten enrollment is way down in mcps. What does that mean? Parents are opting to either keep their kids in pre-school, or keeping them home (which is what I would do - DL in K is ridiculous).

What does it mean for next year? Assuming there is a vaccine that is widely accessible and distributed by Fall of 2021, mcps will be hiring many k and 1st grade teachers at that time.

[Anonymous]

We’re just skipping. Why wouldn’t we? We get literally no benefit enrolling in public school now. It’s just drama and meetings that I don’t have time for.

I think the majority will do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We’re just skipping. Why wouldn’t we? We get literally no benefit enrolling in public school now. It’s just drama and meetings that I don’t have time for.

I think the majority will do that.

You must be in one of the bad school pyramids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't you think the districts have their hands full planning for the coming school year?

I do, and I know this isn't a priority issue at the moment. Just wondering if any have commented, thought about it, recognized it might be an issue, etc.

Knowing MCPS, they will suddenly “recognize” it next August and claim they never could have seen it coming. So you can count on K classes next year being huge. Not the brightest bunch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kindergarten enrollment is way down in mcps. What does that mean? Parents are opting to either keep their kids in pre-school, or keeping them home (which is what I would do - DL in K is ridiculous).

What does it mean for next year? Assuming there is a vaccine that is widely accessible and distributed by Fall of 2021, mcps will be hiring many k and 1st grade teachers at that time.

Well that’s what they SHOULD do, but will they?

[Anonymous]

I have a 4 yo who will be a Kindergartener in Fall 2021. I'm really hoping schools will put in place a K/1 class next fall for students who would be eligible for 1st, but who missed K this year (for whatever reason) or who otherwise aren't prepared for 1st. At the end of that year those kids could go to 1st or 2nd, depending on progress. Otherwise, next year's K class will be a giant cohort with a huge age spread.

[Anonymous]

College admissions will be a beast for that cohort of kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:College admissions will be a beast for that cohort of kids.

Will be nice for the ones who are doing K this year, though I guess.

[Anonymous]

Fortunately, the entire premise of this post turned out to be false. Redshirting has remained as rare as ever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fortunately, the entire premise of this post turned out to be false. Redshirting has remained as rare as ever.

Kindergarten is down almost 20% in FCPS year over year, and that's in a situation where there have probably been a bunch of people moving out to the suburbs from more built-up areas. The other elementary grades are down a little over 7%. We have no idea how many are redshirting, how many are in private/homeschooled and planning going back to public 1st, how many are currently in K and will have their parents fight tooth and nail to repeat the year, and how many are switching out of the system entirely.

I could see an additional 10% of the class red-shirted, with those students skewing older than previous redshirts. Or it could be a lot less. Or it could be even more than 10%, and the K class is still winds up much smaller than pre-pandemic because of parents fleeing the system.

Anyway, nobody knows.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Um, this is going to be an issue for more than just Kindergarten. There will be a large number of kids that will be held back throughout elementary school because they lost so much learning time and/or could not do distance learning. The education system hasn't begun to confront the ramifications of 12-18 months without in-person learning. The impact goes well beyond Kindergarten though.

Not that likely. "Holding kids back" is not done much anymore, as the science doesn't support it being particularly useful and quite possibly detrimental. And even when large numbers of kids went without school from Katrina, they returned to school in the appropriate grade as though they had been in school. I am not commenting on whether it SHOULD be used this coming year, but I am saying that it probably will not be.

[Anonymous]

Are you guys talking about kids who are in PK now and who would start in middle of 2021 but will be held down? Or the ones who didn’t go to K this year when scheduled to do so and instead will all be starting K in middle of 2021 instead of going to first grade? Does anyone think those groups will be equal?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We’re just skipping. Why wouldn’t we? We get literally no benefit enrolling in public school now. It’s just drama and meetings that I don’t have time for.

I think the majority will do that.

+1

DL K wasn't actually that difficult.

[Anonymous]

My current "Kindergartener" is doing an extra year of in-person Pre-K. DC will enter 1st in the Fall. Many of DC's classmates are saying the same.