Help! Appeal for MCPS Early Kindergarten

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone successfully appealed the MCPS early entrance into kindergarten assessment exam to get your child into kindergarten?

MCPS has an age cutoff for 5-years old by September 1, but will test kids that turn 5 between September 2nd to October 15th. My daughter will turn 5 on September 15th, two weeks after the cutoff. She has been in the school aged room of her daycare for about six-months because they thought she was ready to move up. We were all shocked when we found out she didn’t pass the exam. She is social-emotionally mature, can independently complete multi-step directions, passed the mathematics and letter naming parts of the early entrance exam, but did not pass the reading/writing part. Has anyone successfully appealed MCPS to get your child into kindergarten? What supporting documentation did you submit? Are there any buzzwords/phases that are helpful to use? Is it worth mentioning her older sibling already attends the school? Any help is greatly appreciated! My daughter is ready to start school and these technicalities are heartbreaking for her continued education.

The test expects the child to already know how to read practically which is stupid. No actual kindergartener could pass the test. And they make it impossible to contact anyone and I am almost 100% positive that the email that they send you too is bullshit

The point of the test is not to find kids who theoretically could handle kindergarten a bit early if given the chance. The point is to identify the very small number of kids who are so advanced that their learning will be actively harmed by being forced to wait another year. Thus, it measures mastery of end of kindergarten objectives. They don't care about what statutory age kindergarteners can or can't do. The point is to identify the extreme outliers, not the "kind of bright." Many parents don't seem to get this.

This. A girl in my DC’s pre-K class missed the cutoff by 2 days and by all accounts she knew her letter sounds, etc. better than my DC and many of the other kids in the class. But she wasn’t actually reading yet so didn’t pass the test.

I don’t see what is so bad about waiting another year. My daughter can read above first grade curriculum standards but I’m thankful for the additional year we have in preschool. We’re using that to ensure she is the top student in her grade when she does finally start.

[Anonymous]

It doesn’t really matter OP. Let it go. She won’t be bored. In fact, you may be very glad come middle school.

[Anonymous]

My sister started MCPS back when the cutoff was Dec 1st; her birthday is Nov 28 and she was meeting all standards to start K but she was shy and my parents weren't sure if she was ready (of course, nowadays having a 4 year old with a late Nov birthday start K sounds insane).

When asking whether to redshirt her, her pre-K teacher said "I've never had a family on the cusp who regretted waiting." They did redshirt her and it was fine.

Spend the year focusing on enrichment and have her start when she's 5.

[Anonymous]

Move to Fairfax County. The cutoff is September 30. Hurry, first day of school is August 19.

[Anonymous]

My early September girl started K in Virginia a week or so before she turned 5. We didn’t redshirt for several reasons (none of which related to daycare tuition, as the daycare schedule was 10x easier than school).

One of the BIG reasons was all of her friends were going into K, and she would have been crushed to be left behind and would have thought it was because we thought she wasn’t ready. So I’m sympathetic to OP and her daughter.

That being said, socially and emotionally, she struggles. It’s getting better in upper elementary, and her age might be irrelevant, and I don’t regret having her start at almost 5, but I think it would have been fine if she started a year later, provided she knew that at the start of preK.

I’d say consider a private hybrid/early K program if you can find one that works for you. Somewhere other than her current preschool/daycare so she doesn’t feel like she got left behind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone successfully appealed the MCPS early entrance into kindergarten assessment exam to get your child into kindergarten?

MCPS has an age cutoff for 5-years old by September 1, but will test kids that turn 5 between September 2nd to October 15th. My daughter will turn 5 on September 15th, two weeks after the cutoff. She has been in the school aged room of her daycare for about six-months because they thought she was ready to move up. We were all shocked when we found out she didn’t pass the exam. She is social-emotionally mature, can independently complete multi-step directions, passed the mathematics and letter naming parts of the early entrance exam, but did not pass the reading/writing part. Has anyone successfully appealed MCPS to get your child into kindergarten? What supporting documentation did you submit? Are there any buzzwords/phases that are helpful to use? Is it worth mentioning her older sibling already attends the school? Any help is greatly appreciated! My daughter is ready to start school and these technicalities are heartbreaking for her continued education.

The test expects the child to already know how to read practically which is stupid. No actual kindergartener could pass the test. And they make it impossible to contact anyone and I am almost 100% positive that the email that they send you too is bullshit

The point of the test is not to find kids who theoretically could handle kindergarten a bit early if given the chance. The point is to identify the very small number of kids who are so advanced that their learning will be actively harmed by being forced to wait another year. Thus, it measures mastery of end of kindergarten objectives. They don't care about what statutory age kindergarteners can or can't do. The point is to identify the extreme outliers, not the "kind of bright." Many parents don't seem to get this.

This. A girl in my DC’s pre-K class missed the cutoff by 2 days and by all accounts she knew her letter sounds, etc. better than my DC and many of the other kids in the class. But she wasn’t actually reading yet so didn’t pass the test.

I don’t see what is so bad about waiting another year. My daughter can read above first grade curriculum standards but I’m thankful for the additional year we have in preschool. We’re using that to ensure she is the top student in her grade when she does finally start.

She still might not be the top student. My son didn't start reading until 1st grade, but once it clicked he was in the top reading group, indistinguishable from the early readers (and ahead of some, who only read early because they were in overly academic preschools).

[Anonymous]

Honestly, never mind what everyone saying “she didn’t pass, she isn’t ready, period” says. You know your daughter and they don’t. You see her growth and abilities every day. There is a lot of knowledge that standardized tests are an inaccurate measure of one’s abilities. If you feel it’s worth the fight, then fight it. Not everyone views holding a child back to have everything come easy to then the best option for their child. Some people want their child to have the opportunity to be challenged and learn to face difficulties and learn how to solve them because that’s how real life works. No one child is a statistic, some kids do amazing with a little push, some don’t. I’m facing a lot of the same backlash and I’m still fighting for my child who has completed pre-k already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, never mind what everyone saying “she didn’t pass, she isn’t ready, period” says. You know your daughter and they don’t. You see her growth and abilities every day. There is a lot of knowledge that standardized tests are an inaccurate measure of one’s abilities. If you feel it’s worth the fight, then fight it. Not everyone views holding a child back to have everything come easy to then the best option for their child. Some people want their child to have the opportunity to be challenged and learn to face difficulties and learn how to solve them because that’s how real life works. No one child is a statistic, some kids do amazing with a little push, some don’t. I’m facing a lot of the same backlash and I’m still fighting for my child who has completed pre-k already.

Excuse my typing error. Standardized tests are not an accurate measure *