Exceptions to the Prek3 Sept 30 cut off date?

[Anonymous]

Your child has to have an IEP, then they can start whenever they turn 3.

[Anonymous]

Years ago, we got around it by finding a small preschool that was 3 year old to 2nd grade who would do it and take our child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In so old I remember when people used to fight the Sept 30th deadline claiming “gifted” or “advanced” child. Then the next year they would demand that their child be allowed to repeat the grade, so they could be the oldest and biggest kid in the class. Usually boys. Good times.

This rarely happens. As a mom of a fall kid, we sent our kid in without issue. Never once did I want to hold him back. The bias toward boys and kids in generally needs to stop. Instead of assuming kids cannot do it, give them the tools and supports to make sure they succeed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid has a late October birthday. We were told there are no exceptions. It ended up being the right grade for her, and she actually liked being one of the oldest. In early school, she was often a “helper” for the teacher for the younger kids.

Btw, there will be many “borderline” kids like your daughter in preqchool. There were at least 6 or so kids with October and November birthdays in her preschool class, and they kept them all together so that there was an older pre-k 3 class and a younger pre-k class. So everyone was with the right group, developmentally. She will not stand out.

I wonder if this is a typical practice across schools? Seems like a great idea.

I don't think it sounds like a great idea because there is actually a lot of data on the benefits for preschool age kids of being in a mixed age range classroom. It's part of the reason Montessori education is so popular for this age group. Kids benefit greatly from both being able to see older kids performing tasks they are still learning, and in being able to demonstrate tasks for younger kids. Peer-to-peer learning is one of the best ways for young children to learn classroom behaviors. So by separating the oldest and youngest kids, you may actually stunt development in both sets by depriving them of opportunities to both learn from and teach to each other.

A number of DCPS schools actually have at least one combined PK3/PK4 classroom (in a regular DCPS, not Montessori) and there are good pedagogical reasons for doing it this way.

Right but will they still like it when she's the oldest of the combined group in PK4?

I toured a ton of schools (nearly 20... yes, it was like a second full-time job) looking at PK programs last year and this is not how schools tend to use combined PK3/4 classes*. All of the DCPS schools I toured that have a combined PK3/PK4 class (usually it's just one class per school and the other PK3s and 4s are separate) see it as a class for older PK3s and PK4s who are younger, need a little more time to learn some of the PK3 skills, and/or new to the school and coming from a program that may not have taught some of the PK3 academic skills (e.g., structured phonics lessons). So a kid who is old for their grade level might be placed in the mixed class for their PK3 year, but wouldn't remain in that class for PK4 unless they were struggling in some way.

*yes, there are a few exceptions at charters, but I found no exceptions at DCPS schools I visited

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid has a late October birthday. We were told there are no exceptions. It ended up being the right grade for her, and she actually liked being one of the oldest. In early school, she was often a “helper” for the teacher for the younger kids.

Btw, there will be many “borderline” kids like your daughter in preqchool. There were at least 6 or so kids with October and November birthdays in her preschool class, and they kept them all together so that there was an older pre-k 3 class and a younger pre-k class. So everyone was with the right group, developmentally. She will not stand out.

I wonder if this is a typical practice across schools? Seems like a great idea.

I don't think it sounds like a great idea because there is actually a lot of data on the benefits for preschool age kids of being in a mixed age range classroom. It's part of the reason Montessori education is so popular for this age group. Kids benefit greatly from both being able to see older kids performing tasks they are still learning, and in being able to demonstrate tasks for younger kids. Peer-to-peer learning is one of the best ways for young children to learn classroom behaviors. So by separating the oldest and youngest kids, you may actually stunt development in both sets by depriving them of opportunities to both learn from and teach to each other.

A number of DCPS schools actually have at least one combined PK3/PK4 classroom (in a regular DCPS, not Montessori) and there are good pedagogical reasons for doing it this way.

Right but will they still like it when she's the oldest of the combined group in PK4?

I toured a ton of schools (nearly 20... yes, it was like a second full-time job) looking at PK programs last year and this is not how schools tend to use combined PK3/4 classes*. All of the DCPS schools I toured that have a combined PK3/PK4 class (usually it's just one class per school and the other PK3s and 4s are separate) see it as a class for older PK3s and PK4s who are younger, need a little more time to learn some of the PK3 skills, and/or new to the school and coming from a program that may not have taught some of the PK3 academic skills (e.g., structured phonics lessons). So a kid who is old for their grade level might be placed in the mixed class for their PK3 year, but wouldn't remain in that class for PK4 unless they were struggling in some way.

*yes, there are a few exceptions at charters, but I found no exceptions at DCPS schools I visited

I believe at Brent this is the only kind of preschool class they have. So all PK4s are in a combined class.

And in a Montessori PK3-PK4-K is the only kind of class they have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

And I’ll add that my kid is not necessarily the biggest, or smartest, or more mature just because she is 3 week older than another kid! Kids are all sizes, with all kinds of abilities, in the 3-5 age range. They also do joint activities with the younger class frequently, which is good for mixing up the ages. We’ve been really happy with DCPS preschool, even if we had to wait another year to start!

My kiddo is currently in PK3 and is the youngest in her class... due to the distribution of birthdays in her class, which skew heavily toward the older side, she is at least 9 months younger than 75% of her classmates. She is physically large for her age (taller than most of the kids who have already turned 4), but talks like (and has the social skills of) an average kid who turned 3 recently, not a 4 year old. We were a little worried about her being the youngest, so we asked her teachers a few months into the school year whether her age/development was an issue and we were told that her behavior and performance in class were indistinguishable from her older peers and that no one watching her class would be able to pick her out as the youngest. I'm not saying that it doesn't matter or assuming that my daughter will always blend in well with her older peers... the data about longterm student success does show that, on average, being older in your grade gives you an advantage... what I am saying is that there's also some individual variation between kids.

[Anonymous]

Everyone piling on OP needs to check themselves. The magic birthday cutoff used to be Dec. 31 not all that long ago, recently enough that there are students still in the DCPS system who enrolled before the change - and it still is in plenty of places, like New York City. It was moved up pretty recently because - can we be real about this? - raising the average age in each class a few years ago goosed test scores, making schools look like their students were getting smarter and better educated (as opposed to just, you know - older on average than they used to be, with the smartest and most advanced students most likely to be affected.) There's nothing magic about the new cutoff that makes it holy writ that should not be questioned.

Thanks to this change, my own kid is currently on track to be two full years older than I was when she graduates high school. And so far, it quite literally appears to be wasted time. He's already completed all the learning and social benchmarks for not only his currently assigned grade, but the next one as well. Yet by law, he can't even be considered for advancement for several more years - and DC has no G&T track, for reasons - meaning he's very likely to lose his current love of learning in several state-mandated years of mediocrity and boredom designed to drag him down to the average, since that's the only student the system is interested in accommodating.

The public school system doesn't seem to think the goal of supporting and retaining the small fraction of its brightest students to whom this situation applies should be anywhere at all on the priority list. Maybe you think that fact isn't your problem. I can assure you that, regardless of whether you think this description applies to your child, it most certainly is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone piling on OP needs to check themselves. The magic birthday cutoff used to be Dec. 31 not all that long ago, recently enough that there are students still in the DCPS system who enrolled before the change - and it still is in plenty of places, like New York City. It was moved up pretty recently because - can we be real about this? - raising the average age in each class a few years ago goosed test scores, making schools look like their students were getting smarter and better educated (as opposed to just, you know - older on average than they used to be, with the smartest and most advanced students most likely to be affected.) There's nothing magic about the new cutoff that makes it holy writ that should not be questioned.

Thanks to this change, my own kid is currently on track to be two full years older than I was when she graduates high school. And so far, it quite literally appears to be wasted time. He's already completed all the learning and social benchmarks for not only his currently assigned grade, but the next one as well. Yet by law, he can't even be considered for advancement for several more years - and DC has no G&T track, for reasons - meaning he's very likely to lose his current love of learning in several state-mandated years of mediocrity and boredom designed to drag him down to the average, since that's the only student the system is interested in accommodating.

The public school system doesn't seem to think the goal of supporting and retaining the small fraction of its brightest students to whom this situation applies should be anywhere at all on the priority list. Maybe you think that fact isn't your problem. I can assure you that, regardless of whether you think this description applies to your child, it most certainly is.

There's also no magic to a January 1 cutoff. Where I grew up it was and still is September 1. Whatever the mandated date, it's your job as a parent to work around it to meet your child's educational and developmental needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone piling on OP needs to check themselves. The magic birthday cutoff used to be Dec. 31 not all that long ago, recently enough that there are students still in the DCPS system who enrolled before the change - and it still is in plenty of places, like New York City. It was moved up pretty recently because - can we be real about this? - raising the average age in each class a few years ago goosed test scores, making schools look like their students were getting smarter and better educated (as opposed to just, you know - older on average than they used to be, with the smartest and most advanced students most likely to be affected.) There's nothing magic about the new cutoff that makes it holy writ that should not be questioned.

Thanks to this change, my own kid is currently on track to be two full years older than I was when she graduates high school. And so far, it quite literally appears to be wasted time. He's already completed all the learning and social benchmarks for not only his currently assigned grade, but the next one as well. Yet by law, he can't even be considered for advancement for several more years - and DC has no G&T track, for reasons - meaning he's very likely to lose his current love of learning in several state-mandated years of mediocrity and boredom designed to drag him down to the average, since that's the only student the system is interested in accommodating.

The public school system doesn't seem to think the goal of supporting and retaining the small fraction of its brightest students to whom this situation applies should be anywhere at all on the priority list. Maybe you think that fact isn't your problem. I can assure you that, regardless of whether you think this description applies to your child, it most certainly is.

How is the cut off change of 3 months put your child on track to graduate two years older than you were?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid has a late October birthday. We were told there are no exceptions. It ended up being the right grade for her, and she actually liked being one of the oldest. In early school, she was often a “helper” for the teacher for the younger kids.

Btw, there will be many “borderline” kids like your daughter in preqchool. There were at least 6 or so kids with October and November birthdays in her preschool class, and they kept them all together so that there was an older pre-k 3 class and a younger pre-k class. So everyone was with the right group, developmentally. She will not stand out.

I wonder if this is a typical practice across schools? Seems like a great idea.

I don't think it sounds like a great idea because there is actually a lot of data on the benefits for preschool age kids of being in a mixed age range classroom. It's part of the reason Montessori education is so popular for this age group. Kids benefit greatly from both being able to see older kids performing tasks they are still learning, and in being able to demonstrate tasks for younger kids. Peer-to-peer learning is one of the best ways for young children to learn classroom behaviors. So by separating the oldest and youngest kids, you may actually stunt development in both sets by depriving them of opportunities to both learn from and teach to each other.

A number of DCPS schools actually have at least one combined PK3/PK4 classroom (in a regular DCPS, not Montessori) and there are good pedagogical reasons for doing it this way.

Right but will they still like it when she's the oldest of the combined group in PK4?

I toured a ton of schools (nearly 20... yes, it was like a second full-time job) looking at PK programs last year and this is not how schools tend to use combined PK3/4 classes*. All of the DCPS schools I toured that have a combined PK3/PK4 class (usually it's just one class per school and the other PK3s and 4s are separate) see it as a class for older PK3s and PK4s who are younger, need a little more time to learn some of the PK3 skills, and/or new to the school and coming from a program that may not have taught some of the PK3 academic skills (e.g., structured phonics lessons). So a kid who is old for their grade level might be placed in the mixed class for their PK3 year, but wouldn't remain in that class for PK4 unless they were struggling in some way.

*yes, there are a few exceptions at charters, but I found no exceptions at DCPS schools I visited

I can tell you Miner is an exception then. Kids do 2 years in the PK3/4 classroom there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid has a late October birthday. We were told there are no exceptions. It ended up being the right grade for her, and she actually liked being one of the oldest. In early school, she was often a “helper” for the teacher for the younger kids.

Btw, there will be many “borderline” kids like your daughter in preqchool. There were at least 6 or so kids with October and November birthdays in her preschool class, and they kept them all together so that there was an older pre-k 3 class and a younger pre-k class. So everyone was with the right group, developmentally. She will not stand out.

I wonder if this is a typical practice across schools? Seems like a great idea.

I don't think it sounds like a great idea because there is actually a lot of data on the benefits for preschool age kids of being in a mixed age range classroom. It's part of the reason Montessori education is so popular for this age group. Kids benefit greatly from both being able to see older kids performing tasks they are still learning, and in being able to demonstrate tasks for younger kids. Peer-to-peer learning is one of the best ways for young children to learn classroom behaviors. So by separating the oldest and youngest kids, you may actually stunt development in both sets by depriving them of opportunities to both learn from and teach to each other.

A number of DCPS schools actually have at least one combined PK3/PK4 classroom (in a regular DCPS, not Montessori) and there are good pedagogical reasons for doing it this way.

Right but will they still like it when she's the oldest of the combined group in PK4?

I toured a ton of schools (nearly 20... yes, it was like a second full-time job) looking at PK programs last year and this is not how schools tend to use combined PK3/4 classes*. All of the DCPS schools I toured that have a combined PK3/PK4 class (usually it's just one class per school and the other PK3s and 4s are separate) see it as a class for older PK3s and PK4s who are younger, need a little more time to learn some of the PK3 skills, and/or new to the school and coming from a program that may not have taught some of the PK3 academic skills (e.g., structured phonics lessons). So a kid who is old for their grade level might be placed in the mixed class for their PK3 year, but wouldn't remain in that class for PK4 unless they were struggling in some way.

*yes, there are a few exceptions at charters, but I found no exceptions at DCPS schools I visited

I can tell you Miner is an exception then. Kids do 2 years in the PK3/4 classroom there.

Miner is not PK 3/4 mixed age. They may spend 2 years with the same teacher but that is NOT mixed age.

[Anonymous]

Miner is not PK 3/4 mixed age. They may spend 2 years with the same teacher but that is NOT mixed age.

I don't know about this year, but at least in the past, parents were asked if they were willing to have their kids in a mixed 3/4 class. If they were, they might be assigned to one. They spent two years in that class. So, not all Miner kids were in mixed year classes, but some definitely were.

[Anonymous]

I'm a DP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid has a late October birthday. We were told there are no exceptions. It ended up being the right grade for her, and she actually liked being one of the oldest. In early school, she was often a “helper” for the teacher for the younger kids.

Btw, there will be many “borderline” kids like your daughter in preqchool. There were at least 6 or so kids with October and November birthdays in her preschool class, and they kept them all together so that there was an older pre-k 3 class and a younger pre-k class. So everyone was with the right group, developmentally. She will not stand out.

I wonder if this is a typical practice across schools? Seems like a great idea.

I don't think it sounds like a great idea because there is actually a lot of data on the benefits for preschool age kids of being in a mixed age range classroom. It's part of the reason Montessori education is so popular for this age group. Kids benefit greatly from both being able to see older kids performing tasks they are still learning, and in being able to demonstrate tasks for younger kids. Peer-to-peer learning is one of the best ways for young children to learn classroom behaviors. So by separating the oldest and youngest kids, you may actually stunt development in both sets by depriving them of opportunities to both learn from and teach to each other.

A number of DCPS schools actually have at least one combined PK3/PK4 classroom (in a regular DCPS, not Montessori) and there are good pedagogical reasons for doing it this way.

Right but will they still like it when she's the oldest of the combined group in PK4?

I toured a ton of schools (nearly 20... yes, it was like a second full-time job) looking at PK programs last year and this is not how schools tend to use combined PK3/4 classes*. All of the DCPS schools I toured that have a combined PK3/PK4 class (usually it's just one class per school and the other PK3s and 4s are separate) see it as a class for older PK3s and PK4s who are younger, need a little more time to learn some of the PK3 skills, and/or new to the school and coming from a program that may not have taught some of the PK3 academic skills (e.g., structured phonics lessons). So a kid who is old for their grade level might be placed in the mixed class for their PK3 year, but wouldn't remain in that class for PK4 unless they were struggling in some way.

*yes, there are a few exceptions at charters, but I found no exceptions at DCPS schools I visited

I can tell you Miner is an exception then. Kids do 2 years in the PK3/4 classroom there.

Miner is not PK 3/4 mixed age. They may spend 2 years with the same teacher but that is NOT mixed age.

My kid is literally in the mixed PK3/PK4 class at Miner. Why do people confidently assert things when they have no idea?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid has a late October birthday. We were told there are no exceptions. It ended up being the right grade for her, and she actually liked being one of the oldest. In early school, she was often a “helper” for the teacher for the younger kids.

Btw, there will be many “borderline” kids like your daughter in preqchool. There were at least 6 or so kids with October and November birthdays in her preschool class, and they kept them all together so that there was an older pre-k 3 class and a younger pre-k class. So everyone was with the right group, developmentally. She will not stand out.

I wonder if this is a typical practice across schools? Seems like a great idea.

I don't think it sounds like a great idea because there is actually a lot of data on the benefits for preschool age kids of being in a mixed age range classroom. It's part of the reason Montessori education is so popular for this age group. Kids benefit greatly from both being able to see older kids performing tasks they are still learning, and in being able to demonstrate tasks for younger kids. Peer-to-peer learning is one of the best ways for young children to learn classroom behaviors. So by separating the oldest and youngest kids, you may actually stunt development in both sets by depriving them of opportunities to both learn from and teach to each other.

A number of DCPS schools actually have at least one combined PK3/PK4 classroom (in a regular DCPS, not Montessori) and there are good pedagogical reasons for doing it this way.

Right but will they still like it when she's the oldest of the combined group in PK4?

I toured a ton of schools (nearly 20... yes, it was like a second full-time job) looking at PK programs last year and this is not how schools tend to use combined PK3/4 classes*. All of the DCPS schools I toured that have a combined PK3/PK4 class (usually it's just one class per school and the other PK3s and 4s are separate) see it as a class for older PK3s and PK4s who are younger, need a little more time to learn some of the PK3 skills, and/or new to the school and coming from a program that may not have taught some of the PK3 academic skills (e.g., structured phonics lessons). So a kid who is old for their grade level might be placed in the mixed class for their PK3 year, but wouldn't remain in that class for PK4 unless they were struggling in some way.

*yes, there are a few exceptions at charters, but I found no exceptions at DCPS schools I visited

I can tell you Miner is an exception then. Kids do 2 years in the PK3/4 classroom there.

Miner is not PK 3/4 mixed age. They may spend 2 years with the same teacher but that is NOT mixed age.

My kid is literally in the mixed PK3/PK4 class at Miner. Why do people confidently assert things when they have no idea?

Not that hard for you to lie. Especially when their website doesn’t state they have mixed age, unlike Brent.