Why don’t schools have stronger policies about redshirting?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have a normal, bright child, then redshirting seems crazy. They're going to be bored repeating the same grade, they should be with children at similar maturity levels and you're going to give the kid an inferiority complex. They're going to wonder why they were held back when kids who are the same age moved ahead.

Do you think parents don’t talk to bright four and five year olds? If you ask my daughter why she is in preK another year she’ll tell you it’s to learn more of her second language and do more global travel. She’s not weeping about being “held back”

Are you seriously asking me to take a preschooler's word for it?

Makes a heck of a lot more sense than taking some random angry person on the internet’s word for how a hypothetical kid she’s never met and doesn’t care about feels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m not sure where the multiple posters who are claiming that redshirting (within reason) has negative effects on the redshirted child are coming from. I went to a private school with a strict June 1 cutoff for K. I have a July birthday and was required to do a year of transitional K at the school before heading on to K as a new 6 YO. Academically, I was more than ready to start K at 5, and I STILL think that waiting the extra year had long-term benefits.

I was always very advanced in reading and writing (started reading at age 3), but I struggled more with math. It just didn’t come as naturally for me, and I had to work a lot harder to do well in math every single year from elementary school all the way through high school. I’m convinced that if I had been a year younger at each grade level, I probably would have been a B math student. Instead, with the benefit of an extra year, I was able to be an A- math student. (And I worked so much harder for those grades than I worked for any of my As in other subjects.) I ended up going to an Ivy League school for college. Would I have gotten in if I had a string of Bs in math on my HS transcript? Probably not.

Do I think that spring birthdays should be redshirted absent a compelling reason? No - otherwise the age differential in a class gets too wide. However, I think that the posters claiming that redshirting harms children or that being on the older end of the class isn’t actually an advantage are just telling themselves what they want to believe. In most cases, being a bit older absolutely is an advantage. I will likely redshirt my late August birthday daughter.

I had a kid who went from being nearly a year below grade level in math to being ahead of grade level in math within the space of a single school year. The issue was the quality of instruction, not the kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have a normal, bright child, then redshirting seems crazy. They're going to be bored repeating the same grade, they should be with children at similar maturity levels and you're going to give the kid an inferiority complex. They're going to wonder why they were held back when kids who are the same age moved ahead.

Do you think parents don’t talk to bright four and five year olds? If you ask my daughter why she is in preK another year she’ll tell you it’s to learn more of her second language and do more global travel. She’s not weeping about being “held back”

Are you seriously asking me to take a preschooler's word for it?

Makes a heck of a lot more sense than taking some random angry person on the internet’s word for how a hypothetical kid she’s never met and doesn’t care about feels.

I've had several four year olds. You're going to be shocked when your kid gets a little older and starts developing her own opinions and doesn't just repeat whatever you tell her.

[Anonymous]

Maybe we should just change schools. Absolutely everything is wrong with schools these days and I think it's clear from the red shirting that people aren't comfortable putting their kids in a K classroom to fixate on a computer all day long.

Let's change the date to June 1 and outlaw redshirting. Ban computers from K-3. Mandate more recess and less sitting still.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have a normal, bright child, then redshirting seems crazy. They're going to be bored repeating the same grade, they should be with children at similar maturity levels and you're going to give the kid an inferiority complex. They're going to wonder why they were held back when kids who are the same age moved ahead.

Do you think parents don’t talk to bright four and five year olds? If you ask my daughter why she is in preK another year she’ll tell you it’s to learn more of her second language and do more global travel. She’s not weeping about being “held back”

Are you seriously asking me to take a preschooler's word for it?

Makes a heck of a lot more sense than taking some random angry person on the internet’s word for how a hypothetical kid she’s never met and doesn’t care about feels.

DP but no one should take the word of a preschooler who claims they need to repeat preschool in order to focus on "global travel" and burnish her second language. That's idiotic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have a normal, bright child, then redshirting seems crazy. They're going to be bored repeating the same grade, they should be with children at similar maturity levels and you're going to give the kid an inferiority complex. They're going to wonder why they were held back when kids who are the same age moved ahead.

Do you think parents don’t talk to bright four and five year olds? If you ask my daughter why she is in preK another year she’ll tell you it’s to learn more of her second language and do more global travel. She’s not weeping about being “held back”

Are you seriously asking me to take a preschooler's word for it?

Makes a heck of a lot more sense than taking some random angry person on the internet’s word for how a hypothetical kid she’s never met and doesn’t care about feels.

I've had several four year olds. You're going to be shocked when your kid gets a little older and starts developing her own opinions and doesn't just repeat whatever you tell her.

What, you think you’re the only parent here? I think someone had you pegged earlier. Your kids are adults and you troll here doling out worthless opinions and advice nobody asked for.

[Anonymous]

Have you all talked with any K teachers? They're thrilled with the redshirted kids, especially boys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you have a normal, bright child, then redshirting seems crazy. They're going to be bored repeating the same grade, they should be with children at similar maturity levels and you're going to give the kid an inferiority complex. They're going to wonder why they were held back when kids who are the same age moved ahead.

If you have a bright child, school will be a bore for them and they will not be learning anything new anyhow. It’s meant to teach to the bottom half of the class. If you already have a 99th percentile kid, it won’t matter whether you redshirt or not. They won’t be learning at school, and probably know all the material for the next grade up as well. So you do what any good parent would do, put the in the grade they most align socially and maturity wise and you take care of their education needs outside of school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have a normal, bright child, then redshirting seems crazy. They're going to be bored repeating the same grade, they should be with children at similar maturity levels and you're going to give the kid an inferiority complex. They're going to wonder why they were held back when kids who are the same age moved ahead.

If you have a bright child, school will be a bore for them and they will not be learning anything new anyhow. It’s meant to teach to the bottom half of the class. If you already have a 99th percentile kid, it won’t matter whether you redshirt or not. They won’t be learning at school, and probably know all the material for the next grade up as well. So you do what any good parent would do, put the in the grade they most align socially and maturity wise and you take care of their education needs outside of school.

If I had a very bright kid who was bored with school, why would I increase the number of years before they can get to college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have a normal, bright child, then redshirting seems crazy. They're going to be bored repeating the same grade, they should be with children at similar maturity levels and you're going to give the kid an inferiority complex. They're going to wonder why they were held back when kids who are the same age moved ahead.

Do you think parents don’t talk to bright four and five year olds? If you ask my daughter why she is in preK another year she’ll tell you it’s to learn more of her second language and do more global travel. She’s not weeping about being “held back”

Are you seriously asking me to take a preschooler's word for it?

Makes a heck of a lot more sense than taking some random angry person on the internet’s word for how a hypothetical kid she’s never met and doesn’t care about feels.

DP but no one should take the word of a preschooler who claims they need to repeat preschool in order to focus on "global travel" and burnish her second language. That's idiotic.

If you say so, but that’s what she’s doing instead of looking at a computer in a room full of kids more than a year older than her, which is what she’d be doing if we sent “on time”. Make whatever choices for your kids you want but you’re not going to somehow convince me my bilingual, well traveled, literate five year old is somehow a victim.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have a normal, bright child, then redshirting seems crazy. They're going to be bored repeating the same grade, they should be with children at similar maturity levels and you're going to give the kid an inferiority complex. They're going to wonder why they were held back when kids who are the same age moved ahead.

If you have a bright child, school will be a bore for them and they will not be learning anything new anyhow. It’s meant to teach to the bottom half of the class. If you already have a 99th percentile kid, it won’t matter whether you redshirt or not. They won’t be learning at school, and probably know all the material for the next grade up as well. So you do what any good parent would do, put the in the grade they most align socially and maturity wise and you take care of their education needs outside of school.

If I had a very bright kid who was bored with school, why would I increase the number of years before they can get to college?

They can actually go to college while in high school and your districts pays for the classes. Work smarter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have a normal, bright child, then redshirting seems crazy. They're going to be bored repeating the same grade, they should be with children at similar maturity levels and you're going to give the kid an inferiority complex. They're going to wonder why they were held back when kids who are the same age moved ahead.

If you have a bright child, school will be a bore for them and they will not be learning anything new anyhow. It’s meant to teach to the bottom half of the class. If you already have a 99th percentile kid, it won’t matter whether you redshirt or not. They won’t be learning at school, and probably know all the material for the next grade up as well. So you do what any good parent would do, put the in the grade they most align socially and maturity wise and you take care of their education needs outside of school.

If I had a very bright kid who was bored with school, why would I increase the number of years before they can get to college?

Or even just to MS or HS where there will be more opportunities for bright kids to take differentiated classes that actually do challenge them.

Also I'll note that my kid's public school has done a lot to keep her engaged and challenged. Yes we supplement a lot outside school but this idea that she's just totally bored at school and there's nothing to be done is wrong. Her teachers always work to give her supplemental reading that actually meets her reading level, since the on-grade reading is generally way too easy for her. She's also done pull outs to small groups in higher grades so that she can do a reading or math unit that will challenge her more than what her class might be working on. I was nervous about those because of the age gap (she did a 4th grade reading group in 2nd grade, for instance, so that she could read a full novel and do reading comprehension focused group discussion, something that wasn't available in her regular classroom). She did fine. Yes she felt a little shy but she was academically capable so she overcame it and was able to participate. It wound up being a great learning experience both academically and socially.

Now she's entering MS and is so excited to take differentiated math classes and also to participate in more academic extra curricular offerings like mathletes, history day, etc. I can't imagine holding a kid like this back. Kids are actually pretty adaptable socially, and there's enough variation within any grade that your kid will find peers to connect to. My kid has never been the ultra-popular superstar in any classroom, but those kids tend to be sporty and gregarious, and redshirting was not going to change my child's entire personality so that was likely not in the cards no matter what.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have a normal, bright child, then redshirting seems crazy. They're going to be bored repeating the same grade, they should be with children at similar maturity levels and you're going to give the kid an inferiority complex. They're going to wonder why they were held back when kids who are the same age moved ahead.

If you have a bright child, school will be a bore for them and they will not be learning anything new anyhow. It’s meant to teach to the bottom half of the class. If you already have a 99th percentile kid, it won’t matter whether you redshirt or not. They won’t be learning at school, and probably know all the material for the next grade up as well. So you do what any good parent would do, put the in the grade they most align socially and maturity wise and you take care of their education needs outside of school.

If I had a very bright kid who was bored with school, why would I increase the number of years before they can get to college?

Or even just to MS or HS where there will be more opportunities for bright kids to take differentiated classes that actually do challenge them.

Also I'll note that my kid's public school has done a lot to keep her engaged and challenged. Yes we supplement a lot outside school but this idea that she's just totally bored at school and there's nothing to be done is wrong. Her teachers always work to give her supplemental reading that actually meets her reading level, since the on-grade reading is generally way too easy for her. She's also done pull outs to small groups in higher grades so that she can do a reading or math unit that will challenge her more than what her class might be working on. I was nervous about those because of the age gap (she did a 4th grade reading group in 2nd grade, for instance, so that she could read a full novel and do reading comprehension focused group discussion, something that wasn't available in her regular classroom). She did fine. Yes she felt a little shy but she was academically capable so she overcame it and was able to participate. It wound up being a great learning experience both academically and socially.

Now she's entering MS and is so excited to take differentiated math classes and also to participate in more academic extra curricular offerings like mathletes, history day, etc. I can't imagine holding a kid like this back. Kids are actually pretty adaptable socially, and there's enough variation within any grade that your kid will find peers to connect to. My kid has never been the ultra-popular superstar in any classroom, but those kids tend to be sporty and gregarious, and redshirting was not going to change my child's entire personality so that was likely not in the cards no matter what.

Most middle schools only offer up to Alg I in the building. That isn’t very accelerated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have a normal, bright child, then redshirting seems crazy. They're going to be bored repeating the same grade, they should be with children at similar maturity levels and you're going to give the kid an inferiority complex. They're going to wonder why they were held back when kids who are the same age moved ahead.

If you have a bright child, school will be a bore for them and they will not be learning anything new anyhow. It’s meant to teach to the bottom half of the class. If you already have a 99th percentile kid, it won’t matter whether you redshirt or not. They won’t be learning at school, and probably know all the material for the next grade up as well. So you do what any good parent would do, put the in the grade they most align socially and maturity wise and you take care of their education needs outside of school.

If I had a very bright kid who was bored with school, why would I increase the number of years before they can get to college?

Or even just to MS or HS where there will be more opportunities for bright kids to take differentiated classes that actually do challenge them.

Also I'll note that my kid's public school has done a lot to keep her engaged and challenged. Yes we supplement a lot outside school but this idea that she's just totally bored at school and there's nothing to be done is wrong. Her teachers always work to give her supplemental reading that actually meets her reading level, since the on-grade reading is generally way too easy for her. She's also done pull outs to small groups in higher grades so that she can do a reading or math unit that will challenge her more than what her class might be working on. I was nervous about those because of the age gap (she did a 4th grade reading group in 2nd grade, for instance, so that she could read a full novel and do reading comprehension focused group discussion, something that wasn't available in her regular classroom). She did fine. Yes she felt a little shy but she was academically capable so she overcame it and was able to participate. It wound up being a great learning experience both academically and socially.

Now she's entering MS and is so excited to take differentiated math classes and also to participate in more academic extra curricular offerings like mathletes, history day, etc. I can't imagine holding a kid like this back. Kids are actually pretty adaptable socially, and there's enough variation within any grade that your kid will find peers to connect to. My kid has never been the ultra-popular superstar in any classroom, but those kids tend to be sporty and gregarious, and redshirting was not going to change my child's entire personality so that was likely not in the cards no matter what.

Who said you HAVE to hold your kid back? You have an experience of one and nobody is telling you that you made a mistake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have a normal, bright child, then redshirting seems crazy. They're going to be bored repeating the same grade, they should be with children at similar maturity levels and you're going to give the kid an inferiority complex. They're going to wonder why they were held back when kids who are the same age moved ahead.

Do you think parents don’t talk to bright four and five year olds? If you ask my daughter why she is in preK another year she’ll tell you it’s to learn more of her second language and do more global travel. She’s not weeping about being “held back”

Are you seriously asking me to take a preschooler's word for it?

Makes a heck of a lot more sense than taking some random angry person on the internet’s word for how a hypothetical kid she’s never met and doesn’t care about feels.

I've had several four year olds. You're going to be shocked when your kid gets a little older and starts developing her own opinions and doesn't just repeat whatever you tell her.

I look forward to the therapists notes about how she wishes she’d travelled less at four and spent more time sitting indoors staring at a laptop.

Yes there are kids who should absolutely start at four— kids who need EI, kids who need to get free meals, kids who live in areas without good pre-k options. That’s why it is an area of parental choice.