Help! Appeal for MCPS Early Kindergarten

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t get why you would want to. It isn’t a rush to finish k-12. Better for her be the smartest in the class than middle of the pack

18 year old seniors are a problem

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you should wow them by having her write her own appeal.

I love this! Every kid is different, but unfortunately there have to be cut offs. My boy/girl twins were born October 10 in MCPS. They both passed the early entrance to K test. The principal tried to get me to not send them. I sent them both. I watched them closely EVERY YEAR (academics, and socially, etc)

Moved them to private for middle school (that's another topic) Kept watching. Fast forward to today--Girl went straight through, thrived, and is finishing freshman year at age 18 at UCLA. Boy will graduate high school in two weeks. He needed an extra year around 8th grade. So he went to mcps for 9th, then repeated 9th in private where he stayed and thrived. He has also been admitted to UCLA

I mean; this is an objectively awful thing to do to your kid though. I wouldn’t call that a success story

Exactly. It sound more like gaming the system and that’s terrible for him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I dunno, OP. My kid went into kindergarten reading level 2 books and writing (poor, but complete) sentences, and certainly wasn’t the only one in her class. Sounds like she didn’t qualify for kindergarten because she didn’t have those academic skills yet. You just have to trust the process. Or move to DC.

It’s very principal subjective. Level two books is average. Many kids are reading much higher. Mine were. Mine had all the skills but the principal would not let any child in early entry. Kid thrived starting earlier.

That's exactly the point. If OP's child can identify letters, but isn't reading or writing, she has a lot more she can learn in a pre-K program before entering kindergarten. Schools don't want to admit children that haven't already mastered the grade level standards and could potentially struggle, needing more intervention later. It's not a contest for who's child was the most precocious, the point is that there is a HUGE range in K-2nd and the bar to start early is whether she would be bored in the highest reading group, not whether she could keep up with the low to mid range group.

A child would probably have prek aready.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I dunno, OP. My kid went into kindergarten reading level 2 books and writing (poor, but complete) sentences, and certainly wasn’t the only one in her class. Sounds like she didn’t qualify for kindergarten because she didn’t have those academic skills yet. You just have to trust the process. Or move to DC.

It’s very principal subjective. Level two books is average. Many kids are reading much higher. Mine were. Mine had all the skills but the principal would not let any child in early entry. Kid thrived starting earlier.

That's exactly the point. If OP's child can identify letters, but isn't reading or writing, she has a lot more she can learn in a pre-K program before entering kindergarten. Schools don't want to admit children that haven't already mastered the grade level standards and could potentially struggle, needing more intervention later. It's not a contest for who's child was the most precocious, the point is that there is a HUGE range in K-2nd and the bar to start early is whether she would be bored in the highest reading group, not whether she could keep up with the low to mid range group.

This child is exactly on the level as most k. Holding back to another prek isn’t helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I dunno, OP. My kid went into kindergarten reading level 2 books and writing (poor, but complete) sentences, and certainly wasn’t the only one in her class. Sounds like she didn’t qualify for kindergarten because she didn’t have those academic skills yet. You just have to trust the process. Or move to DC.

It’s very principal subjective. Level two books is average. Many kids are reading much higher. Mine were. Mine had all the skills but the principal would not let any child in early entry. Kid thrived starting earlier.

That's exactly the point. If OP's child can identify letters, but isn't reading or writing, she has a lot more she can learn in a pre-K program before entering kindergarten. Schools don't want to admit children that haven't already mastered the grade level standards and could potentially struggle, needing more intervention later. It's not a contest for who's child was the most precocious, the point is that there is a HUGE range in K-2nd and the bar to start early is whether she would be bored in the highest reading group, not whether she could keep up with the low to mid range group.

This child is exactly on the level as most k. Holding back to another prek isn’t helpful.

So maybe OP’s child will be reading fluently like a lot of other kids when she starts on time. A child that can’t read yet does not need to be admitted early to kindergarten. As someone that had a pre-K kid during the pandemic, it’s a VERY easy age to teach at home if the child is interested. If OP wants the rules to apply differently for her, she can enroll in private kindergarten like many MCPS families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t get why you would want to. It isn’t a rush to finish k-12. Better for her be the smartest in the class than middle of the pack

18 year old seniors are a problem

?? Err, what? Most seniors turn 18 their senior year, unless they have summer birthdays (and were not redshirted). What on earth are you talking about?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t get why you would want to. It isn’t a rush to finish k-12. Better for her be the smartest in the class than middle of the pack

18 year old seniors are a problem

Not girl ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've never heard of an appeal being successful. MCPS is allowed to set its own criteria and they say a child has to pass all parts of the exam. Your daughter didn't. There is no "right" to attend kindergarten at taxpayer expense before statutory age.

Don't get me started on "rights" and "taxpayer expenses". We pay our taxes and didn't qualify for public pre-k for our kids because we make more money than the poverty line. Explain that right to me.

Welcome to life in society. The same way you pay taxes to support SNAP, WIC, TANF, SSI, Section 8, Medicaid, Medicare, and hundreds of other government-funded programs with eligibility criteria you might not meet. If you would like to quit your job and set fire to your money so your kids can llive in housing projects and go to Head Start, there's nothing except sanity stopping you.

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t get why you would want to. It isn’t a rush to finish k-12. Better for her be the smartest in the class than middle of the pack

18 year old seniors are a problem

Wut?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I dunno, OP. My kid went into kindergarten reading level 2 books and writing (poor, but complete) sentences, and certainly wasn’t the only one in her class. Sounds like she didn’t qualify for kindergarten because she didn’t have those academic skills yet. You just have to trust the process. Or move to DC.

It’s very principal subjective. Level two books is average. Many kids are reading much higher. Mine were. Mine had all the skills but the principal would not let any child in early entry. Kid thrived starting earlier.

That's exactly the point. If OP's child can identify letters, but isn't reading or writing, she has a lot more she can learn in a pre-K program before entering kindergarten. Schools don't want to admit children that haven't already mastered the grade level standards and could potentially struggle, needing more intervention later. It's not a contest for who's child was the most precocious, the point is that there is a HUGE range in K-2nd and the bar to start early is whether she would be bored in the highest reading group, not whether she could keep up with the low to mid range group.

This child is exactly on the level as most k. Holding back to another prek isn’t helpful.

Right, and exactly on level is not the standard for early entrance in MCPS. Glad we’re all on the same page.

[Anonymous]

Being the youngest in your class is not good socially once you get to middle and high school. They will be the last to drive so they will be riding around with their fool friends in their cars. They will be faced with making important decisions earlier like sex, drug use and drinking. Even at 18 you can tell the younger ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t get why you would want to. It isn’t a rush to finish k-12. Better for her be the smartest in the class than middle of the pack

+1

Not the smartest just the oldest. Waiting a year does not make you any smarter it just makes you less challenged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Being the youngest in your class is not good socially once you get to middle and high school. They will be the last to drive so they will be riding around with their fool friends in their cars. They will be faced with making important decisions earlier like sex, drug use and drinking. Even at 18 you can tell the younger ones.

Driving last is not a bad thing if as a parent you are willing to drive your child. They will still experience all those issues regardless of their age. Holding back isn't doing anything and as parents you need to talk to your kids and provide support and supervision. Socially it's been fine for my kid. They know they will not be riding with friends when their friends get their licenses. And, they will not be driving anyone else around in our cars when they get theirs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t get why you would want to. It isn’t a rush to finish k-12. Better for her be the smartest in the class than middle of the pack

+1

You can still be the smartest and one of the younger students. What kid wants to be 18 all of senior year and be the oldest? Someone hast be the oldest, someone has to be the youngest. In HS, with a lot of elective and math classes, the kids are mixed age anyway. Mine will be in an elective with seniors as a freshman.

[Anonymous]

I started kindergarten early back in the 80s and graduated high school a month before turning 17. The difference in maturity was there in elementary school, pretty much disappeared as a teen, but did impact me college. Both socially and academically. I did fine, but know I could have achieved more if I was more mature. I’m very grateful my kids have winter birthdays and would always be the older kids in the class.