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FWIW, one parent's take on redshirting (sort of) now that DS has started K in MCPS
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Anonymous
What's developmentally appropriate for a five year old varies from five year old to five year old. The teacher's post on reading instruction (great post, thanks!) discusses reading readiness and what the broad range that can exist. What's wrong with offering enough differentiation that kids who are ready for more can get it? |
Anonymous
PP -- I can't say anything about your son's specific issue, because I don't know him. But the term "dyslexia" is just a word meaning "poor reading". If a child is having trouble learning to read, there is some underlying reason. It can be many things from the obvious -- the child has poor eyesight and can't see the letters -- to the less obvious -- child has a visual processing disorder, a phonological processing disorder, etc. "Poor reading" can also be a result of "poor instruction". I have seen children enter my school with a learning disability diagnosis when it turns out they had just plain not been properly instructed in how to read. Once they recieved proper instruction, they lost their LD diagnosis. "Poor reading" can also be the result of good instruction but at the wrong time. Reading instruction that is appropriate for most 7 year old would not be appropriate for most 4 year olds, because 4 year olds don't yet have the neurological skills to be able to make use of the reading instruction being presented to the 7 year olds. In order to learn how to read, and write, children need to be able to break words apart into phonemes and blend phonemes together to make words. Some children can do this at age 4 (or 3!!) most can do it at age 6, and some kids do not develop this ability until age 7 or 8 (or even later). If schools are starting reading instruction in kindergarten, there are a lot of 5 year old boys , especially, that don't yet have that phonemic manipulation skill. THey can try to participate in the lessons using the skills, but since they don't really have the ability to break words up and blend them together, attaching letters to the sounds they hear doesn't really make a lot of sense to them./ If they are smart and have good visual memory, they try to compensate by memorize the whoole word by sight. Howveer this system starts to fall apart by the time they hit first and second grade. Some younger kids DO have the necessary skills to participate and make meaning out of that instruction, but others do not. If they then head off to first grade, they have bascally missed a full year of reading instruction that was of some beenifit to their classmates; meanwhile, most teachers are no longer teaching the beginning reading skills -- however, now the children have "grown into" the ability to blend andsegment phonemes. NOW they are ready for initial reading instruction -- only their teachers might assume they already have it. These children then get diagnosed as having a "processing disorder" when they are just a little behind where other kids their age are -- they are on the lower end of the bell curve for developing the necessary skills. This diagnosis allows them to go to the special LD teacher, who then appropriately teaches them the same beginning reading skills they should have gotten in kindergarten, only they weren't ready then. So it's great that they finally get the reading instruction they need. But if they had had say a late August birthday, and their parents just held them out that year and put them in the next year, very likely none of this would have happened. By the time kindergarten started, they would have had a much better ability to bledn and segment phonemes, and reading instruction would have "stuck" with them much better. It's not that it would have made the "phonological processing defecit" magically disappear -- it's that there would never have been such a deficit to begin with. I'm the one to whom you responded on this. Until this summer, we wondered whether DS might just need more time and we recognize that kids do learn to read at different ages. However, there seems to be more to it than just waiting it out. DS actually did start to read a bit this summer (he'll read stuff - and not obvious stuff like "STOP" or "EXIT" either - on signs (just a couple of words)). At the same time, he's read the word "Dot" as "Tod" and has done similar things with numbers. He's also looked at a number such as 9 and said it was P. So, it seems to us that there's something else going on here. Not expecting an online diagnosis, LOL, and actually don't disagree in general that a year might make a difference, but there are some kids who don't benefit from an extra year because there's something else going on -- and parents then waste a year. |
Anonymous
Of course it varies. That's what developmentally appropriate means, a curriculum that accommodates the normal range of development. If we had a curriculum that truly accommodated the normal range of 5 year old development, would there be a need to redshirt? That's my point. What the PP mentioned about reading in one reason that many other countries actually delay formal reading instruction until age 6+. By then, most kids are really and truly ready and it is not the struggle that we have here trying to get 5 year olds to read when they are not yet ready. Some/many 5 year olds are ready to read, but not all. But it's a whole different educational model and not one our country is ready to accept IMO. |
Anonymous
On the other hand, there are kids who enter K reading quite well. Why shouldn't they be able to read during the K year? I don't want our schools to decide that delayed reading is right for all kids just because it's right for your kid. |
Anonymous
| LOL! My kid *is* an advanced reader. My point is the curriculum should accommodate the RANGE, not just either end of the range and not just the narrow middle. Yes, it's possible. It isn't necessarily easy, but it is possible with enough flexibility and creativity. |
Anonymous
Yes. If kindergarten -- and first grade -- turly accomodated the range of all children, there woudln't be such a need for redshirting. (I am ignoring the ridiculous practice of redshirting a child for COMPETETIVE SPORTS which is a completely different issue). In my opinion parents who decide to hold back a year kids with summer birthdays,especially, aren't doing so because they want their kids to have a competitive advantage over OTHER CHILDREN they just want their children to have mastery over THE CURRICULUM, which in many cases seems to be inflexiile. And kids who don't master it at the appropriate age (thought perhaps just 4 days or weeks shy of the cut off to enter a year later) are labelled as having "processing disorders". |
Anonymous
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Am I the only one who doesn't see big differences in development among my child's classmates? I don't know the K class well yet but Pre-K consisted of kids up to six months older than her and six months younger (she's an April birthday). You couldn't tell by observing them whose birthday was when. My child was the tallest, even as an April girl, and the oldest girl was almost the smallest in the class. I chaperoned many field trips and had drop off play dates with several, and there just didn't seem to be a big difference.
Do they really change that quickly at this age? By now I feel like a few months is meaningless. |
Anonymous
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Just by observation you probabably wouldn't notice much of a difference; but if you worked with the children academically you might. For instance, if a child was unable to blend and segment phonemes, or couldn't come up with a word that rhymed with "mouse" -- that's not something you would see on a field trip or playdate.
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Anonymous
Unlikely - we have a girl. I just feel very strongly the parents are the best advocates for their children. And nosy bystanders generally have a hidden agenda. |
Anonymous
I was the youngest or second youngest in my class all through grade school. I started K at age 4 and graduated high school at 17. Somehow I managed to get a graduate degree and one of the top jobs in my field, have friends and boyfriends, marry a wonderful man, and have a happy family. I hardly consider myself "doomed to failure." In fact I was in the gifted program in elementary and middle school and in AP classes in high school. Nor do I feel my teenage angst was any more pronounced than anyone else's just because I was younger. I find this whole "redshirting" phenomenon very funny. When I was a kid it was embarrassing to be held back in school, because it suggested you were stupid or babyish, and parents fought to get their on-the-cusp kids started earlier. Now we have the opposite situation, with parents fighting to hold their kids back. I wonder what changed. |
Anonymous
| The curriculum changed, genius! |
Anonymous
Plenty of young kids (i.e. summer birthdays, correctly placed by age) do FINE. However, some don't and would benefit from being started later. And if they don't get held back, they often go on to have normal problems that, in comparison with older kids, look like "learning disabilities". In addition -- once a child starts school, it is difficult to near impossible to hold them back anymore. Schools refuse to do that, as it is considered psychologically damaging to hold a child back a year. (And it probably is). So if you have a child who is right on the cusp, you really have to make the decision before K or even PreK. |
Anonymous
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Some interesting reading on actual scientific studies regarding the phenomenon (taken from Newsweek):
Should Children Redshirt Kindergarten? Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman Every September, the class of incoming American kindergartners is ever slightly older. In the U.S., kids who start kindergarten must be at least 5 years old. In theory, that seems like a clear-cut, easy enough rule?like the "You must be this tall to go on this ride" sign at an amusement park. But what’s driving the trend toward an older kindergarten class is the increasing number of 6-year-old “redshirted” kids whose parents have delayed their entry. In 1980, about 10 percent of kindergartners were redshirted. Since then, the proportion has doubled. It seems that fewer parents are comfortable with their child being one of the youngest in the class, the runts of the litter. By simply holding them back, parents can ensure their child begins the rat race as one of the oldest, most mature kids in class. It’s not surprising that the older kindergartners, on average, are slightly better students when they begin school. The real question is, does that initial age advantage last, or does it quickly peter out? Until now, the research everyone looked to was by UC Santa Barbara’s Kathy Bedard and Elizabeth Dhuey. Bedard and Dhuey gathered achievement data in the U.S. and Europe, comparing the youngest kids in class with those months older. In fourth grade, the older kids were still performing a few percentage points better. In eighth grade, the advantage persisted; depending on the method of calculation, the oldest kids in eighth grade in the U.S. were ranking 4 to 8 percent higher than the youngest children in that grade. The Bedard study became exhibit A for parents considering redshirting?even more so after Elizabeth Weil addressed it a New York Times Magazine article and Malcolm Gladwell discussed it in Outliers. By their interpretation of the data, if you wanted your child to be seen by teachers as one of the best students in class, and eventually win entrance into the best high schools, redshirting was a logical option to ponder. Now two recent studies may completely flip the redshirt argument on its head. First, scholars from National Bureau of Economic Research?Kasey Buckley and Daniel M. Hungerman?recently looked at detailed data from the birth certificate of every single child born in the United States from 1989 to 2001. Astonishingly, they discovered slight differences in the seasons of the year that poor women and wealthy women give birth. The scholars couldn’t answer exactly why this was the case. It could be the accidental effect of differing work and vacation schedules, so that more affluent mothers get pregnant over the Christmas holidays, while more poor women get pregnant in the late spring and summer. Or it could be a conscious decision?perhaps some well-educated moms are timing their births, either to ensure their child is older, or to avoid caring for a newborn in the hot summer. But the seasonal patterns were clear in every year of the data. So it turns out those fourth and eighth graders aren’t doing better just because they’re a few months older. They’re doing better because more of them are born to mothers who are affluent, college-educated, married, and white. Combined, the seasonal birth pattern explains at least half the achievement gap between the oldest and youngest kids in class. That 4-point advantage is more like a 2-point advantage. Second, a soon-to-be-published study by Todd Elder and Darren H. Lubotsky has debunked the theory of why older kids do better. It used to be argued that older kindergartners can soak up more from their teachers, learning at a faster rate. Each school year, this tiny advantage compounds. Like the NBER team, Elder and Lubotsky found the driving variable wasn’t how old the kids were, but how prepared the kids were by their preschool, day care, and home environment. The better-prepared kids learned more. Elder and Lubotsky couldn't find any merit in redshirting?waiting a year to educate a child. Because what is more of an enriching intellectual experience for a child than going to school? “Our estimates clearly indicate that children’s reading and math abilities increase much more quickly once they begin kindergarten than they would have increased during the same time period if they delayed kindergarten entry,” the scholars wrote. So that’s the choice parents face: is a 2-point statistical advantage worth having a child sit on the sidelines of learning for a whole year? |
Anonymous
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More Studies regarding redshirting (not a pop article, but from DOE) Particularly helpful are tips for parents at the end of the article regarding the decision:
Academic Redshirting and Young Children Educational Resource Information Center (U.S. Department of Education) Author: Array Source: Educational Resource Information Center (U.S. Department of Education) The term redshirting originally referred to postponing a college athlete's participation in regular season games for one year to give him an extra year of further growth and practice with the team in the hope of improving the player's skills for future seasons. Academic redshirting for young children refers to the practice of postponing entrance into kindergarten of age-eligible children in order to allow extra time for socioemotional, intellectual, or physical growth. This kind of redshirting is most often practiced in the case of children whose birthdays are so close to the cut-off dates that they are very likely to be among the youngest in their kindergarten class. This Digest discusses what studies have said thus far about redshirting and its potential effects, and offers suggestions for parents considering delaying their child's entrance into kindergarten. Incidence of Redshirting The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reports that academic redshirting occurs at the rate of about 9% per year among kindergarten-age children (West, Meek, & Hurst, 2000). Redshirting has traditionally been more common in affluent communities and for children attending private schools, although some scholars speculate that there may have been a recent increase in certain public school districts (Brent et al., 1996). According to NCES, boys are more often redshirted than girls, and children born in the latter half of the year are more likely to be redshirted than those born earlier. The NCES report also shows that white, non-Hispanic children are more than twice as likely as black, non-Hispanic children to have entered kindergarten later than their birthdays allowed (West, Meek, & Hurst, 2000). Redshirting may be a response to demands for a higher level of school readiness (Graue & DiPerna, in press; May et al., 1995). In a national survey, teachers indicated that 48% of their students were not ready for the current kindergarten curriculum (NCEDL, 1998). Alarmingly high percentages of teachers indicated that half of their students lacked important skills, including "following directions" (46%), "academic skills" (36%), and the ability to "work independently" (34%). In light of such data, many scholars suggest that academic curricula are not appropriate for young children (Graue & DiPerna, in press; May et al., 1995; Shepard & Smith, 1988). Effects of Redshirting Research on redshirting has so far failed to provide a clear picture of its short- and long-term effects. Some studies have examined the effects of redshirting that occur immediately or within the early elementary years. Others have examined its long-term effects. Proponents and opponents of redshirting often use the same evidence but reach opposite conclusions. It is therefore unclear whether redshirting solves problems of school readiness. Immediate Effects. Research on academic redshirting suggests that in the short term, redshirting (1) raises the child's academic achievement (math, reading, general knowledge) and conduct on par with or above that of younger classmates (West, Denton, & Germino-Hausken, 2000); (2) increases the child's confidence in social interactions and popularity among classmates (Spitzer et al., 1995); and (3) may simply add to the normal mix of ages and abilities within the classroom. However, there is also some speculation that, in classes where there are children who have been redshirted, some older children may feel alienated from their younger classmates, and some older classmates may have an unfair advantage over younger classmates in size and in psychomotor and social skills. The presence of children of a wider age span may also make the class too diverse for a teacher to manage well. Effects in Grades 1-3. Researchers have observed other effects of redshirting within the first three years of elementary school, including (1) academic achievement that is nearly equal to that of their grade-level peers (West, Meek, & Hurst, 2000), (2) a lower likelihood of receiving "negative feedback from teachers about their academic performance or conduct in class" (Cromwell, 1998; West, Meek, & Hurst, 2000), and (3) less need for special education than classmates who were retained as kindergartners (Kundert et al., 1995; May et al., 1995). However, there is also evidence that some first- through third-graders who were redshirted as children required greater use of special education services than their non-redshirted and non-retained classmates (Graue & DiPerna, in press; May et al., 1995). Long-term Effects. Proponents of redshirting often point out that there is no definitive evidence to show that redshirting harms children in the long term. However, Byrd et al. (1997) found that adolescents whose school entry had been delayed exhibited more behavioral problems than their classmates. Moreover, in light of evidence of a higher use of special education by redshirted youths, there is a great deal of speculation that many individuals who were redshirted as kindergartners may have had special needs that were misdiagnosed as immaturity and that should have been treated by some form of direct intervention other than delayed entry (May et al., 1995; Graue & DiPerna, in press). Suggestions for Parents Because the research is inconclusive about the effects of redshirting and few school districts prohibit it, parents are usually the ones who have to decide whether to keep their child out of kindergarten for an extra year. The following are some points for parents to consider in making a decision: * Be clear about the specific characteristics of your child that cause you to be unsure about his or her readiness to begin kindergarten with age-mates. In other words, don't delay entrance into kindergarten just because the child is likely to be among the youngest in the class or has a summer birthday. * Check the school's kindergarten readiness screening procedures or tests to get an idea of how your child might fare in the kindergarten classroom in which she or he will most likely be placed. * Be assertive about finding out what the school expects of entering kindergartners and the school's suggestions on how you can help your youngster to be prepared. * Solicit the views of your child's preschool teacher about his or her readiness for kindergarten. Ask, for example, whether your child made some friends in her preschool group. Was he or she usually able to follow directions? Does your child appear to the preschool teacher to be ready to begin academic work? * Find out more about the nature of the kindergarten program. Is it very formal? Is it organized primarily around formal instruction in basic skills or around more informal "learning centers?" Organizing children's learning around informal learning centers can accommodate a greater developmental range of children than a formal, structured arrangement in which basic skills are taught to the whole group of children in rows of desks. * Is the class size larger than 25? A very shy child might find a large class more difficult to adjust to than he would a class of around 20 or less. Class size may be a more important consideration for a shy child than even for a child who is not shy but who lacks physical coordination. * What else would your child be doing if she did not start kindergarten? Would the child have easy and safe access to playmates and play spaces? Are there easily available (and affordable) good preschool programs for your child? * Ask the future kindergarten teacher for suggestions about what you can do at home to help your child reach the same skill level as future classmates. * Be careful about conveying your own apprehension about starting school to your child. If you approach the beginning of kindergarten with your child with real confidence and sufficient reassurance, and, if possible, share any concerns with the teacher, your child will adjust rapidly. * Be careful not to exaggerate to a child how much fun she or he will have in kindergarten. It would probably be best to say something like "You'll make new friends, get to do lots of interesting things, but there will be one or two times when you wish you were at home. But those times will pass. You'll see." This kind of forewarning can often prevent a child from coming unstrung when the inevitable difficult moments do occur. Conclusion The most helpful approach for parents may be to obtain suggestions from the school, and ideally from the future teacher as well, about how best to help the child during the first few months of school. The child is likely to adjust to the transition to school when parents are careful about how they express their concerns. Parents can be most helpful by offering the child reassurance and support, and by resisting the temptation to discuss their own anxieties and concerns in front of the child. On the whole, the evidence about the short- and long-term effects of redshirting is inconclusive. The evidence suggests that some benefits of academic redshirting are short lived and may in the long term be disadvantageous (Spitzer et al., 1995; Graue & DiPerna, in press). For More Information Brent, D., May, D. C., & Kundert, D. K. (1996). The incidence of delayed school entry: A twelve-year review. EARLY EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT, 7(2), 121-135. EJ 520 504. Byrd, R. S., Weitzman, M., & Auinger, P. (1997). Increased behavior problems associated with delayed school entry and delayed school progress. PEDIATRICS, 100(4), 654-661. Cromwell, S. (1998). Starting kindergarten late: How does it affect school performance? EDUCATION WORLD [Online]. Available: http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin045.shtml. Graue, M. E., & DiPerna, J. (in press). Redshirting and early retention: Who gets the "gift of time" and what are its outcomes? AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH JOURNAL. Kundert, D. K., May, D. C., & Brent, D. (1995). A comparison of students who delay kindergarten entry and those who are retained in grades K-5. PSYCHOLOGY IN THE SCHOOLS, 32(3), 202-209. EJ 517 406. May, D. C., Kundert, D. K., & Brent, D. (1995). Does delayed school entry reduce later grade retentions and use of special education services? REMEDIAL AND SPECIAL EDUCATION, 16(5), 288-294. EJ 510 039. National Center for Early Development and Learning (NCEDL). (1998). Kindergarten transitions [Online]. NECDL SPOTLIGHTS, 1. Available: http://www.fpg.unc.edu/~ncedl/PAGES/ spotlt.htm. Shepard, L. A., & Smith, M. L. (1988). Escalating academic demand in kindergarten: Counterproductive policies. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL JOURNAL, 89(2), 135-145. EJ 382 617. Spitzer, S., Cupp, R., & Parke, R. D. (1995). School entrance age, social acceptance, and self-perception in kindergarten and 1st grade. EARLY CHILDHOOD RESEARCH QUARTERLY, 10(4), 433-450. EJ 516 737. West, J., Denton, K., & Germino-Hausken, E. (2000). AMERICA'S KINDERGARTNERS. (NCES No. 2000-070). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. West, J., Meek, A., & Hurst, D. (2000). CHILDREN WHO ENTER KINDERGARTEN LATE OR REPEAT KINDERGARTEN: THEIR CHARACTERISTICS AND LATER SCHOOL PERFORMANCE. (NCES No. 2000-039). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. |
Anonymous
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With regards to the effect of redshirting on kids performance on achievement tests--
actually that ISN'T the measure I would choose to evaluate the decision for my own child. And here's why. If I had a child with an August birthday, who JUST turned 5, and who was entering K this month -- and I was worried if he was able to handle the curriculum there -- I might keep him in regardless. He'd be the youngest in his class. He might do well, he might not. If he didn't do well, chances are by first or second grade he'd be identified as having some processing dicorder of one kind or another. At that point no one would consider just holding him back a year, so he would start to enter the "LD" world. They would remediate and remediate him, and since they know what the tests are he needs to pass (thank you No Child Left Nehind) he'd get that instruction in spades. He'd also get plenty of homework. Meanwhile, we might be working so hard on getting him up to speed in reading and math, and getting through all the homework, we wouldn't be able to have time for cub scouts, or T-ball, or the science or chess club after school. He might get pulled out of his hands on science class in his classroom to work on his remediation with the LD and reading teacher. He WOULD get within 8 percentage points of his older peers on the standardized tests of reading and math, perhaps, by 4th grade -- but at what cost to the other things in life that are important? When his older, just as smart friends can zip through the homework after school in just 15 minutes, and it takes him more like an hour? |