Reply to How common is redshirting in APS and FCPS?

Forum Index » Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS)

Reply to "How common is redshirting in APS and FCPS?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Red shirting is not a new phenomenon.  People have been doing this for 30-40 years (that I'm aware of - I have teachers in my family and kids that "started K late").  Relatively middle-middle class family.  We also did this with two DS.

Most teachers will say it can't hurt, and if you're unsure, to do it.  [/quote]

I'm 40 and the only kids who were held back were the ones who failed the grade.  We have a fall kid and we sent him early.  He also does sports.  Sports go by age, not grade so being younger has its advantages.  Kids who start the sport younger clearly have an advantage.  Mine started it about 2 years later and is much slower but catching up.  Most of the really good kids have private coaches as well, which we started to do.  There is usually more to it all once you actually look into it.  It makes no sense to hold kids back.[/quote]

Thanks for your completely uniformed opinion.  Nobody cares that your fall kid was ready and did great. Those of us considering redshirting do it because there's a specific reason for concern.  And personally I've never met anyone whose concern was limited to sports (either way).  BTW part of the idea behind redshirting is to prevent kids from failing the grade later on.  Doesn't necessarily always work out that way and the data may not support it, but the REASON some people redshirt is to give the child more time to be ready for kindergarten, which is universally understood to be more "rigorous" than 35 years ago when you were in K.  [/quote]

Again, this makes no sense.  If you are concerned your child will fall behind you spend the money and get them tutoring (or work with them yourself) and therapies to address the issues to make sure they are more successful.  K. is not rigorous.  Its parents who don't prepare their kids and whine about how rigorous it is.  And, yes, I have a SN kid and yes, we spent a huge sum of money on therapies to get our child to the point they are at to make sure they are successful.  If your non-special needs kid cannot cut it in K. at age 5, you need to get them fully evaluated and into therapies to support them as you lose the gift of time as the longer you wait to get your kid the help they need, the harder it is for those therapist to work.[/quote]

As a former K and First grade teacher, I can vouch for the fact that there are kids who are very smart --yet not ready for school.  And, redshirting has gone on for far longer than you realize with late birthday kids.  I think it is more common now, but I've known of some for a long time.  I've also known people socially who started their kids early--and later regretted it.  I'm not in favor of redshirting all late birthday kids--it depends on the kid.  If my son had a late birthday, I would have redshirted him.  There are exceptions to every rule--but I've known far more who should have redshirted than who did.  And, I am talking about late birthdays--not all kids.[/quote]

If you have a 4 year old in preschool going to K the following year, baring any SN, as a parent, what are you doing to prepare them?  Moving them to a more academic/structured preschool that will prepare them for the requirements, teaching them basics of reading and writing and numbers, working on social skills?  Most of the parents I know who held back did it because they don't feel it is their job to get their kids ready or pressure from friends/family/teachers.  I am always suspect of preschool teachers saying hold back as most are minimally trained and don't have the diagnostic skills to really assess.  Most teachers don't for that matter.  When we transferred to public, because my child was the youngest and we bypassed the entry date, they made a huge assessment he was one of the slower kids and put him in the basic groups.  Funny, when test scores came, initially they thought it was a fluke and when the second testing came around they finally moved him up realizing they were wrong.  Thank goodness for standardized testing.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics