Reply to Redshirting consequences at Lafayette

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The idea that DCPS should change their policy to accommodate families who intend to leave DCPS for private or suburban schools is more than a little silly. Surely you guys see that? Why would they do something that facilitates attrition?

I am going to ignore the "needs" of parents who want to redshirt in order to ensure their kid is not at a disadvantage in private, or for other selfish reasons like sports. Simply don't care, those are not good reasons to change a policy or carve out an exception.

However, I think it IS worthwhile to discuss how DCPS has two conflicting policies that relate directly to the redshirting issue:

- The cut off date is designed to help make kids eligible for school earlier, which helps parents with childcare costs in a city with some of the highest childcare costs in the country.

- DCPS pushes a highly academic K curriculum with the goal of lifting test scores in reading and math, especially among at risk kids. This can vary a bit from school to school, but overall DCPS's K curriculum is more rigorous than at many charters, privates, or suburban schools, and it results in more time in seats and more worksheets, and less physical activity and free play time.

And therein lies the problem. If DCPS K curriculum looked like it did 20 or 30 years ago, the early age cutoff wouldn't be a big deal because K would look a lot more like PK and would be developmentally appropriate for the kids with summer and September birthdays who are 4 or just-turned 5. Instead they push younger kids into K classrooms and then expect them to acclimate to a developmentally inappropriate classroom environment. This not only results in some parents wanting to redshirt, it also creates more "behavioral problems" that are really just kids who are too young being expected to sit still and pay attention before they are ready.

A lot of DCPS schools also still engage in old-fashioned disciplinary methods that exacerbate this problem, like taking recess away as a punishment (idiotic, as many behavior problems in K are *caused* by lack of physical outlets and release) and using public point systems instead of group accountability (encourages comparison and shaming likely to compound behavioral issues, not solve them).

DCPS absolutely should be challenged on these policies and asked to account for the way in which they push young kids into classrooms, give them a developmentally inappropriate schedule and curriculum, and then punish them for non-compliance (at the age of 5!). It's a problem.

But these entitled Lafayette families are distracting from the real problem with this nonsense.[/quote]

I actually agree that the K curriculum in DCPS is not age appropriate, as awesome as it is that they seemed to get everyone reading by the end of the year. They hyper focus on literacy, and everything else suffers -- math, playtime, social time, projects, etc. I actually think the 1st grade curriculum is more balanced and fun.

I know many kids, mine included, for whom K was their least favorite year.[/quote]

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