Anonymous wrote:"Redshirting is not a new phenomenon — in fact, the percentage of redshirted children has held relatively steady since education scholars started tracking the practice in the 1980s. Studies by the National Center for Education Statistics in the 1990s show that delayed-entry children made up somewhere between 6 and 9 percent of all kindergartners"

http://www.groundworkohio.org/files/National%20news/5.03.07%20NYtimes%20Kindergarten%20age.pdf

Recently, redshirting has become a particular
concern, because in certain affluent communities the numbers of kindergartners coming to
school a year later are three or four times the national average. “Do you know what the
number is in my district?” Representative Folwell, from a middle-class part of WinstonSalem, N.C., asked me. “Twenty-six percent.” In one kindergarten I visited in Los Altos, Calif.
— average home price, $1 million — about one-quarter of the kids had been electively held
back as well. Fred Morrison, a developmental psychologist at the University of Michigan who
has studied the impact of falling on one side or the other of the birthday cutoff, sees the
endless “graying of kindergarten,” as it’s sometimes called, as coming from a parental
obsession not with their children’s academic accomplishment but with their social maturity



It doesn't seem like you read the article. This is what came next in the article. If it is 3 -4x the national average in affluent communities, that would be 18-36% , about what others have cited. There are also quotes about how younger kids don't do as well as the oldest ones if they are not ready. If you are going to post an article, at least be more honest about the contents. Also the article is from 2007 which is 4 years ago. A lifetime in educational research.

I just want to say that I am very proud to announce that my August 14 birthday BOY will start school ON TIME next year, that is to say he will be in K as a just-turned 5 year old. And this is at a top private school. Flame away.

So the opposite of made-up "statistics" is anecdote?

Anonymous wrote:To answer your questions probably 20% of kids are redshirted. This is just a guess and I'm sure this will spark a lot of comments. Here is my take on the % by gender and by birthdate. I was surprised to see Feb birthday kids repeating, redshirted, or given a transitioning year - whatever you want to call it.

Summer Birthday Boys - 75% Redshirted
Summer Birthday Girls -25% Redshirted
Spring Birthday Boys - 40% Redshirted
Spring Birthday Girls - 1% Redshirted
Other Birthday Boys - 15% Redshirted
Other Birthday Girls - 1%

I just want to say that I am very proud to announce that my August 14 birthday BOY will start school ON TIME next year, that is to say he will be in K as a just-turned 5 year old. And this is at a top private school. Flame away.

"Redshirting is not a new phenomenon — in fact, the percentage of redshirted children has held relatively steady since education scholars started tracking the practice in the 1980s. Studies by the National Center for Education Statistics in the 1990s show that delayed-entry children made up somewhere between 6 and 9 percent of all kindergartners"

http://www.groundworkohio.org/files/National%20news/5.03.07%20NYtimes%20Kindergarten%20age.pdf

I just want to say, I am really new to this forum and was settling down to read the responses to an interesting question (to me) and BAMM - what the heck, OP was slammed all over the place. It is a shame how people act when they are "anonymous". One can only hope their manners are better in "real life". Seriously, she asked a simple question.

To answer your questions probably 20% of kids are redshirted. This is just a guess and I'm sure this will spark a lot of comments. Here is my take on the % by gender and by birthdate. I was surprised to see Feb birthday kids repeating, redshirted, or given a transitioning year - whatever you want to call it.

Summer Birthday Boys - 75% Redshirted
Summer Birthday Girls -25% Redshirted
Spring Birthday Boys - 40% Redshirted
Spring Birthday Girls - 1% Redshirted
Other Birthday Boys - 15% Redshirted
Other Birthday Girls - 1%

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP:

There is a very long thread in the Private Schools Forum. Every angle is covered and people's positions on redshirting are all over the map. Check it out and you will likely get some insight into the "redshirting game."

Not that pp has a bias or anything.

I am the PP that you are quoting. I guess my use of the term "redshirting game" threw you of, huh? LOL!!! You would be surprised to know that I am the proud parent of a redshirt (diagnosed development issues).

Anonymous wrote:OP:

There is a very long thread in the Private Schools Forum. Every angle is covered and people's positions on redshirting are all over the map. Check it out and you will likely get some insight into the "redshirting game."

Not that pp has a bias or anything.

OP:

There is a very long thread in the Private Schools Forum. Every angle is covered and people's positions on redshirting are all over the map. Check it out and you will likely get some insight into the "redshirting game."

OP, please check out:
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/104450.page and you will see 52 pages of current commentary on this issue.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious: did your search not turn up the 58 page parallel thread and numerous others regarding redshirting?

what is with the perponderance of obnoxious replies to well-intentioned questions? this is like the "were you asleep during your home inspection?" retort on another thread. are people out there so frustrated with their own lives and choices that they get themselves SO worked up that they have to be nasty on message boards? would it kill you to ignore the post if you're uninterested? alternatively, you could suggest, politely and helpfully, that this has been covered elsewhere and it might be useful to read those threads. mind your manners!

I can't take seriously any poster who can't find the shift key to capitalize the first letter of each sentence.

Anonymous wrote:Just curious: did your search not turn up the 58 page parallel thread and numerous others regarding redshirting?

what is with the perponderance of obnoxious replies to well-intentioned questions? this is like the "were you asleep during your home inspection?" retort on another thread. are people out there so frustrated with their own lives and choices that they get themselves SO worked up that they have to be nasty on message boards? would it kill you to ignore the post if you're uninterested? alternatively, you could suggest, politely and helpfully, that this has been covered elsewhere and it might be useful to read those threads. mind your manners!

I think this may be the kid-pushed-from-the-monkey bars poster looking for a new game.

Just curious: did your search not turn up the 58 page parallel thread and numerous others regarding redshirting?

I met someone recently who held child out of kindergarten for convenience...preschool had longer days and fewer random days off. I totally got that argument b/c I too work full time. But then again, I was thinking that was an odd reason to keep a kid from starting school. She will start K next year.

Here are my questions: I understand the advantage argument and the "not ready" argument but I wonder, do many redshirt for convenience?

Here's another thing: I learned to read when I was 4 at a private K (as did most of the others). WHen I started 1st, two of my K friends and I were all reading and in the advanced group. Wouldn't a "held back for convenience or advantage" kid feel a little weird that there were these younger kids doing the same or even better?

Research shows that kids who are big for age are judged inferior intellectually IQ held constant. Does this worry the redshirters for convenience or advantage?

ANd, final question: How much of this goes on? Is it 10%, 5, 25?

Just curious. I'd personally do it if my kids was not ready but probably not for sport advantage or convenience.