Anonymous wrote:I think it’s crazy you’d be pushing for this. The test (…and the cut-off) exist for a reason. You say you’re “shocked” she didn’t pass the exam and this is “heartbreaking for her continuing education” … respectfully, you need to chill out a lot or you’re going to drive yourself - and everyone else around you - nuts.

Other states have September 30th dates, some have November 15, October, they states leave it up to school districts or towns. The dates are completely arbitrary. I guess OP will have to wait but there are plenty of kids, mostly girls, starting kindergarten at 4 years old. It’s hardly shocking to want to appeal a child who misses it by two weeks.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone successfully appealed the MCPS early entrance into kindergarten assessment exam to get your child into kindergarten?

MCPS has an age cutoff for 5-years old by September 1, but will test kids that turn 5 between September 2nd to October 15th. My daughter will turn 5 on September 15th, two weeks after the cutoff. She has been in the school aged room of her daycare for about six-months because they thought she was ready to move up. We were all shocked when we found out she didn’t pass the exam. She is social-emotionally mature, can independently complete multi-step directions, passed the mathematics and letter naming parts of the early entrance exam, but did not pass the reading/writing part. Has anyone successfully appealed MCPS to get your child into kindergarten? What supporting documentation did you submit? Are there any buzzwords/phases that are helpful to use? Is it worth mentioning her older sibling already attends the school? Any help is greatly appreciated! My daughter is ready to start school and these technicalities are heartbreaking for her continued education.

The test expects the child to already know how to read practically which is stupid. No actual kindergartener could pass the test. And they make it impossible to contact anyone and I am almost 100% positive that the email that they send you too is bullshit

The point of the test is not to find kids who theoretically could handle kindergarten a bit early if given the chance. The point is to identify the very small number of kids who are so advanced that their learning will be actively harmed by being forced to wait another year. Thus, it measures mastery of end of kindergarten objectives. They don't care about what statutory age kindergarteners can or can't do. The point is to identify the extreme outliers, not the "kind of bright." Many parents don't seem to get this.

This. A girl in my DC’s pre-K class missed the cutoff by 2 days and by all accounts she knew her letter sounds, etc. better than my DC and many of the other kids in the class. But she wasn’t actually reading yet so didn’t pass the test.

I don’t see what is so bad about waiting another year. My daughter can read above first grade curriculum standards but I’m thankful for the additional year we have in preschool. We’re using that to ensure she is the top student in her grade when she does finally start.

You cannot ensure any such thing. There is a moderate statistical advantage, but no guarantee.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone successfully appealed the MCPS early entrance into kindergarten assessment exam to get your child into kindergarten?

MCPS has an age cutoff for 5-years old by September 1, but will test kids that turn 5 between September 2nd to October 15th. My daughter will turn 5 on September 15th, two weeks after the cutoff. She has been in the school aged room of her daycare for about six-months because they thought she was ready to move up. We were all shocked when we found out she didn’t pass the exam. She is social-emotionally mature, can independently complete multi-step directions, passed the mathematics and letter naming parts of the early entrance exam, but did not pass the reading/writing part. Has anyone successfully appealed MCPS to get your child into kindergarten? What supporting documentation did you submit? Are there any buzzwords/phases that are helpful to use? Is it worth mentioning her older sibling already attends the school? Any help is greatly appreciated! My daughter is ready to start school and these technicalities are heartbreaking for her continued education.

The test expects the child to already know how to read practically which is stupid. No actual kindergartener could pass the test. And they make it impossible to contact anyone and I am almost 100% positive that the email that they send you too is bullshit

The point of the test is not to find kids who theoretically could handle kindergarten a bit early if given the chance. The point is to identify the very small number of kids who are so advanced that their learning will be actively harmed by being forced to wait another year. Thus, it measures mastery of end of kindergarten objectives. They don't care about what statutory age kindergarteners can or can't do. The point is to identify the extreme outliers, not the "kind of bright." Many parents don't seem to get this.

This. A girl in my DC’s pre-K class missed the cutoff by 2 days and by all accounts she knew her letter sounds, etc. better than my DC and many of the other kids in the class. But she wasn’t actually reading yet so didn’t pass the test.

I don’t see what is so bad about waiting another year. My daughter can read above first grade curriculum standards but I’m thankful for the additional year we have in preschool. We’re using that to ensure she is the top student in her grade when she does finally start.

No, you really don’t want that. It comes with its own significant problems.

I think every family should decide for their individual child, who has their own unique combination of strengths and weaknesses whether to start early, late, or on time. In many cases, there may not be a right or wrong answer, seeing as any option, while beneficial in some aspects, may create challenges in others.

Being too far ahead of their peers creates its own difficulties. It can lead to boredom, dissatisfaction with learning, alienation and resentment from peers, even difficulty in arranging the higher level classes they may need at some point. My child was the top student academically in their class, although they had other challenges. Life would have been so much easier if they hadn’t been so far ahead. They played with numbers like they were just another toy. I tried to hold them back from learning to read, but gave up when they started sounding out words. They had an insatiable curiosity. I still remember dragging them from the library with more books than they could carry, promising to return for more books whenever they wanted, and their eyes shining as they explained, “but Mommy, there’s so much to learn”. By the start of third grade, they were shutting down. They had lost all enthusiasm for anything related to school or learning. To compound it, there was a truly horrendous bullying problem at the school and they made a convenient target (after they switched schools in fourth, we heard from other parents that the bullies moved on to other victims). I was actually beginning to fear that if we didn’t turn things around that DC might be suicidal as a teenager, if not before. Obviously, my child’s case isn’t typical, and I’m certainly not saying that academic excellence leads to tragedy. While I think you should encourage your child’s interests, recognize that being one of the better students is sometimes better than being the best.

I highly recommend you focus less on accelerating your daughter and focus more on enrichment. Introduce her to a wide variety of experiences. Talk about other countries, appreciate the wonder of nature, go on little field trips, see shows and performances, do science activities at home, play games, do crafts, cook together, read together, etc. At this age, they are sponges and everything is a learning experience. Their brains are busy growing neurons, and the more context they have about their world, the more it will help them later in many ways, including academics. They also need balance - time to socialize, time to challenge themselves, physically and burn off excess energy, time to be silly, and sometimes even time to just veg out.

Here’s a post that I read about how one parent uses cooking as a teaching method. I wished at the time that my kids were still young enough to incorporate these ideas. While I had cooked with my kids, I had not given them this type of comprehensive experience. Poster 08/04/2020 11:44

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/15/901600.page#17790406

Here’s a website that explores all assets of giftedness. You might find it helpful as your child gets older.
https://www.hoagiesgifted.org/
They have links to websites offering enrichment for all different subjects and ages. While most lean towards school-aged kids, here is their page for younger kids:
https://www.hoagiesgifted.org/young_kids.htm

Enjoy this time together. It goes by far too quickly.

It’s worth noting that, if a child's birthday falls between Sept. 1 to October 15, MCPS standard for testing into kindergarten is that the child must "demonstrate above average performance and development.":

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/dtecps/earlychildhood/early-entrance/

Meanwhile, there is no standard for children whose birthday falls before Sept 1.

This creates a situation where an average performing child with a birthday on Sept. 2 and years of preschool is not admitted to kindergarten, and below average child with no preschool experience who's birthday falls on Aug 30 is admitted to preschool.

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, never mind what everyone saying “she didn’t pass, she isn’t ready, period” says. You know your daughter and they don’t. You see her growth and abilities every day. There is a lot of knowledge that standardized tests are an inaccurate measure of one’s abilities. If you feel it’s worth the fight, then fight it. Not everyone views holding a child back to have everything come easy to then the best option for their child. Some people want their child to have the opportunity to be challenged and learn to face difficulties and learn how to solve them because that’s how real life works. No one child is a statistic, some kids do amazing with a little push, some don’t. I’m facing a lot of the same backlash and I’m still fighting for my child who has completed pre-k already.

Excuse my typing error. Standardized tests are not an accurate measure *

Honestly, never mind what everyone saying “she didn’t pass, she isn’t ready, period” says. You know your daughter and they don’t. You see her growth and abilities every day. There is a lot of knowledge that standardized tests are an inaccurate measure of one’s abilities. If you feel it’s worth the fight, then fight it. Not everyone views holding a child back to have everything come easy to then the best option for their child. Some people want their child to have the opportunity to be challenged and learn to face difficulties and learn how to solve them because that’s how real life works. No one child is a statistic, some kids do amazing with a little push, some don’t. I’m facing a lot of the same backlash and I’m still fighting for my child who has completed pre-k already.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone successfully appealed the MCPS early entrance into kindergarten assessment exam to get your child into kindergarten?

MCPS has an age cutoff for 5-years old by September 1, but will test kids that turn 5 between September 2nd to October 15th. My daughter will turn 5 on September 15th, two weeks after the cutoff. She has been in the school aged room of her daycare for about six-months because they thought she was ready to move up. We were all shocked when we found out she didn’t pass the exam. She is social-emotionally mature, can independently complete multi-step directions, passed the mathematics and letter naming parts of the early entrance exam, but did not pass the reading/writing part. Has anyone successfully appealed MCPS to get your child into kindergarten? What supporting documentation did you submit? Are there any buzzwords/phases that are helpful to use? Is it worth mentioning her older sibling already attends the school? Any help is greatly appreciated! My daughter is ready to start school and these technicalities are heartbreaking for her continued education.

The test expects the child to already know how to read practically which is stupid. No actual kindergartener could pass the test. And they make it impossible to contact anyone and I am almost 100% positive that the email that they send you too is bullshit

The point of the test is not to find kids who theoretically could handle kindergarten a bit early if given the chance. The point is to identify the very small number of kids who are so advanced that their learning will be actively harmed by being forced to wait another year. Thus, it measures mastery of end of kindergarten objectives. They don't care about what statutory age kindergarteners can or can't do. The point is to identify the extreme outliers, not the "kind of bright." Many parents don't seem to get this.

This. A girl in my DC’s pre-K class missed the cutoff by 2 days and by all accounts she knew her letter sounds, etc. better than my DC and many of the other kids in the class. But she wasn’t actually reading yet so didn’t pass the test.

I don’t see what is so bad about waiting another year. My daughter can read above first grade curriculum standards but I’m thankful for the additional year we have in preschool. We’re using that to ensure she is the top student in her grade when she does finally start.

She still might not be the top student. My son didn't start reading until 1st grade, but once it clicked he was in the top reading group, indistinguishable from the early readers (and ahead of some, who only read early because they were in overly academic preschools).

My early September girl started K in Virginia a week or so before she turned 5. We didn’t redshirt for several reasons (none of which related to daycare tuition, as the daycare schedule was 10x easier than school).

One of the BIG reasons was all of her friends were going into K, and she would have been crushed to be left behind and would have thought it was because we thought she wasn’t ready. So I’m sympathetic to OP and her daughter.

That being said, socially and emotionally, she struggles. It’s getting better in upper elementary, and her age might be irrelevant, and I don’t regret having her start at almost 5, but I think it would have been fine if she started a year later, provided she knew that at the start of preK.

I’d say consider a private hybrid/early K program if you can find one that works for you. Somewhere other than her current preschool/daycare so she doesn’t feel like she got left behind.

Move to Fairfax County. The cutoff is September 30. Hurry, first day of school is August 19.

My sister started MCPS back when the cutoff was Dec 1st; her birthday is Nov 28 and she was meeting all standards to start K but she was shy and my parents weren't sure if she was ready (of course, nowadays having a 4 year old with a late Nov birthday start K sounds insane).

When asking whether to redshirt her, her pre-K teacher said "I've never had a family on the cusp who regretted waiting." They did redshirt her and it was fine.

Spend the year focusing on enrichment and have her start when she's 5.

It doesn’t really matter OP. Let it go. She won’t be bored. In fact, you may be very glad come middle school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone successfully appealed the MCPS early entrance into kindergarten assessment exam to get your child into kindergarten?

MCPS has an age cutoff for 5-years old by September 1, but will test kids that turn 5 between September 2nd to October 15th. My daughter will turn 5 on September 15th, two weeks after the cutoff. She has been in the school aged room of her daycare for about six-months because they thought she was ready to move up. We were all shocked when we found out she didn’t pass the exam. She is social-emotionally mature, can independently complete multi-step directions, passed the mathematics and letter naming parts of the early entrance exam, but did not pass the reading/writing part. Has anyone successfully appealed MCPS to get your child into kindergarten? What supporting documentation did you submit? Are there any buzzwords/phases that are helpful to use? Is it worth mentioning her older sibling already attends the school? Any help is greatly appreciated! My daughter is ready to start school and these technicalities are heartbreaking for her continued education.

The test expects the child to already know how to read practically which is stupid. No actual kindergartener could pass the test. And they make it impossible to contact anyone and I am almost 100% positive that the email that they send you too is bullshit

The point of the test is not to find kids who theoretically could handle kindergarten a bit early if given the chance. The point is to identify the very small number of kids who are so advanced that their learning will be actively harmed by being forced to wait another year. Thus, it measures mastery of end of kindergarten objectives. They don't care about what statutory age kindergarteners can or can't do. The point is to identify the extreme outliers, not the "kind of bright." Many parents don't seem to get this.

This. A girl in my DC’s pre-K class missed the cutoff by 2 days and by all accounts she knew her letter sounds, etc. better than my DC and many of the other kids in the class. But she wasn’t actually reading yet so didn’t pass the test.

I don’t see what is so bad about waiting another year. My daughter can read above first grade curriculum standards but I’m thankful for the additional year we have in preschool. We’re using that to ensure she is the top student in her grade when she does finally start.