Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of this is inaccurate info! The system WILL allow you to redshirt. Sign your kid up for PreK3, a window will come up that says “your child is eligible for PreK 3, do you still want to do PreK 4?” Click yes and it will allow you to lottery. Of course then the school/principal will still have to allow it, but the system does let you.

Um, except this example is backwards. OP is asking about registering for PK3 when her child is eligible to do PK4, not the reverse. I'm not convinced this is accurate advice - I've never heard of anyone doing this.

PP just got th example wrong. It won’t let you apply for PK4 if you have a PK3 bday bday. If you are eligible for PK4 and you want to apply for PK3, it will let you do so.

OP, call my school DC if you have questions. There is a lot of misinformation on this thread.

Anonymous wrote:I don't think the lottery software will let you enter her in PreK 3. I think you should call My School and see what your options are, if any.

Yes, it will. You can’t pull your child into a higher grade, but the software will allow you to redshirt.

There are other threads about it... you can sign a child up for preK3 even if they are eligible for PreK 4. You fill in your kids birthday and the grade you want to enroll them in. A window will pop up saying your child is eligible for the next grade, but if you just click continue or ok, it will still let you in the lottery for the grade you want. Many principals are ok with this, but some are not, so even if you lottery in, the school still may not allow it.

Anonymous wrote:All of this is inaccurate info! The system WILL allow you to redshirt. Sign your kid up for PreK3, a window will come up that says “your child is eligible for PreK 3, do you still want to do PreK 4?” Click yes and it will allow you to lottery. Of course then the school/principal will still have to allow it, but the system does let you.

Um, except this example is backwards. OP is asking about registering for PK3 when her child is eligible to do PK4, not the reverse. I'm not convinced this is accurate advice - I've never heard of anyone doing this.

This isn't a discussion of WHETHER one should redshirt, it's a discussion of whether one CAN redshirt, in the context of DCPS/DCPCS.

If you don't have relevant info, STFU!

My husband was always the youngest and hated it. I think I heard of many other people that hated being the youngest. Never heard of anyone that hated being the oldest. My DD is within a week from the cutoff and we decided to redshirt her. She is not small and very social, but she did not speak English and even after 1 .5 years her English is still not as good as her classmates. So far i am happy with my decision, I hope I won’t Regret it...

Anonymous wrote:I have an early October birthday and was always the youngest at school. I think it’s such an advantage to be with kids that are slightly older. Unless your child appears to have some sort of learning disability, I wouldn’t hold him/her back. Why not give him/her a chance? If they truly need to stay back a year, the school/teachers will tell you.

And what will you do then? Retain them, if they even let you? Or just suffer knowing you should have waited. I am genuinely glad for you that being the youngest worked out, and agree it can have it’s benefits, but the “wait and see” method usually ends horribly in education. All of this is pointless anyway, OP decided what she wanted to do and was only asking about how to do it, not if she should do it. The End.

Anonymous wrote:I have an early October birthday and was always the youngest at school. I think it’s such an advantage to be with kids that are slightly older. Unless your child appears to have some sort of learning disability, I wouldn’t hold him/her back. Why not give him/her a chance? If they truly need to stay back a year, the school/teachers will tell you.

Same for me. I have an early Oct. birthday so was always one of the youngest, but it was a non-issue. I think I would’ve been bored if I were held back. I did well in school and had a Ph.D. by my mid-20s. Obviously anecdotal, but my read of the data is that findings on redshirting are mixed. I would very much want my own child to be challenged rather than coast through if held back.

My child has an end of summer birthday, so is also one of the youngest, but is doing fairly well. I think a lot of the impetus for redshirting quite honestly comes from parents wanting their child to be top of their class academically, athletically, socially, etc., so it is used as a strategy to position their kids accordingly. Yes, there are legitimate reasons for holding kids back, but in this area I think a lot of it can be attributed to competitive impulses on the part of many parents, hence the increased rates of redshirting in private school settings and WOTP.

I have an early October birthday and was always the youngest at school. I think it’s such an advantage to be with kids that are slightly older. Unless your child appears to have some sort of learning disability, I wouldn’t hold him/her back. Why not give him/her a chance? If they truly need to stay back a year, the school/teachers will tell you.

Anonymous wrote:I think "the system" in any district should allow for September and October birthdays to have a choice of when they want to enter. Set it up as a given to begin with. Or whatever the month before and after the cut off date is. I would also include August since that is usually when the first day of school is.

Perhaps you should apply for the chancellor’s job next time it is open.

I think "the system" in any district should allow for September and October birthdays to have a choice of when they want to enter. Set it up as a given to begin with. Or whatever the month before and after the cut off date is. I would also include August since that is usually when the first day of school is.

Anonymous wrote:OP, I suggest that you lottery for PK4. I think that's the only thing the system will let you do. If your kid has been in a 3-year-old preschool program this year, she will likely do well in a PK4 class. If, at the middle/end of her PK4 year, you still have concerns about maturity and kindergarten readiness, talk to the leadership of the school and try to work out a plan for her to repeat PK4. This has happened at our charter. However, if she is meeting milestones (social, educational, class participation, etc), your preference may not be the final word on the issue. The school would need to agree that repeating the year is in everyone's best interest.

As an aside, absent other issues, your kid's size is not a good reason to redshirt. There are bigger and smaller kids at every grade in every school.

All of this is inaccurate info! The system WILL allow you to redshirt. Sign your kid up for PreK3, a window will come up that says “your child is eligible for PreK 3, do you still want to do PreK 4?” Click yes and it will allow you to lottery. Of course then the school/principal will still have to allow it, but the system does let you.

Don’t listen to these random posters who say “I enrolled my August/September kid and it’s fine.” What is fine? Why do they think their experience and yours will be the same? The “correct grade” is arbitrary as all states have different cutoffs and OSSE even says that kindergartens need to be 5 by the start of school, but with the current DCPS cutoff, late August kids and September kids would still be 4.