now spring and even late winter) birthdays wait a year before starting
Kindergarten.
I am trying to find information on the high school and middle school
performance of kids who enrolled in Kindergarten "on time," turning 6
during the school year or summer after Kindergarten, compared with those
who waited and turned 7 during the Kindergarten school year.
I have read a lot of articles and statistics about the benefits and
concerns with this trend, but most of the information about later
performance deals with kids who are from underperforming public schools,
economically disadvantaged families, etc. I am looking at the current
trend of parents who can afford to keep their kids out of school for
another year. These parents aren't necessarily delaying Kindergarten
because their kids are not ready; they often see an opportunity for the
child to be the oldest and perhaps to excel in the classroom. It is also
viewed as a way for kids to have better social skills when they enter
schoool. In the past the trend was for boys with summer birthdays to wait.
Now, it seems, even girls with summer or late spring birthdays are waiting
a year. Is this broader range of ages having an effect on classroom
dynamics in the early elementary grades?
I am also interested in how programs have adapted to such trends (there
was a Newsweek article last year about Kindergarten being the "new 1st
grade"). Are programs becoming more rigorous to accomodate the older
children, making it harder for the younger kids to keep up? What about
when these older kids are in middle school? Is there a difference between
the older kids and their classmates? Are the older kids still performing
better, do they have higher confidence levels, etc. than their peers?
I'm not sure that there has been much research on this, so I doubt there
are any real statistics. I'm interested in personal antecdotes, opinions,
any information that might be out there.
Also, do any elementary schools have policies/statements about when it's
best for a child to start Kindergarten? I know that most independent
schools keep their listed enroll dates in line with whatever the state
public school requirements are (anywhere from 6 by December of
Kindergarten to 6 by June before the start of Kindergarten). Are there
any schools that make recommendations that kids start later?
Thanks so much for any information you can provide!
Karen Padilla
Middle School Librarian
Baylor School
Chattanooga, TN
karen_padilla@baylorschool.org
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