Seattle Schools Community Forum: On "Red-shirting" Kindergarteners

Seattle Schools Community Forum: On "Red-shirting" Kindergarteners:

On "Red-shirting" Kindergarteners

Several readers had some thoughts on this practice of holding back a child to enter kindergarten much later than at age five. 

I came across a couple of good articles on this topic I wanted to pass along.

From the Bright blog, Everything You Need to Know about "Redshirting"

Kindergarten’s role as “the new first grade” was further cemented when — beginning in the mid-1970s — many states began to raise their cutoff dates, resulting in a consistently older pool of students, and consequently raising teachers’ expectations for behavior and learning skills.

Is redshirting effective?

Researchers have found varied results. While some studies assert that younger students are more likely to underperform on standardized tests, and that older students may fare better academically or take on more leadership roles, a number of other studies have demonstrated the opposite. In 2006, one comprehensive study noted that adult students who had been 

Seattle Schools Community Forum: On "Red-shirting" Kindergarteners: