<p>Since OP asked for some longitudinal anecdotes, I’ll offer up the Story of S-2. Born on Dec. 31 in districts with a Jan. 1 deadline meant he’d either be the very youngest by a year, or oldest by a day, throughout his school career. The year of his brith, we lived in Canada which had public Junior (4 y.o.) Kindergarten, so if we had done it all according to policies, we’d have enrolled him in Junior Kindergarten at age THREE and a HALF, put him on a yellow schoolbus for an hour each way in the extreme cold. Mais, non. </p>
<p>Instead, I <em>forgot</em> to enrol him for Junior Kindergarten for a year. The following year, he began JK as the oldest-by-a-day. It went well. We moved districts, fortunately same deadlines applied. New principal, seeing his year of birth, wanted to skip him over Senior Kindergarten and parachute him into First Grade. </p>
<p>I had credibility to argue the decision because I was student teaching in that school. I said: “What’s the issue here? You can’t not let him go through Senior Kindergarten. He needs to cut things, and sing songs!” “But he’s bright.” “So what?” “Well we’ve met parents like you and we think you just want to make him the football captain someday.” “Really. Have you met my husband? (5’6”) and me (5’2") I don’t think we’re raising linemen here." </p>
<p>So I managed to “hold him back” myself, and he had a good Senior Kindergarten year. I also knew from the older 2 that social maturity was not among their blessings, although all 3 are very bright. I wanted the youngest to have a way to mature socially without the added pressure of being both small and youngest-by-a-year forever. For him, it was a good call. </p>
<p>As a teacher I knew that elementary school academics, and beyond, is not a matter of individual work. Much is done in teams and groups. Therefore, even bright kids who lack social and emotional maturity can have trouble getting their ideas across to other students, and find academic frustration that way. Learning in school works like a three-legged stool where cognitive, social, and emotional readiness need to all be in play for a child to be comfortable enough to thrive. Look at how desks are arranged in groups and centers. There’s not as much individual deskwork as in years past. A child who can read and calculate solo beyond his years might not be happy or completely successful in a classroom when he stumbles trying to find a friend, study-mate or science partner. There is no shame in being socially immature, either, even if one is extremely bright. It just takes time for all the pieces to fit together in the early elementary years. </p>
<p>Back to S-2, he did well being “oldest by a day” which helped compensate for his short stature. He is cute and loquacious. He never had a confidence crisis throughout middle or high school. What surprised us was he determined to graduate a year early from h.s. (in collaboration with the guidance counselor; we didn’t know until the courses had all been arranged!). He hoped to gain an extra year for a Gap Year between h.s. and college, and certainly had earned the right to that time. Unfortunately, the college that accepted him would not allow a gap year for anyone, so he had to go directly to college. Now, true to his past, he’s figured out how to graduate college in 3-and-a-half years rather than 4, saving us a semester’s tuition. Perhaps the one year of extra time to gather early social/emotional confidence helped him all through his schooling in middle, high school and college. It didn’t hurt, I know that much. </p>
<p>Dear OP, you might want to find out whether the K-1 is based upon birthdays or academic performance. In the schools I taught, they generally pegged the socially immature kids for the “one” part of the K-1 (which had some correlation to birthdays but not always). It’s possible the socalled “behavior” problems mentioned above are just that: less age-mature young kids who completed K, that the school wants to give a break and not pressure by sending them to a regular all-grade-one setting. </p>
<p>Gender is a factor because the fine motor skills of girls are about a year ahead of boys at that time of life. So if you put a boy aged 6 (born late in the year) right next to a girl age 6 (born early in the year) they are both “age 6” but she might be nearly 2 years ahead in terms of how she can write, cut, color and so on. He looks over to her work and feels…not smart. It’s not true but that’s what he feels, comparing his work product to hers. For that dynamic alone, the invention of K-1 multi-age classrooms is a blessing for some of the younger boys. </p>
<p>Often the multi-age classrooms are considered harder to teach with success AND SO a top-quality teacher is assigned to it. Another factor: if the reading program is based on small-groups with advancement at each child’s pace (for example, Guided Reading Level Books), your child will advance in reading at his own pace in either situation. If instead the entire class reads from a single collection of story-books all at the same pace (Open Court), then a bright reading child would feel more held back. If there is any history between the K-1 class versus the Grade 1 class in terms of how high a reading level was reached in the leveled books, that might tell you something. For example, if the K-1 top readers got up to Level G/H by June, but the Grade One top readers were into levels R/S, then you can assume there is some kind of ceiling on the amount of reading and intellectual level of the K-1’s. If you see no appreciable difference, then likely they really are doing it for social/emotional maturation and your child won’t be held back cognitively by having younger students occupy half the room. </p>
<p>The work should be very different between the K’s and 1’s in Math. It’s easier to gradate the reading in a multi-age classroom than the math, as long as it’s a progressive reading program that lets kids advance at their own pace (e.g., Guided Reading/Leveled Books). If there’s really a math program written for multi-age classrooms, I don’t know it, but it is needed. The mutli-age classroom teachers I saw (real aces!) made a seamless spectrum for reading K-1, but had to teach two math curricula, separating the class, and using aides. All the rest – circle time, social studies, science projects did seem to flow together nicely with both ages participating. It was the Math that was the most challenging to teach both. </p>
<p>The research can show us a great deal, but after all this I conclude this is a time when the parent actually does know the child best and should be in charge of the decision based on intuition and intimate knowledge of the child. Honestly I most admire some districts (I believe in Pacific Northwest) where they don’t have deadlines. Rather, they make a Sept. 1 cutoff, and for any child born over the summer tell the parents they can decide whether they think their child belongs as among the youngest, or wait to be among the oldest of the next year’s class. Sept 1 works better than Jan 1 for that more flexible program. </p>
<p>My conclusion, as parent and teacher: this is really the time to trust your instincts. Don’t worry about the prestige of either class, unless you find that the K-1 is really a ceiling for the less bright students. If it’s truly based on social/emotional maturity, it gives some children a chacne to grow into themselves. Be sure there’s no barrier to the better Second Grade from the K-1; ask for evidence of children who went that route.</p>