According to this website, https://www.cga.ct.gov/2000/rpt/2000-R-1188.htm, most states require a child to turn 5 before October in order to start Kindergarten. However, every time I see a redshirting discussion, the majority of the people commenting claim to live in districts with cutoffs in October or later, even though that’s not the majority of states. Is there a reason for this? What’s the cutoff in your district and if it’s after September, what percent of October children are held back?
Our state cutoff is September, but I have an October child. The fact that she was one of the oldest ones in her class helped through about second grade. After that, they leveled off. Now, as a high-schooler, there is no difference. Even though she is now 16, her school requires students to be juniors to get a parking permit, so even being one of the first to drive isn’t an advantage.
I don’t have a problem with redshirting per se, but I think states need to determine the overall readiness of a child rather than just age to get a better perspective on serving their needs. Then it wouldn’t matter when the birthdays are.
When we lived in MA each school district set their own cut off. In our town you needed to be age 5 by September 1 but the next town over you needed to be age 5 by December 31st. In my online moms group for kids born in November it was a about a 50/50 split.
I didn’t know it could vary by district. I thought it was done by the state education departments for public school.
NY has a December 1 cut off, which I feel is very late as schools typically start just after Labor Day.
Edited to answer the last question. I don’t know what percentage red shirt, but I don’t think it’s very high. Anectdotally, it’s primarily teachers who red shirt their own kids as they have seen too many negatives in younger children starting early. Particularly those November birthdays.
We live in NY. Our district cut off is December 1st. Your child has to turn 5 before Dec 1st of the academic year they start kindergarten. My D has a Nov birthday and she is an entire year younger than those in her grade.
My kids started school in CT - the cutoff is 12/31. My youngest is an October birthday and it is NOW that it concerns me. We moved to a state where Sept 1 is the cut off and she is in school with her peers sometimes being 2 years older than she is because despite the earlier cut off there is still red-shirting
I live in NJ. Each school district (ie, each town) decides its own cutoff, but for most towns, it’s October 1. The decision to hold back is completely up to the parents. Girls are rarely held back; it’s usually the boys who are held out. Parents make the decision based on academic and social readiness (ie, can their child sit through a full day kindergarten program?). My school district encourages everyone to start on time (ie, they do not endorse holding kids out a year) and say the kindergarten teachers are able to accommodate all children, but as kindergarten is not required in NJ, they cannot force a parent to enroll their child.
I live in NYS. Districts can set their own cut off dates. I know this because our cut off date is12/31. This was true when my son, born 10/2001, was starting kindergarten and was probably true when the report was written in 2000.
So, first, the report is 17 years old and may be out of date.
Second, at least as to NYS, the report is likely incorrect. I would not rely on it.
Third, the majority of states do not necessarily represent the majority of people. As of the 2010 census, the 3 most populous states (California, Texas and New York) represented more than 25% of the population and the ten most populous states represented more than half the population.
My kids were in a class where almost everyone was older. Only 6 were actually redshirted (all boys, for each it was the correct decision) but out of 48 kids, about 20 had fall birthdays. The official cut off was Sept 15. Those 20 plus the 6 redshirts made for a very old class. I think there were about 6 girls with summer birthdays and two, including my daughter with fall birthdays who had started K at 4 years old.
My daughter was the youngest in the class with a Dec birthday and many in the class were 18 months older than her. If I had it all to do again, she would have repeated K.
Our cut-off is Sept 1. I have a son with a late Sept. birthday and a son with a mid-May birthday both started K the year they were able but several people questioned my starting the May child and not red-shirting him. Both boys attended school with many red-shirted boys (not as common for girls I guess) but it honestly didn’t seem to help them academically or athletically.
We are in Alabama. Our cut-off is September 1. My 15 year old son has a mid September birthday, so he was almost 6 when he started kindergarten. It worked out well for him.
Our Ohio district is Oct 1. My late summer kid went at almost-5 and was always among the youngest. Now that she’s in college on the east coast there are many more around her age (the cutoff in, say, NYC, being Jan 1 she’s closer to the middle).
Anecdotally it seems boys stay back more than girls do, in our area. My S was right in the middle, I didn’t hold him. Most do it for maturity reasons related to K, but a few do it for sports. Which I always thought was an odd reason.
I think our cutoff is around the first day of school, late August. I do know its before my brother’s birthday in early September. My brother did 1st grade in a private school at the correct age then did it again in a public school as the oldest in his class. My birthday is in december but I kinda did the same thing: I did 1st grade a year early at the private school then repeated it at the public school. Both of us would be fine academically not doing first grade twice but it was for more of the social aspects since I was very antisocial and my brother was very clingy. We both skipped kindergraden though bc my mom didnt like that kindergraden was only half-day in the public schools at the time, and she wanted us to do Montisori which wasnt offered for kindergarden near us. I think is easier to get into the public montissori program as a first grader too, bc its a competitive lottery system for families with most of the slots for 1st graders.
I think it worked out well for both of us to be on the older side of our class maturity wise. Its funny though bc there are kids my brothers age in 9th grade (a year early) while he just started 7th grade (a year late).
We have seen similar in our area districts. Cutoff’s are Sept 1 or Oct 1, but boys with birthdays between May 1 through summer tend to start the following year (not all). My son and other boys with spring birthdays tend to be the youngest. Responses I have heard revolve around social aspects (maturity), size, and one parent told me everyone else is doing it so didn’t want their child to be behinds others. I don’t know of any girls.
http://ecs.force.com/mbdata/mbquestRT?rep=Kq1402 lists age cutoff dates for kindergarten enrollment in each state. Note that some states give the decision on age cutoff dates to the local districts.
Our NJ district is October 15. My son was a June baby - in hindsight holding him back would have been better for him, not just for maturity but because the grade behind him was almost half the size. Class sizes throughout elementary school were smaller for that next class.
In NYC the cut off is 12/31 but in our town its 11/14.
"We have seen similar in our area districts. Cutoff’s are Sept 1 or Oct 1, but boys with birthdays between May 1 through summer tend to start the following year (not all). My son and other boys with spring birthdays tend to be the youngest. "
In my area I see the same exact thing. It is vary rare to see a summer or late spring birthday boy. Some girls are held back but I’d estimate it is 1 girl for every 8-10 boys, of the parents’ doing. My son was often the youngest or one of the youngest in his classes because of this.
Our town has a strict Sept. 1 cutoff. Other towns around us vary, with cutoffs as late as Dec 31.
OP links to a dated table. Here’s a more recent one: https://nces.ed.gov/programs/statereform/tab5_3.asp