Kindergarten Entry Age, Redshirting, and School Readiness

Introduction

What is the right age for a child to enter kindergarten? This paper delves into that question, examines the benefits of kindergarten attendance, reviews how entry age affects children's development, and considers whether mandatory attendance at a particular age is appropriate.

Kindergarten Entry Age and Child Development Research

Few issues are discussed more in early childhood education than the appropriate age for a child to begin kindergarten. When parents are surveyed about how ready their children are for school, they raise many questions about the need for formal schooling at such a young age. When teachers are interviewed, they identify age as an important factor "that figures prominently in definitions and beliefs about readiness for kindergarten," and they cite age as a "post hoc explanation for decisions to retain children in kindergarten" (Early Educational Development).

The publication Early Educational Development, a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, reported on a survey conducted by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development that examined the appropriate age for kindergarten entry. Nine hundred children participated in the Study of Early Child Care. The study measured children's academic achievement and socioemotional development "repeatedly" from the age of 54 months through third grade (EED).

Analysis of the research — with family background factors and "experience in child care in the first 54 months of life controlled" and "hierarchical linear modeling" applied — found that children beginning kindergarten at younger ages "had higher (estimated) scores in kindergarten on the Woodcock-Johnson Letter-Word Recognition subtest" (EED).

However, those same younger-entry children received "lower ratings from kindergarten teachers" on skills related to mathematical thinking, language, and literacy (EED). Moreover, children who entered kindergarten at older ages showed greater "increases over time on Woodcock-Johnson subtests" — including letter-word recognition, picture vocabulary, applied problems, and sentence memory. By third grade, children who started kindergarten somewhat later outperformed those who started younger in picture vocabulary and applied problems (EED).

The Early Educational Development article further notes that the age at which a child starts kindergarten functions as "an index society uses" to determine eligibility for public resources — public schools — thereby opening the door to intellectual stimulation and social growth (EED).

Older children consistently show "more advanced developmental skills than younger children," and changes in the entry age therefore affect the percentage of children who "meet certain academic or skill standards" (EED). When a sizable percentage of children excel on standardized tests, it "boosts a district's standing on certain metrics." The authors likely had in mind provisions of the No Child Left Behind legislation, which required schools to meet defined academic performance levels or risk losing federal funding.

Importantly, the EED research shows that a child's entry age — in terms of the ability to function well and grasp academic challenges — is not as strong a predictor of ultimate school success as ethnicity and socioeconomic status. In a survey referenced by the article, the proportion of academic "risk" attributed to socioeconomic and ethnicity-related factors "was 13 times greater than that attributed to entry age" (EED).

International and U.S. Age-of-Entry Policies

According to the Early Educational Development research, the age for kindergarten entry in Germany, Japan, Australia, Russia, and Switzerland is six years. In Sweden, children cannot enter kindergarten until age seven, while in England a child may begin schooling between ages four and five. In New Zealand, a child starts kindergarten on his or her fifth birthday.

In the United States, most school districts allow children to enter kindergarten at age five, although there are variations from state to state regarding the exact calendar cutoff date (EED). The Early Educational Development research also reports a growing trend among U.S. parents to delay their child's kindergarten entry "a year beyond the time the child is eligible." Approximately 10% of American parents are holding their children back by a year, particularly when the child is male (EED). This practice is called redshirting, a term borrowed from the sports world, meaning that a parent voluntarily keeps a child out of school for an additional year. Parents who redshirt tend to have children whose fifth birthdays fall "closest to the cutoff" date — for example, if the cutoff were August 1 and a child's birthday were September 30, that child would be among the youngest in the class.

Because of the emphasis on school accountability that intensified under No Child Left Behind, there has been increasing pressure on students to perform well on standardized achievement tests. The theory follows that "older children would be better prepared than younger children to get the most" out of school — and to help ensure the district continues receiving its federal funding (EED).

The justification for this theory is that kindergarten is no longer the relaxed, play-centered environment it once was. There has been an "increasingly academic curriculum" in kindergarten, making it seem logical to have children as academically prepared as possible from the start. From the perspective of less-advantaged families — particularly low-income single parents — having a child enter kindergarten at the earliest eligible age also provides access to a publicly funded form of child care.

Younger children in many such circumstances "actually tend to learn more" even though they started school at a "relative disadvantage" (EED). And as noted above, the child's entry age matters far less than socioeconomic status and ethnicity in predicting long-term academic outcomes.

Conclusion

It is clear that many parents hold their children back a year because they want their children to have the best possible chance at academic success. This paper has examined both the benefits and the drawbacks of different kindergarten entry ages. The weight of scholarship and research does lean toward the view that redshirting confers some academic advantage, at least in the early years, but in the end the decision rests with parents. The paper has also highlighted the extent to which public schools are driven by standardized testing, and how enrolling a child at age six rather than five can benefit a school district's test score metrics — even as researchers, educators, and parents continue to debate what is truly in the best interest of young children.