Conquering Kindergarten Concerns
Can keeping a child out of kindergarten for a year truly help them succeed in the long run? Many parents have turned to academic redshirting as a means of improving their child’s potential in school and life. Academic redshirting is defined as the practice of holding back a child from entering kindergarten due to their age at the start of the school year. The debate over whether parents should redshirt their children has led to various studies looking into the long-term effects of academic redshirting. Many studies were quick short-term effects; however, in the long-term, it was harder to tell. The practice of redshirting has no significant long-term advantages for students since the academic gap between redshirted …show more content…
Parents were initially concerned with their child’s academic achievement if they were to enter school at a younger age, so the kids were held back a year. The supporters mainly agree that the practice allows children “the gift of time” (Lincove and Painter *). This extra year is meant to give kids more time to emotionally, physically, and mentally (Schanzenbach and Larson *). Although, there have been parents that confess the desire for their child to have the edge over their peers as a reason for redshirting. Some parents want their child to be ahead academically, while others may choose more superficial reasons like their child’s height (Frey). Mostly, advocates worry that younger students will suffer in the classroom due to a lack of …show more content…
An analysis of various literature concludes younger students, on average, perform slightly lower than older students, but not to a disturbing degree. On the other hand, older students perform lower on tests (Lincove and Painter *). One can see, based on the previous information, that there is an advantage for either side. Both groups have their advantages, but neither group is superior to the other. One study focused on the effects age might have on reading readiness, since reading readiness is a major indicator of how strong of a reader a child will be in the future. The study did not have a definitive answer for age on overall readiness; however, they found younger students to be adept at phonological awareness, but less so for letter-sound understanding (McNamara et al.
Can keeping a child out of kindergarten for a year truly help them succeed in the long run? Many parents have turned to academic redshirting as a means of improving their child’s potential in school and life. Academic redshirting is defined as the practice of holding back a child from entering kindergarten due to their age at the start of the school year. The debate over whether parents should redshirt their children has led to various studies looking into the long-term effects of academic redshirting. Many studies were quick short-term effects; however, in the long-term, it was harder to tell. The practice of redshirting has no significant long-term advantages for students since the academic gap between redshirted …show more content…
Parents were initially concerned with their child’s academic achievement if they were to enter school at a younger age, so the kids were held back a year. The supporters mainly agree that the practice allows children “the gift of time” (Lincove and Painter *). This extra year is meant to give kids more time to emotionally, physically, and mentally (Schanzenbach and Larson *). Although, there have been parents that confess the desire for their child to have the edge over their peers as a reason for redshirting. Some parents want their child to be ahead academically, while others may choose more superficial reasons like their child’s height (Frey). Mostly, advocates worry that younger students will suffer in the classroom due to a lack of …show more content…
An analysis of various literature concludes younger students, on average, perform slightly lower than older students, but not to a disturbing degree. On the other hand, older students perform lower on tests (Lincove and Painter *). One can see, based on the previous information, that there is an advantage for either side. Both groups have their advantages, but neither group is superior to the other. One study focused on the effects age might have on reading readiness, since reading readiness is a major indicator of how strong of a reader a child will be in the future. The study did not have a definitive answer for age on overall readiness; however, they found younger students to be adept at phonological awareness, but less so for letter-sound understanding (McNamara et al.