Lauren Dean of
Poughkeepsie was taken by surprise this past May during a meeting with her son
Noah’s preschool teachers about his recent evaluations. While he was
age-eligible to enter kindergarten in the coming fall, it was suggested that Dean
consider postponing it another year. Redshirting her son (as this academic practice
is called) had never even crossed her mind, but now she had a decision to make.
Noah would
turn 5 years old after kindergarten began, but before the New York State cutoff
date of December 1. Children with birthdays in this range can enter elementary
school at age 4 and are on the younger end of the class. Many parents with
children in this situation are opting instead to postpone entrance to kindergarten
a year, resulting in the students being close to 6 years old when they enter school.
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“For a child
to be truly ready for kindergarten, she is required to engage in a complicated
dance between the acquisition of social and emotional, physical, cognitive and
language skills,” says Dr. Lindsey Russo, an assistant professor of early childhood
education at SUNY New Paltz with 15 years experience as a preschool educator. “The
experience can be compared to a jigsaw puzzle where all the pieces must fit
neatly together — and this happens at different times for different children.”
Maturity and social skills
Saugerties
mom Marissa Siracusano chose to hold back her son Tyler, whose birthday is in
October. “I felt academically my son would have been OK, but as far as maturity
he needed the extra time.”
Maturity is
a significant factor for parents making this decision. They wonder if their
child will be able to handle the behavior that will be asked of them in the
classroom — staying seated, keeping quiet during lessons, focusing on
schoolwork. Tyler just started kindergarten this fall and Siracusano says she is
glad she waited that extra year.
For Dean,
this was the chief concern regarding Noah. “His
teachers said that it wasn’t about his level of learning; that he was smart and
already knew a lot for his age. They told me his biggest hurdle was he
was immature.”
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Why is it called
“redshirting”?
The term “redshirting” is borrowed from collegiate sports. According to
Webster’s Dictionary, a “redshirt” is a “college athlete who is kept out of
varsity competition for a year in order to extend eligibility.” They spend
their first year on the team solely developing their skills, then the next four
competing.
‘Fall babies’
Tanya Daw,
who has been teaching kindergarten in the Kingston City School District for 13
years, says “fall babies” can usually be picked out during the first semester
of school. “The 4-year-olds are quietly looking around trying to figure out
what is going on and how everyone else seems to get it.”
Kindergarteners
are often expected to be on their best behavior for about seven hours,
including bus time. “It’s like a seven-hour soccer game in which it’s expected
that that there will be no whining, resting, lap time, parent check in,
silliness on the field, fooling around on the sidelines, and not have their
attention wander off the game and their coaches the entire time,” says Daw, who
believes that in most instances this is a developmentally inappropriate feat to
ask of any 4-year-old.
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According to
Dr. Russo, “When younger children are given an additional year to work on
social skills before entering kindergarten, they do so with greater confidence,
self-esteem, an ability to focus and a readiness to learn.”
Academic readiness
Another
factor in the decision to redshirt is the academic readiness of the child. This
is a more important consideration for parents than it was a decade or two ago
as standards for kindergarten continue to rise. The No Child Left Behind Act of
2001 resulted in increased standardization and expectations in kindergarten, and
now the newly-implemented Common Core Standards Initiative is raising the bar
once again.
“In the ‘new
kindergarten,’ academics have replaced dramatic play, socialization and outdoor
curricula,” explains Dr. Russo. “This lack of attention to the fostering of
social skills and the increased focus on the development of academic skills
represents an enormous paradigm shift in the traditional purpose of the
kindergarten year.”
Daw agrees.
“Young kindergarten kids do not have all the different skills they need to be
successful in today’s kindergarten. I am not sure they did even in the more
developmentally-appropriate kindergarten of 10 to 15 years ago.”
Preschool can help
Whether or
not the child has attended preschool can have a significant impact in this
area.
“Children
who start out in Early Intervention, or go to preschool prior to kindergarten,
are much more ready to meet the academic and social or emotional demands of
kindergarten than those who do not,” says Shamien Jansen, a 7th grade educator
from Port Ewen.
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Jessica
Jackson of Ulster Park sent her daughter Abagael to kindergarten at the age of
4 and now wishes she had done things differently. “I didn't realize
as a first-time parent what was expected of a child in kindergarten. I believe
her not having been to preschool had a lot to do with it.”
Dr. Russo also points out, however, that children
with late birthdays who are at an appropriate developmental level cognitively
may be bored or under-challenged if held back purely because of their age.
Every child needs to be evaluated on an individual basis.
Colleen
Mulready from Esopus made the decision to send her 4-year-old son, Desmond, to
kindergarten last year. “We felt he would be bored and unhappy as it was clear
that academically and socially he was ready for the challenges of kindergarten.”
Mulready
says they also considered the results of his kindergarten screening to make
their decision. Now they cannot imagine having done things differently. “By
October, he was flourishing in his classroom and had an amazing kindergarten
year. I like the idea that he may be challenged in these early years, as
opposed to being bored because he is older and more advanced than his peers.”
Financial constraints
For parents
who have trouble affording childcare or preschool for their child, redshirting
can be an even more difficult choice to make. Universal Pre-Kindergarten and
Head Start are programs that can help offset costs for preschoolers, but are
not available to students who are school-aged. However, the Department of
Social Services offers childcare assistance to families who meet the state’s
low-income guidelines and need childcare to work or to look for work.
Eligibility is granted on a case-by-case basis and is an option worth looking
into for those who are held back by finances.
Special needs considerations
Parents of
children with special needs also have more to consider in this decision. Beth
Zeman, a mother of three from Monroe, sent her 4-year-old daughter Sarah to
kindergarten this year. Sarah has Down’s syndrome, which meant that for her,
redshirting could have resulted in a lack of necessary services.
According to
Dr. Russo, one concern with parents redshirting their children is that some may
do so under the assumption that the student is not developmentally mature
enough, when in fact they may be in need of special education services. This is
one reason why it’s important to seek professional opinions and collect all the
information you can about your child before making a choice.
After much
reflection, Lauren Dean and her fiancé made the decision to give Noah one more
year in preschool before entering kindergarten. Asking for input in an online
forum with other parents who had been through a similar experience was the
turning point for her. “I feel optimistic that
the extra year to brush up on his fundamentals and learn patience and
self-control will make kindergarten and beyond a little easier on him — and on
me and his Dad.”
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Tips for making the decision
Gather all the advice you can from people who know your child well, (ie. teachers, caregivers, pediatrician, family, etc.)
Don’t be afraid to ask questions.
Talk to your child and listen to their feelings about the decision.
Trust that as parents, you know your child best.
Remember that your child is unique and what’s best for other children may not be best for yours.
How can you help prepare
your child now?
Dr. Lindsay Russo offers advice that you can implement now to help your preschool-aged
child be successful when kindergarten time comes.
Arrange playdates for your
child, especially with a diverse group of children.
Play outdoors. Outdoor play
helps children develop independence and self-coping skills.
Present your child with experiences in as
many diverse social situations and environments as possible.
Give your child
opportunities to direct their own play to establish independence.
Teach your child how to learn by asking questions,
experimenting, and using resources available to them to find answers.
Advice from a kindergarten
teacher:
Kindergarten
teacher Tanya Daw offers this advice is for all parents of kindergarteners for the
first few months of the school year. For young kindergarteners, it should
extend to the spring:
Cancel all after-school activities. Your
student has spent seven hours giving their best. They do not need to work
overtime!
Push up the bedtime. If it was 8 p.m., then
make it 7:30. Kindergarten is draining!
Give them quiet time in their room or
someplace quiet right after school. They need some time to regroup.
Please don’t interrogate them about their
day. The information will come when they have finished processing it. Family
dinners and/or bedtime seems to be the best opportunities for information
dumping.
Sarah Coppola is a wife, mom of two, and a Hudson Valley native who
lives in Port Ewen. She can also be found writing at her website
FamilyFriendlyHudsonValley.com.