For example, using national data, we calculated that a summer-born boy who is in the bottom third of the national height distribution will be, on average, the fourth-shortest child in a class of 24. In terms of physical maturity, it is true that redshirting changes the child’s relative height in the kindergarten class. If the child starts kindergarten “on time,” he will be among the youngest in his grade if he is redshirted, he will be one of the oldest.Įdited by Tom Loveless and Frederick M. In particular, parents seem to wrestle most with the redshirting decision when they have a son whose fifth birthday falls just before the cutoff date for kindergarten eligibility, which is most commonly on or around September 1. The concerns that lead parents to contemplate redshirting are most often related to the child’s physical, social, and emotional maturity as the parents perceive it. Parents want what’s best for their children now and in the future, and they have to make the kindergarten-enrollment decision with limited and uncertain information. We recognize that deciding whether or not to redshirt a preschooler is difficult. On the other hand, in most instances there is a good case to be made for resisting the pressure-not only from schools but sometimes from other parents as well-and sending a child to school when he is first age-eligible. We know dozens of families who have redshirted their children and have been perfectly happy with the outcome. Notably, we find that Larson’s take on the issue, formed by 14 years of experience with preschoolers and their parents, accords perfectly with Schanzenbach’s conclusions based on academic studies: redshirting is generally not worth it.ĭespite the weightiness of the decision, rest assured that a child is likely to be successful whichever path his parents choose. How should parents decide whether they should enroll their child in kindergarten when he is first eligible or hold him back for a year? In this article, we draw upon our combined experience-Schanzenbach as an education researcher and Larson as a preschool director-to provide some practical, evidence-based advice. In other words, older children make the school’s job a little bit easier. And elementary schools may also have mixed motives: older children are easier to teach and they perform at higher levels, just by virtue of being older. After all, a preschool stands to gain financially from the practice, since the school will likely capture another year’s tuition. Preschools and elementary schools often recommend redshirting, asserting that it bestows the “gift of extra time,” but parents should take such advice with a grain of salt.
A redshirted child is a year older at kindergarten entry and thus becomes one of the oldest in his class and remains so throughout his school years, enjoying the presumed advantages of age. Their justifications parallel those of college coaches: these parents believe that their children need that extra year to develop the necessary skills and maturity to succeed in kindergarten. On the other end of the student age spectrum, many parents of preschoolers have bought into this concept, choosing to delay their child’s entry into kindergarten for a year-a practice known as academic redshirting. Redshirting gives younger athletes an additional year to develop skills and extends their playing eligibility, since colleges allow these freshmen five years to attend and compete. We see this principle applied in college athletics when coaches “redshirt” freshman athletes, allowing them to practice with the team but not play in official games. That is, the older you are in relation to your peers, the more likely you are to perform at an elite level in sports, to excel in school, and even to attend college. In his 2008 blockbuster, “Outliers ,” Malcolm Gladwell makes the case that a person’s age relative to his or her cohort is a key predictor of success.
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