Parents' natural concerns about children's kindergarten readiness have intensified with the trend toward a more 'academic' kindergarten. Parents are increasingly using 'academic redshirting', particularly with boys, to delay the start of kindergarten for children whose birthdays place them several months younger than others in the same grade, or who are 'immature' in some developmental areas.
Early-childhood experts have serious concerns about both trends. The National Association for Education of Young Children position statement on school readiness challenges the notions that children entering kindergarten must possess a set of individual skills to be 'ready' to enter kindergarten and that holding a child back from starting kindergarten is an effective strategy for school success. [See Where We Stand on School Readiness - NAEYC] Recent research finds that the child's individual skills and abilities, or readiness, account for less than 25% of the variance in kindergarten outcomes. [See Transition to Kindergarten - National Center on Learning Disabilities]
In their position statements on early childhood standards, curriculum, and assessment, NAEYC guides educators and policymakers to guard against early learning standards that are scaled-back versions of standards for older children. Instead, educational standards for the earliest grades should be based on research-based evidence about developmentally-appropriate practice for early learning. Yes, children should learn foundational skills for reading, math, and writing in kindergarten; but, the wide variations in development and environmental influences at this age require teaching these academic skills in environments 'in which children develop physically, socially, emotionally, and cognitively through supportive teacher-child relationships and active, meaningful, and connected learning experiences'. [See Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth through Age 8 and Where We Stand on Early Learning Standards].
As the practice of teaching in preschool and primary grades has evolved over the last decade, public schools are integrating what we know about developmentally appropriate practice and kindergarten education. In a 2000 revision of their position statement, the National Association of Early Childhood Specialists in State Departments of Education states several surprising principles for kindergarten entry and transition.
- Kindergarten teachers and administrators guard the integrity of effective, developmentally appropriate programs for young children. They do not yield to pressure for acceleration of narrowly focused skillbased curricula or the enforcement of academic standards derived without regard for what is known about young children’s development and learning.
- Children are enrolled in kindergarten based on their legal right to enter. Families are not counseled or pressured to delay entrance of their children for a year by keeping them at home or enrolling them in other programs. Rather, families are strongly encouraged to enroll age-eligible children.
- Retention is rejected as a viable option for young children. It is not perpetuated on the basis of false assumptions as to its educational benefit.
- Tests used at kindergarten entrance are valid, reliable, and helpful in initial planning and information-sharing with parents. They are not used to create barriers to school entry or to sort children into what are perceived to be homogeneous groups.
- All children are welcomed—as they are—into heterogeneous kindergarten settings. They are not segregated into extra-year programs prior to or following regular kindergarten. Source: Still Unacceptable Trends in Kindergarten Entry and Placement - NAECS/SDE
In every grade, some children will be younger than others and the differences those months make are more pronounced in the early grades. Over time, the wide variations in abilities and experiences seen in kindergarten-age children become more even. Generally, children who may be immature in kindergarten tend to catch up to their age-level peers. Rather than encouraging younger children to wait for kindergarten, schools should adapt their kindergarten curriculum and practices to the wide variations we know exist in kindergarten-age children. School readiness for kindergarteners is just as important as child readiness for kindergarten.
