7-17-06 Does It Pay to Hold a Child Back?

Does It Pay to Hold a Child Back?

Q. They call it "academic redshirting," but in the olden days, it was called "holding a child back" from kindergarten. Parents of boys tended to do it for sports reasons, or if they felt their child wasn't mature enough for school. But is it a good idea on down the road?

�� Probably not. Many parents and educators swear by the practice of "academic redshirting" � waiting an extra year before enrolling a child in kindergarten in hopes of giving the kid more confidence, greater size or perhaps an academic edge.

�� But new research � including a U.S. Department of Education study of 21,000 youngsters released in May � suggests that the benefits are a mixed bag, both academically and socially. As often happens with education techniques, redshirting appears to help some, harm others, or have no effect at all. And within a few years, the net effect becomes moot anyway.
�� The term "redshirting" comes from athletics, in which some new college freshmen are kept out of competition for a year to give them time to physically mature. How common is it? Recent national studies estimate that 6% to 9% of children eligible for kindergarten are redshirted each year. In some private schools and public-school districts, especially in wealthier suburbs, as many as 50% of kids are held back an extra year before starting kindergarten.
�� The practice may develop more leadership and confidence in some children, but others may suffer academic consequences. The federal study looked at the first-grade academic skills of boys and girls who entered kindergarten in 1998. It found that the children who had been redshirted had lower math knowledge and skills than first-graders who started kindergarten on time.
�� According to Elizabeth Graue, professor of curriculum and instruction at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, an expert on redshirting, the practice can backfire, despite the best intentions of parents.

�� Other studies found that children who have been held back may develop more behavior problems by the middle-school years, apparently because they feel alienated from their peer group. Redshirting also is associated with a higher incidence of special ed on down the road. As for the teacher's point of view, the practice contributes to the range of diversity within a classroom, while many teachers say they are nearly overwhelmed with the difficulty of meeting children's needs because of that increasing diversity.
�� Repeating kindergarten, the federal study also found, was an even more harmful practice. By the time they reached first grade, kids who had repeated kindergarten appeared less likely to possess specific math skills than the typical first-grader. In addition, they were less likely to have developed reading skills, such as understanding words in context.
�� It could be that if a child had trouble mastering a subject the first time around, teaching the child with the same technique won't help much a year later.
�� Other studies have looked at the possible long-term influence of redshirting. A 2003 review of studies on redshirting by Hermine H. Marshall, an emerita professor at San Francisco State University, found that the effects of delaying kindergarten disappeared later on in grade school.
�� By about third grade, she reported, both positive and negative consequences tended to peter out.

�� Bottom line: don't delay kindergarten entry just because your child has a summer birthday. Discuss your child's readiness for kindergarten with preschool teachers. Find out what you may need to do in the summer to develop your child's academic skills, ability to follow directions and sit still, and so forth. Find out how many children will be in the kindergarten class - the smaller, the better. Above all, be positive and encouraging, and your child will flourish.

Homework: See http://www.kidsource.com/education/red.shirting.html