Ongoing longitudinal study followed 110 students in western Canada from kindergarten through grade 7. In grades K-2, oral language skills were related to gender and problem behavior but not to age or school attendance. Seventh-grade achievement was related to early oral language skills and early problem behavior but not to age at school entry.…

Examines school readiness practices, along with the conceptual problems with the ways that "readiness" and "at risk" are defined. Analyzes methodological problems, delayed school entrance, and focuses on studies that examined future school retention rates, later use of special education services, and drop-out rates. Offers suggestions for best…

Fourteen sets of parents and 11 gifted students who had been accelerated (early kindergarten entrance, grade skipping, and subject skipping) were interviewed. All parents and students indicated they would make the same decision again. Administrator attitudes became more positive, but teachers perceived some student adjustment problems. (DB)

Recent emphases on school readiness and standardized testing have resulted in educational practices with negative consequences for children. These practices include a higher school entry age, grade retention, transition programs, and the practice of enrolling children in kindergarten when they are six, rather than five, years old. (BC)

This article describes one set of parents' decision to enroll their child in school early. Problems finding someone to test their child and other institutional and social obstacles are described. Tips to guide the decision-making process are offered and the parents' attitudes a year after their daughter's enrollment are presented. (PB)

Children at risk for familial dyslexia (n = 107) and their controls (n = 93) have been followed from birth to school entry in the Jyvaskyla Longitudinal study of Dyslexia (JLD) on developmental factors linked to reading and dyslexia. At the point of school entry, the majority of the at-risk children displayed decoding ability that fell at least 1…

Describes early admission as the first step in adjusting formal educational programing to meet the educational, social, and emotional needs of intellectually advanced children. Emphasizes the benefits to the child and potential benefits to society of meeting the intellectually advanced child's needs, advocating that school systems establish early…

The fundamental task in revitalizing public education and in fostering teacher professionalism means modifying the basic mandate. Trends in preschool and adult education suggest a need to extend the traditional age range downwards as well as upwards, thus lessening worry about teacher lay-off, half-empty school buildings, and school closures. (BRR)

Reviews both the technical and policy aspects of readiness testing in local school districts. Summarizes policy context, motivations behind the tests, and consequences. Discusses the types of readiness tests and developmental screening measures misused as readiness tests, along with evidence of these measures' substantive and technical validity.…

A longitudinal study of 80 toddlers, preschoolers, and kindergartners found that children who entered early in low quality care had the most difficulty with peers in preschool. Lives of parents who used low quality care were characterized by complexity and use of less appropriate socialization practices than those used by other parents. (RH)

Addresses issues in the organization and delivery of preprimary instruction: attendance, the basis for program entry, and the effects of alternative curricula and length of school day on student achievement. Limitations of existing studies are described, and the problem of the increasingly academic nature of preprimary curricula is discussed. (RH)

This study examined effects of delayed school entry on later elementary school grade retention and special education service rates. Students (n=279) who delayed school entry were most often male and were placed in special education programs in significantly higher proportions than nondelayed-entry students. No significant effect of delayed entry…

Examined the prevalence of holding age-eligible children out of kindergarten in a single northern California county, and the changes in the phenomenon over time. Found a significant decline in the frequency of holding out for both boys and girls, but that boys are held out more often than girls and that holding out is positively associated with…

Describes inadequacies of three policies intended to enhance child readiness for education: raising the age of school entry, retaining students in kindergarten, and extra-year programs. Argues that they are inconsistent with educational research and potentially harmful. Suggests the use of curriculum-based performance tests to help teachers and…

Examined the effects of age at entrance to first grade on success in elementary school, using a set of demographic, social, and early experience variables as covariates. Concluded that entrance age was a far less powerful predictor of academic achievement than were socioeconomic factors. (Author/GR)