While states have developed policies around a cut-off date for kindergarten entrance, some parents chose to have their child enter kindergarten before this date (Early Entrance) as an acceleration technique, or hold the child back from entering, a practice termed Redshirting, to allow for greater maturity and increased achievement in relation to…

In the United States, when a child turns five years of age, he or she is eligible to enroll and attend five-year old kindergarten. Parents and caregivers are often tasked with making the decision on whether or not to enroll their child when eligible to attend kindergarten or if the child should be held back another year (redshirted) and attend…

This paper argues that play should be central to children's lives throughout early childhood, including their time in school. First, it charts the history of early childhood education in Scotland through four stages: (1) pioneer of kindergarten; (2) early adopter of formal education; (3) promise of a recalibration through Curriculum for…

The authors examined long-term outcomes for children who experienced delayed entry to kindergarten or kindergarten retention. They used a cohort of 6,841 students to compare these groups to each other and typically progressing peers. First, the authors compared the groups on demographic and early childhood variables. For the long-term school-based…

This study aimed to investigate the effects of kindergarten enrollment age on four-year-old Chinese children's early cognition and problem behavior using multilevel models. The sample comprised of 1,391 pre-school children (the mean age is 4.58 years old) from 74 kindergartens in six different provinces. The results demonstrated curvilinear…

This study was an examination of the effect of delayed, early, and on-time kindergarten enrollment on children's kindergarten mathematics achievement. Central for this study was to explore if the relationship between the kindergarten enrollment status and mathematics achievement varies by children's gender, race, and family SES status. It used a…

This brief report provides a demographic profile of the students who attended kindergarten in the United States in the 2010-11 school year using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 (ECLS-K:2011). The ECLS-K:2011 cohort includes students in public and private schools across the United States, students who…

The authors investigated whether age at kindergarten entry was associated with early literacy achievement gaps and if these gaps persisted over time. Using the kindergarten age eligibility cutoff date, they created 2 groups of students who represented the oldest and youngest children in a cohort of students in high-poverty, low-performing schools.…

The current study examined whether the parental practice of delayed kindergarten entrance, also known as academic red-shirting, was associated with gains in academic achievement among children with learning disabilities. Results indicate no significant differences in the academic achievement among children with learning disabilities who were…

Screening programs are now widely used with children who are age-eligible for school entry. Screening is used to identify children who may be at risk of future difficulty in school (e.g., inability to meet academic expectations) and those who may have special needs in learning (e.g., extraordinary abilities and talents or handicapping conditions).…

Much interest exists among parents and researchers regarding the benefits and drawbacks of delaying kindergarten entrance to acquire academic advantage ("redshirting"). How evident is this assumed advantage at the kindergarten level and beyond? The authors evaluated large-scale test data from Grades K-8 to investigate the difference in performance…

Provides rationales based on current research for extending the length of kindergarten school day and for lowering entrance age to four years. Considers a variety of environmental and educational factors. A holistic view of these educational changes is suggested so that the long-range impact on the child, the school, and the elementary school…

If present trends in family life and education continue into the next decade, most children under five will spend substantial proportions of their early years in various types of early childhood programs, most five- to six-year-olds will attend all-day kindergarten, and during their elementary school years they will spend much of their time before…

In view of the importance of literacy learning, this paper defines emergent literacy and explores how researchers and teachers define it in the 1990s. The paper also attempts to answer the following questions: (1) What is the best way to teach literacy to young children? (2) Is there a correct way to teach it? (3) What does the research say…

Using a subsample of data relating to 4,668 first- and second-graders and their families from the 1991 National Household Education Survey, a study examined different ways of measuring whether a child is behind in grade and compared these measures with data about children who are below modal grade levels. Several profiles emerged. Children delayed…