What is your school's cutoff birthday for kindergarten?

[havaneselover]

I misunderstood when you said that 19.5 in high school is ridiculous. It sounded like you meant no matter what the circumstances were.
And, thankfully, driving age here is 17, so even being an older student, there are really no freshmen driving around. lol

Sorry, I was traveling and probably worded it poorly. I know it's a very personal decision and we are all trying to do what's best for our children.

 

[CarolAnn856]

October 1 for my home district in NJ. In this state, each district sets their own date, so neighboring towns could potentially have different cut-off dates, although 10/1 seems to be fairly common.

When we used to live in Massachusetts, it was December 31st (at least it was 25 years ago), Our neighbors moved to another state (New Jersey?) where it was September 1. Their little girl, born in October, had to repeat the year.

That seems unusual and is definitely not a statewide practice. In fact, a neighbor of ours here in NJ had their son in a private kindergarten program a year earlier than the district would have allowed, but he still enrolled in 1st grade in the public school even though he was younger than he should have been. He just started college, so this was quite a while ago.

 

[mjkacmom]

October 1 for my home district in NJ. In this state, each district sets their own date, so neighboring towns could potentially have different cut-off dates, although 10/1 seems to be fairly common.



That seems unusual and is definitely not a statewide practice. In fact, a neighbor of ours here in NJ had their son in a private kindergarten program a year earlier than the district would have allowed, but he still enrolled in 1st grade in the public school even though he was younger than he should have been. He just started college, so this was quite a while ago.

That's what I was thinking. I know some parents send their kids to private kindergarten if they don't meet the cut off, and then send them to public first grade the following year.

 

[Skippy918]

That's what I was thinking. I know some parents send their kids to private kindergarten if they don't meet the cut off, and then send them to public first grade the following year.

In our area, if you do private K cause you missed the cutoff, you have to take a test to go to first. Many people just have their kids repeat K in public school. I also get the feeling is a lot of parents don't want to send their kids to college when they are still 17.

 

[mjkacmom]

In our area, if you do private K cause you missed the cutoff, you have to take a test to go to first. Many people just have their kids repeat K in public school. I also get the feeling is a lot of parents don't want to send their kids to college when they are still 17.

Not here, but usually they are kids who just missed the cut off. Most kids also attend 2 years of preschool.

 

[aprilgail]

I've worked in elementary schools for years, and I can't imagine a kindergartner asking a kid if they were left back, I don't think I've ever had a kindergartner or 1st grader in my classes even know what that means. They might be like wow, you're 7 already? Cool-I'm only 6! But that's as far as it would go.

.

Maybe not in kindergarten but they certainly know in grade school about getting left back- my friend got left back in kindergarten and was teased about it from grade school well into high school.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Ours is either this:

I believe it's September 1.

or this:

...you must be 5 on or before August 31.

I don't remember exactly which.

...My wife and I were born in the same year, me in June, her in November, so she graduated from High School and college a year after me.

That's what happened to DH and I as well. My birthday is in October, and his December of the same year. I lived in NY, where the cutoff was Jan 1st, so off I went while still 4. He lived in MA, where the cutoff was earlier, and he didn't start until the next year. So when we met in college, I was a year ahead, though only 3 months older.

September 1st. My son's b-day is Sept. 14 so when he started kinder he was the oldest in his grade. One of his classmates was born Aug. 31, she was the youngest. It was crazy, how he was almost an entire year older, but yet they were starting school at the same time.

It is crazy. DS has two neighborhood friends just on either side of our cutoff - one near the end of August and one near the beginning of September. One is in his grade, and the other had to wait. I believe the second one did have an easier start academically, but it was really rough for him socially seeing his two friends go off without him.

...I did read something about Canadian hockey players. Supposedly there was a correlation of the best players being the oldest in their youth hockey age groups.

I read that too - in Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001ANYDAO/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

It was fascinating, and similar patterns were found in academics as well. I highly recommend the book!

There's no clear remedy to the problem, he says. But he believes educators and officials should look for solutions. Figlio says one possibility may be grouping same-age students in separate classes, rather than having classes where some children can be nearly a year younger than their oldest peers. He says that in the early primary years, the cognitive and social differences between children who are nearly a year apart can be very dramatic, and teaching for each group could be tailored to their development levels.

I agree. Either that or actually have two different calendars - one starting in the fall and one in the spring, with 2 graduations, etc.

 

[mom2rtk]

Maybe not in kindergarten but they certainly know in grade school about getting left back- my friend got left back in kindergarten and was teased about it from grade school well into high school.

FWIW, patterns have changed a lot over time. I doubt it's as big a deal as it used to be, just because of the numbers and variety of reasons for holding back these days.

 

[maxaroni]

Maybe not in kindergarten but they certainly know in grade school about getting left back- my friend got left back in kindergarten and was teased about it from grade school well into high school.

I have heard about parents who have been conflicted about needing to repeat a grade, it's so much easier when it is done earlier in the years. For instance, if issues are apparent in Kindergarten, rather than pushing forward, leave back at that point. It is much easier on the student and no negative comments. As you proceed through elementary school, comments may be made by other students.

Our district has what they call "pre-first". It's a mix of kindergarten and first grade so the student has a year to either matured or grasp some things that they were struggling in, as opposed to repeating kindergarten and not all areas are an issue. Usually, by the time they get into first grade, they are on their way. Unless of course, there are more serious issues.

 

[Skippy918]

When I went to college, I was 17 for a few weeks, meanwhile several friends that I had were turning 19 that fall.

 

[Meriweather]

5 by August 31

 

[monsterkitty]

In my district you must be 5 before September 30. We started August 9 so I have a lot of 10 year-olds in my 6th grade classes right now.

About 10 years ago, the district changed the cut-off date to July 31. However, a lot of parents were upset by that so they took their children to neighboring districts. The next year we were back at Sept 30.

My youngest niece's birthday is Sept. 30, making her just eligible for kindergarten. My DH and I tried to talk our SIL out of starting her because she was not ready. She was immature, didn't know her shapes, alphabet, numbers, etc. My SIL would not listen to reason, even my sister who was an elementary principal. My niece is now a junior in college and majoring in education. Her opinion is that she wishes her mom and dad would have held her back a year. She hated being the youngest, and as she says, the dumbest because she was so clueless and immature. She really struggled and that made school not fun a lot of times.

 

[bcla]

My parents sent me to a Catholic school in part because I could enter 1st grade when I was 5. Public schools would have required I go to kindergarten or wait a year. When I transferred to a public school I could stay in the normal progression.