To Delay K or Not to Delay K

Three of my four children have summer birthdays. When it came time to apply to kindergarten, I had to decide for each of them whether I thought they would be ready for the pressures and expectations of a Kindergarten classroom, almost immediately after turning 5 years old. In each of these situations, I tried to rely on existing research to guide my decision. Heavily influenced by Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, I thought there would surely be no harm in delaying kindergarten: it could provide my kids academic, social, and behavioral benefits (not to mention the potential athletic benefits if they chose to go that path). However, the more digging I did, the more I learned that the research is not as black and white as I initially thought. 

So, if you find yourself with a child born in July or August, here are some things you can ask yourself to help guide the decision:

• Does your child have any extenuating circumstances? If your child has access to early intervention services that they would no longer receive when they enter kindergarten, you could have an example of a compelling reason to delay kindergarten. Conversely, if your child would only begin receiving special education services upon enrolling in kindergarten, it could be beneficial to send your child to Kindergarten as soon as possible. 
• Would giving them a leg up academically benefit them? I know this question seems like an easy one: yes! But, kids can benefit from academic struggle or challenge. Education researchers call this “productive struggle” which can lead to better retention of information and better conceptual understanding. If delaying your child’s entry into kindergarten creates a significant gap between the other children and them, wherein the academics in kindergarten are too easy for your child, they don’t learn the skills necessary to manage challenging academic tasks with perseverance.
• What is your specific kindergarten like? While there are, of course, state standards guiding what’s happening in kindergarten, the reality between schools can be markedly different. Many schools offer only half day kindergarten, while others have full day. In some states, kindergarten completion isn’t even a requirement, and students can legally begin school in first grade. Beyond that, what’s happening in kindergarten classrooms varies greatly, too. I’ve been in some kindergarten classrooms where students are independently copying sentences from the board, while in other classrooms, the students are still learning their individual letters. Because kindergartens usually pool students together from various pre-kindergarten placements but all from one local area, kindergartens usually reflect the community that the school is situated in. This means that some kindergarten classrooms are a lot more like first grade classrooms, while others are a lot more similar to preK classrooms. There are certainly arguments to be made about the age appropriateness of either approach, but regardless, knowing the approach within the kindergarten to which you’re sending your child is very important in determining whether or not you feel comfortable sending your young child there.
• Can you financially afford to delay kindergarten and, if so, do you feel comfortable using your privilege that way? There is usually an associated cost of delaying kindergarten, and that’s the cost of another year of preK or care for the child. The overwhelming majority of people who choose to delay kindergarten are white and upper middle class. If those are demographics you fall into, you have to consider if you’re comfortable using your privilege to give your child a leg up, given that they likely already have a leg up due to their race and family socioeconomic status. 

• What skills does your child have? When I was making this decision, I reached out to some elementary school teacher-friends, asking them the most important indicators of kindergarten readiness. Their answers surprised me – they said nothing about what the kids knew academically, and instead focused on social emotional skills. Can they follow directions? Do they know how to ask for help? Can they separate from you at the beginning of the day? Do they get along with peers? Those teachers can teach kids across academic levels – it’s their job to make up any gaps – but those social emotional skills can sometimes make or break a child’s year as they transition to kindergarten. 

Ultimately, I chose to send two of my summer birthday kids to school as young 5 year olds, and I chose to give one of them an extra year of preK, sending him at age 6. There were different circumstances in each of their cases that made me feel confident in the decision we made for each of them. The tough thing to grapple with if you’re in the position to make this decision is that there is no right or wrong answer. It’s far more important to think through the ways we can support our children when they transition to kindergarten, than to determine the exact right time.

If you’re interested in reading more about the benefits and disadvantages of delaying kindergarten, here’s a good research summary: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-much-does-it-benefit-a-child-to-delay-kindergarten-entry-for-a-year/