10/8 B-day - Want to Know More About Assessment to Start Kindergarten

Updated on August 19, 2014
J.P. asks from Colorado Springs, CO
6 answers

I'd like to know more about the process to have my child assessed to start kindergarten in 2016 (when she will be 5 for most of the school year) rather than 2017 (when she will be 6). She goes to a learning-based daycare/preschool now. She is in a class that is 3 levels ahead of her age (Preschool 1 rather than Early Preschool 1). Since she started there a year ago, she has been moved up every few months, even though they strongly favor keeping kids in the same class all year. The director told me they would have put her even one level above that (Preschool 2), and only held her back because of her birthday--they felt holding her back would give her more flexibility later in terms of when she starts Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten because she can only take VPK once. These are not the only reasons I'm considering appealing the cutoff date for her, there are so many, but I'll spare you all my "mom bragging."

So, I'd like to know more about the kindergarten assessment process so that my husband and I can make an informed choice, when the time comes, about having her assessed. If she truly isn't ready for kindergarten in 2016, great, she'll be ready the next year. And if she is, I'd like to know that we're prepared to advocate for her. Either way, I just want to be able to look back and know that we were able to provide her with the best option available to her.

Have you gone through this process with your child? What do I need to know? Any unexpected hurdles you ran into? Anything you wish you had known sooner?

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So What Happened?

To clarify, the cutoff for her is Sept 1 so if we do nothing, she will be 5 for 6 weeks and then be 6 for the rest of the year. This is so much more personal to us because my husband skipped first grade. He never regretted being the youngest in his class and never felt awkward or immature in relation to the other kids. He did, however, feel bored and unchallenged early on, which led to a lifelong perception that he never really had to try because he was smarter than everyone else. Wow did that catch up to him, but not until his junior and senior year of college! He is a fantastic, intelligent adult with a challenging, well paying job, but how different his life could have been if he had been challenged from the start. I don't want that, and there's only so much I as a parent can do if my daughter spends 8 hours a day bored. Not saying that WILL happen, but I'd like to be prepared. My daughter is more mature than older kids she plays with. Beginning at 18 months, her teachers remarked how empathetic she is, and how rare that is at that age. I'm not a "sit back, see what happens and deal with the fallout" type of person in any area of my life.

It is good to know that children do level out. I think I read on a similar post on these boards that children level out by 2nd-3rd grade. I'm not talking about making decisions here--I'm talking about wanting to know what process I can go through to prepare. Sure she's not her dad, but she is demonstrating intelligence, maturity and the ability to relate well with other kids. I want to find out if there is a way to have her assessed when she is 4 so that we know exactly what we are dealing with and can be more objective. I have heard stories of others doing it and starting their kids "early" in kindergarten, and want to know how. Is that a thing that exists or just legend?

But, I also found out that she CAN take VPK twice, so we're considering that as another option. I found a really interesting preschool program in our area that might be fun for a year.

More Answers

C.C.

answers from San Francisco on

So your daughter is currently 3? I'd just put this out of your mind for at least another year. Have her do Pre-K in a year, and at the end of that year, see where she is in terms of Kindergarten readiness. There's no reason to get too far out in front of this decision now. Unless something goes incredibly wrong in the next two years, she will be fine going into Kindergarten at 5 (or almost 5, since she has an October birthday).

Honestly, all of the hand-wringing that people go through with regard to starting their kids in K is baffling to me. One of my kids was almost 5 starting K (mid-September birthday), and the other had just turned 4 (mid-June birthday) and both of them have done absolutely fine in their academic careers so far (they're both in middle school now).

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T.S.

answers from San Francisco on

I don't know how it works in FL but in CA public schools you must be five by a certain date or else they don't accept you, period.
So look into FL laws for that information.
Some parents decide to WAIT until their kids are older, for various reasons, which may or may not be a good idea.
And please don't think that just because she is advanced NOW means anything. Young children develop at wildly different paces, but by about age 8 or so it kind of all evens out. Kind of like how some kids get really tall at 12 and others don't grow until they reach 16.
Remember, cognitive development is only one indication of school success and readiness, there is also the physical, social and emotional aspect as well.
Even a kid who can come in reading and writing like a ten year old won't succeed and/or be happy in school until she can function competently in all four of these areas.
Academics are just 25% of the equation.

1 mom found this helpful
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J.K.

answers from Wausau on

This is your first or only child, isn't it? :-)

Basically if your kid is 5 before the cut-off date, they go to kindergarten.. It is very uncomplicated and simple.

If your child had medical and/or special educational needs, then there might need to be an assessment.

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G.B.

answers from Oklahoma City on

Start your child in kindergarten when she is 5 years old. Kids are supposed to be 5 years old then turn 6 during the year.

If you think she's not smart enough to pass kindergarten go ahead and put her in at age 5, then she can just take it again.

But regardless, she should be 5 years old to start kindergarten.

She would be 5 then have her birthday in October and turn 6. That's the right thing to do because that's the way it's set up.

Otherwise she's going to be way older than the other kids in her class and she won't have anything in common socially with them.

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J.O.

answers from Detroit on

I don't know. I'd never start K before the child is 6. They expect too much. Academics doesn't have anything to do with it, really. The child is simply missing out on what he/she needs most from childhood, to succeed later. Play and exploration. I don't like the idea of school for a 5-year-old at all. Preschool, though (play-based) I am all for starting at 2 or 3!

Mine started K at 5 and I regret it every day. It's like the new first grade.

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C.S.

answers from Miami on

The assessment process is for those who make the age cut off but are not ready.

You are asking for her to start kindergarten in public school without making the age cut off. There is no provision for that in Florida. You can find a private kindergarten to take her and then figure out what to do for first grade. She will be fine. You can ask to have her tested as soon as she starts kindergarten if you think she qualifies for gifted or ESE.

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