Kindergarten Redshirting

As I was browsing through my favorite educational blog, Cult of Pedagogy, I came across this segment called, "Kindergarten Redshirting." I have never heard of this term before, but I quickly understood what the post was about-- holding students back a year before letting them go to kindergarten. This is called "academic redshirting." The term originates from college athletics, where coaches delay some athletes' playing on a team until their sophomore year, when they are called "redshirt freshman" and have better-developed skills. The thinking in kindergarten is that this delay will allow the child to grow physically, cognitively, and emotionally, making their eventual kindergarten experience more successful.

Over the years, I have noticed an increase of parents opting to "redshirt" their child from kindergarten. Jennifer Gonzalez asks this question: How do kids who were "academically redshirted" feel later down the line in life? I am intrigued by her findings because I have a late summer birthday, however my parents decided to send me to kindergarten the year I turned 5. On the other hand, my brother also has a late summer birthday and my parents decided to "academically redshirt" him even though he was ready according to his preschool teachers.

Gonzalez interviewed Dr. Suzanne Jones who wrote her dissertation called Academic Redshirting: Perceived Life Satisfaction of Adolescent Males. Jones found in result of her study, on the Life Satisfaction Scale, redshirted students showed significantly higher levels of life satisfaction than those who had not been redshirted. From my perspective, I hated being the youngest in my class until I graduated from college.

However, for a kindergarten teacher this is totally different. Redshirting can make teaching kindergarten much more challenging. “An entire year difference between five and six is enormous in terms of developmental education aspects,” Jones says. This can make it more difficult for teachers to meet all students’ needs. One challenge for teachers is determining the difference between maturity and ability. “They’re confusing the two,” Jones says of some teachers, who might assume a more mature student has more ability than one who is simply young. “Often they streamline students into groups and they treat students as if they are at a certain level. Students pick up on this. It’s all based on really more maturity, not ability.”

I'm excited to see your thoughts on "kindergarten redshirting." Comment below.