How old are kids when....

[athomeontheprairie]

They enroll for K in your local PS. Specifically, when is the cut off date. Here it's in August, but a friend just moved to a place where the age is Dec.

 

Just curious what is "common"

[debi21]

They must be 5 by September 1. It seems that redshirting is ok, i.e. they can be 6 but they can't be 4. I have heard it's nearly impossible to circumvent, except possibly by entering early in a private school and later transferring.

 

When I was growing up in NY so many years ago, it was either 5 by  Dec 1 or Dec 31, but somehow my mother got me in early with a January birthday. Not sure if it was different for NYC versus not, because she got me in early in NYC and then the next year we transferred to a different district.

 

 

Edited July 4, 2017 by debi21

[Arcadia]

Now it is September 1st. It was December 2nd when my kids enrolled in kindergarten here.

 

"In 2012-13 if the child’s fifth birthday is on or before Nov. 1, 2012

In 2013-14 if the child’s fifth birthday is on or before Oct. 1, 2013

In 2014-15 and subsequent years if the child’s fifth birthday is on or before September 1 of that year"

[Ivey]

Most US states, including ours, have a September 1st cut-off. 

 

In Canada (where our oldest started kindergarten), most provinces have a December 31st cut-off. 

[featherhead]

I'm in Manitoba, Canada, and we have a Dec. 31st cut-off

 

 

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[mom2scouts]

Kids have to be 5 by August 1. Even with such an early cutoff date, we still see parents redshirting kids with spring and summer birthdays. Most kids in our schools end up starting K at age 6.

 

ETA: I should add that our state's official cutoff date is September 30, but local districts can have an earlier cutoff. All of the districts in my area moved their cutoff to August 1. Someone else said that in their area, parents tried to have the youngest child in the class. Our area is the opposite. Parents redshirt for as long as possible so they can have the oldest in the class thinking that gives them the maturity advantage for both academics and sports.

Edited July 5, 2017 by mom2scouts

[zaichiki]

In my current town the cutoff is Dec. 31. Most of the towns around us are Sept.1.

Where I started school it was Dec. 31. We moved often and most of the places I lived had Sept.1st cutoffs.

[Tanaqui]

In NYC, you have to be 5 by December 31 of that year. It is the absolute latest cut-off date in the nation, and they do not allow you to either hold your child back or put them in early.

 

(Well, that's not quite true. If you enroll your child in a private preschool and a private kindergarten that have different cut-off dates, then once they have formally finished that program you can enroll them in public school at the first grade level or higher and the DoE won't say boo about the fact that they've would be in a different grade if they'd been in the public school system from the start. But that's a kludgey workaround that's only available for the relatively well-off.)

Edited July 4, 2017 by Tanaqui

[Zinnia]

September 1st.

 

Many, many redshirts, and the private schools strongly encourage redshirt for most kids after March.

[Ellie]

They enroll for K in your local PS. Specifically, when is the cut off date. Here it's in August, but a friend just moved to a place where the age is Dec.

 

Just curious what is "common"

 

In Texas, the cut-off date is September 1. So, to enter kindergarten (which is not mandatory), children must be 5 by September 1.

 

In California, it used to be December 2.

 

I think most states have more reasonable cut-off dates than December.

[theelfqueen]

September 15 in our current district

 

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[theelfqueen]

But the next district over in the same city is Oct 1.

 

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[scbusf]

In VA, the cutoff is Sept. 30. Red shirting is allowed and is fairly common.

[knitgrl]

In NY, the cutoff is Dec. 1. So dd and her cousin who are only 6 weeks apart in age are in different grades because of a late Dec. birthday.

[Farrar]

September 30. The year my children would have started kindy (I mean, they did, but at home) was the first year it was moved back from December 31 so there was a lot of wiggling on the dates in the future graduating classes of '21 and '22 - any student who was already grandfathered in by having been in public preK could keep the old date, but many families in the class above redshirted.

 

There's a lot of redshirting in the suburbs... I haven't heard that much of it here, though my perspective may be skewed.

[Earthmerlin]

MD, 9/1. If the birthdate's within 45 days of this, you can have the student tested & if s/he passes, can enter K.

Edited July 4, 2017 by Earthmerlin

[luuknam]

Here in WNY, it's Dec 1st for public school, and I've been told by the K teacher that they don't make exceptions for kids who miss the cut-off, but I haven't inquired further, since I wasn't really planning on trying to get them to take my Nov birthday kid an entire year early. The one private school we looked into here has a June 1st cut-off, and based on their website seem to be quite unwilling to budge on that especially for boys, so I didn't even look into them any further. 

 

In NL, you legally have to be 4yo to go to Pre-K. You can go 10 half days (or 5 whole days) after you're 3 years 10 months old to get used to school, and then the day you turn 4 you can go full-time, doesn't matter what month it is. When you turn 5yo school becomes mandatory. It used to be that Oct 1st was legally the cut-off date (need to be 6 on Oct 1st to enter 1st grade), though that was ended in 1986, but a lot of schools still sort of kept that rule afterward, though by now it's probably more of a mental guideline. And, since all elementary schools offer free Pre-K, and most kids will have been in school since turning 4 or since the first school year after they turn 4 (not everyone wants to put their kid in school right away if they turn 4 in, say, June), the school can kind of tell if a kid should go to K or 1st grade early or late. Sports is not a thing in school (there's PE, but no high school sports with scholarships and all that kind of stuff), and university admissions are mostly non-competitive, so there isn't much of a reason to redshirt, so redshirting is not common, but some kids do do Pre-K for over a year (because of the enroll-whenever-you-turn-4 thing).

Edited July 4, 2017 by luuknam

[mytwomonkeys]

Sept 1 where we live currently in FL. It was Sept 1 when we lived in SC. It was Dec 1 when we lived in northern CA.

[Insertcreativenamehere]

September 1

[Ellie]

In NY, the cutoff is Dec. 1. So dd and her cousin who are only 6 weeks apart in age are in different grades because of a late Dec. birthday.

 

My mother was a grade behind her best friend in high school because my mother's bday was September 18 and the cut-off was September 1. :-)

[SparklyUnicorn]

December 1st

 

 

[rebcoola]

5 by Sept 1st kids born Sept 2nd-Dec 1st may test in.  Red-shirting is common and skipping Kinder altogether is becoming more common.

[73349]

It was Dec. 31 when I enrolled in CT, Oct. 1 in PA (which is why DH and I graduated together even though he's a year older).

 

It's Aug. 31 here in NC, but I feel that it should be July 1 since year-round schools start in July if they really think everybody needs to be 5--or better, be flexible about dates, offer screening in the spring and give recommendations from K teachers. I get the sense that most June/July/August boys and a few girls are red-shirted, but haven't paid too much attention since I have a winter baby.

Edited July 4, 2017 by whitehawk

[MinivanMom]

Here you must be 5 by Aug 31st to enroll in K.

 

Gifted children who are 4 by April 16th can also apply for early entry to K. There is an application process you have to go through, and your child must be at the 98th percentile on both an IQ test and an achievement test in order to apply. I've known a number of children who did early entry as well as a number who have skipped a grade later on (typically 1st, 2nd or 8th).

 

Red-shirting is not common here. We live in an upper-class, urban area with lots of super-bright kids whose parents work in tech or teach at one of the universities. It's a status symbol to have the youngest kid, and have them achieving at the very top of the class. The few kids I've seen red-shirted have been kids in year-round elementary school who have birthdays in July or Aug, because the parents didn't want them starting kindergarten at 4. But most public schools are on a traditional schedule and red-shirting doesn't seem to happen very often at those schools.

[Butter]

Here in Texas it's September 1st.  When I started school in MD it was December 31st.  A couple decades ago they slowly moved it earlier to September 1st.  Virginia is September 30th and that's where we lived when Cameron got to kindergarten age.  His birthday is October 3rd so we went back and forth on whether to consider him starting school the year he "should" or the previous year.  We ended up going with the "right" year (so he turned 6 just over a month after he started doing kindergarten.  Turned out to be a good choice since he's got dyslexia and dysgraphia and that extra year was a good thing for him.

[Lori D.]

In our state: kids who turn age 5 before Sept. 1st of the current school year can enter kindergarten. Back when I attended public school (same state), the cut-off was Dec. 31st, so our state shifted back by 4 months somewhere along the line.

 

We attempted kinder with DS#1 at age 5 (a late spring birthday, so he had been 5yo for 3.5 months before starting kinder), but he was so physically small and emotionally young/immature that he wasn't hacking it, and the school asked us to move him back to pre-school.

 

For the past 15-20 years, schools in our state have definitely encouraged families to delay entry into kinder or to repeat kinder with students who aren't really ready, so LOTS of older (age 6) kinder students in our state, which also translates to a lot of older (age 18.5-19yo) high school graduates on the other end.

 

SO grateful, as we continued with that later age/grade into homeschooling him, which allowed DS#1 to be on his delayed emotional maturing timetable, but "advanced" academics all through the grades so that he could bloom in his own timing and experienced a lot of success, esp. in high school, instead of a lot of stress.

Edited July 4, 2017 by Lori D.

[Tumbatoo]

August 1

[emmaluv+2more]

August 1

 

This is Missouri's date as well.  It looks to be the earliest of the country? 

 

My DD's bday is July 22 and I agonized over sending her as a fresh 5 year old a couple of years ago (my kids were in a university model school that year that used the same cut off).  I sent her for 2 months and then pulled her out.  She just wasn't ready for the structure that particular K required.

[PeachyDoodle]

Used to be Oct. 16, but I believe now it's Aug. 31.

[AggieMama]

5 by Sept. 1st, but you can test in if you have a birthday before Dec. 31 I believe.

[Library Momma]

Dec 31st here.  Red shirting is not that common.  Usually people only red shirt because their children are not academically ready for school and it is recommended by their pre-school.  Kindergarten is geared towards 4 and 5 year old and the handful of 6 six year olds can really tend to stand out.  

[ReadingMama1214]

Here (CO) they have to be 5 by October 1. My dd will be a few months shy of 6 when she starts K. You can test into K to start early if you turn 5 by Dec 31. Red shirting is somewhat common but not incredibly so.

Edited July 4, 2017 by ReadingMama1214

[katilac]

5 years old by September 30. School starts mid-August. 

[heartlikealion]

Sept. and K is not mandatory in my state. Most people don't know that, I don't think. I didn't at first.

[Tanaqui]

Is there any state where kindy is mandatory?

[NoseInABook]

September 1st. It used to be December 1st but they scooched it back by a month over the last few years until it hit September 1st.

[maize]

Sept. 1st

[heartlikealion]

Is there any state where kindy is mandatory?

 

Yes. I actually thought the numbers were higher than these, though.

 

http://www.ecs.org/kindergarten-policies/

 

[Tanaqui]

Two states don't require school until age 8!?

[fralala]

Yes. I actually thought the numbers were higher than these, though.

 

http://www.ecs.org/kindergarten-policies/

 

 

That is an interesting link! Clicked through and it also clearly and concisely answers the original question for all 50 states:

 

http://ecs.force.com/mbdata/mbquestRT?rep=Kq1402

[Another Lynn]

Yes. I actually thought the numbers were higher than these, though.

 

http://www.ecs.org/kindergarten-policies/

 

 

Nice link!  I didn't know before clicking that my state is changing from an October 1 cut off to an August 1 cut off effective this school year.  I don't have anymore 5 or 6 year olds, but it's still interesting to know.  (Wonder if so many were red-shirting that they just decided to move the date.....)