Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy No early entrance K = Discrimination

So I have just found out that there is a very limited Early Entrance Kindergarten criteria that ends on Sept.14. Anyone born after that has no option for Early Entrance K. That seems like it is discrimination? Anyone tried to fight this in their district? Also, unless your child was schooled outside of the state, they have to be 6 to enter first grade even if they did K in a private school. I am thinking of trying to fight it. Any suggestions resources etc? I have no idea if my little one will be ready at that time but she sure seems like she might be.

Before DD6 started K, she did outside testing and I asked for subject acceleration in math and reading. She's now in 1st and doing subject acceleration with 2nd grade for math and reading. It's been a good short term solution for us since there is an accelerated magnet program that starts in 3rd grade.

Tamara Fisher has some good blogs on this subject:
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/unwrapping_the_gifted/2010/07/abandoning_age-tracking.html

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/unwrapping_the_gifted/2010/09/what_matters_most.html

It's not discrimination (although it may be suboptimal, or just plain stupid). Does your school district ever skip students? Are you saying that in your district, even if they do sometimes skip, they force everyone to go through the initial grade (K or 1st)?

Though I live in Texas, a state that leaves it up to the districts, I have seen some of the districts take this approach. They will not allow early entrance to Kindergarten and no amount of tests will change their mind. And for the 1st grade requirement: our state is the same way. Only if the child comes from outside the state. BUT I do know that this does not mean that the child will not be able to advance to 1st grade when they enter Kindergarten. One friend of mine plans to send her DD to public school and her DD missed the cut off date by 2 days. She is a smart, mature little girl and was clearly ready for Kindergarten this year but the district will not even consider allowing her. They will, however, test her during the first 2 weeks of school (next year) to determine if she needs to skip to 1st grade.

So even though your state has the same 1st grade rules that ours does they might also allow for acceleration, bypassing Kindergarten.

Hi I called it discrimination because it is basing educational success on a physical characteristic that the child has no choice about. AS far as the skipping I think that depends on the school and other things that I do not know much about. My older daughter has a friend who skipped K. However if my little one skips K then that deprives her of an experience. There seems also a question on if it is better to skip K or 1st. It also puts the burden on me to educate my child in the social arena necessary for first grade. Not that I am not willing to do whatever it takes it just seems points that could be used to change the district policy. I know there was a woman in VT. who was trying to change the policy but I do not know how to contact her. The woman in the office said it had to do with funding from the State.

Here they would not let DS skip INTO Kindergarten, but they let him skip OVER it into first grade, so he had two years of preschool and then first grade.

I wouldn't worry about missing out on the experience of Kindergarten--but then, I myself didn't go to anything before first grade! They didn't have preschool back then, and my mom said I already knew anything that they might teach in Kindergarten, so she didn't send me. I don't think it scarred me for life or anything.

Good luck!

Looking into it more, I found this:
http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-09-30/news/24106416_1_governor-signs-bill-kindergarten-cutoff-date

Seems like a false economy to me. They might save $700M in year one, but it's not like those kids with Sept-Nov birthdates will never go to school. They'll just go next year, and the savings will eventually disappear. And half of those "savings" will go to pre-K programs which we won't be able to fund as a result.

As for the discrimination question, I have a cynical view: our education system (especially the public system) treats education like an industrial commodity. The students are the widgets, and the test scores are QA. If a widget passes, it passes, and no further attention is required. Anything that doesn't fit in the molding machine isn't really wanted.

Val

I don't disagree that it's discriminatory, but discrimination is perfectly legal, so long as it's not based on status as member of a protected class. And the class of "advanced 4yos" is not protected.

FWIW, minimum age at entry to both K and 1st is set by law in our state (at 5yo and 6yo by 9/1, respectively). So no early entry to K, or skips to 1st, but you can skip to 2nd at any age, assuming sufficient academic ability.

Your DD is 2, or close to it, right? So she would have made the 12/2 cutoff, but won't make the 9/1 cutoff in 2012? Given that your older DD is highly accelerated, I'd suspect that K is likely to be as bad a fit for the younger at 4 as at 5. Would working with her at home for that year, and enrolling her as a 1st or 2nd grader be a possibility to consider?

I disagree that it is discriminatory. The problem here, as I understand it, is that the OP would like her advanced child to be treated differently, not that her child is being treated differently.

Hi Flower, I am curious how you found out, neighbor chit-chat, school district web-site or calling your local elem.? You can get many different answers depending on the source. Even calling one school and then another! If you've only tried one source I would keep asking/looking around.

Hi everyone. I went to the elementary school department and met with the director. She happens to be the old principal of our neighborhood school and I had major run ins with her until I moved my older daughter to another school. I am sure she was delighted to tell me that I once again could not get what I wanted.

As far as the discrimination I was looking at it through the lens of resource access and denial being based on a false criteria. I do not know what it would take to fight the system and I know there are a few lawyers on this board. I believe Lucounu you are a lawyer so you may understand the whole discrimination aspect better than I. I don't have the money to pay someone. I was hoping to find a lawyer who worked specifically on discrimination issues and was part of a grassroots or non-profit agency that would be willing to look at the situation. Maybe its a crazy idea. Opps the baby wants me got to run.

I agree with lucounu. I don't think that you will be able to argue discrimination. If they have a bright line rule that they apply the same to everyone, I don't think that you have a legal argument.

Can you show harm or potential harm via the denial?

uhm.... harm... I don't know about that one. It seems that maybe easy for us all to show (except the home-schoolers)! Smile.... Does anyone remember where the information about the woman in VT who is trying to change the VT policy came from. I can't remember if it was on this board or somewhere else that I read it.

I'm going to agree that this is not a matter of illegal discrimination. It is absolutely within the state government's purview to determine the age of the students it serves in public schools. As you have a few years yet, if you want to pursue it, I'd suggest talking to state legislators about providing an exception for gifted kids.

Thank you everyone for your replies. The teacher Tamara Fisher was interesting to read. I think those same remarks are in one of the books, maybe Genuis Denied. I can't remember. The lack of sleep of little ones just does in my memory. As far as widgets, its a cheap factory that allows even those widgets that don't fit the mold but made it through somehow as theirs to sell with no profit sharing! I feel motivated to do something but not sure just what yet..... Thanks for the support.

The Google query "site:davidsongifted.org/bb/ubbthreads.php vermont" found this...

http://giftedissues.davidsongifted....7569/Changes_to_kindergarten_age_ru.html

... as well as some links to a kick-ass sounding program called NAPS. Maybe you can get your little one in there someday, and she can learn about Intelligent Design and solid rocket boosters and stuff.

Thanks for the link... I think from the link and a little research I may have tracked her down.. I'll have to wait and see.

This is how it is in our district. I live in GA. There was NO way around the K rule for DS6.5 (December birthday), but as soon as he was in K he was tested and moved to 1st.

Val this was my response when trying to get DS into K early... the birthday rule is ridiculous in my opinion, as it saves NO money in the end. I just don't get where the benefit is from not using the calendar year.

In our district the cutoff is Sept 1, but school starts in early Aug. How does making the cutoff in September make sense?

Yeah its crazy. They even have the hour dictated on the policy here. Midnight on Sept. 15 and you are no longer eligible, but 11.59 Sept 14 and you are....

One of the comments on Unwrapping the Gifted was from a teacher who called it the "Nookie Method."

Not sure where the op is located but in Texas there is a way to get around the No early entrance to K. You can enroll your child into Texas Tech ISD. They will accept any age into any grade level. I have heard of many parents enrolling their child into this program and then the following year having their child transferred into 1st grade. This was a transfer from one public school to another.

Just start asking around and you usually can find a loophole within the system.

Kathy-TEXAS