My younger DS is youngest in grade (makes the cutoff by 10 days) in a district where boys are routinely red-shirted. DS would be tiny for grade even had we red-shirted him; but he feels acutely the differences in strength and speed. On the other hand, I still feel we couldn't have held him because of academics; his placement isn't too bad (except for reading), but would have been unacceptable a year later.
My elder, youngest boy in grade and not red-shirted, is noticing the differences in size and strength as he enters middle school. Again, changing his placement a year ahead or a year back would be an unacceptably bad fit; he's asynchronous enough that it's going to be hard no matter what.
If other people didn't red-shirt their kids, my kids would in some ways fit better in the grades where they belong. Oh, well.
High-stakes testing is contributing to the red-shirting; the district is also likely to move its cutoff so that everybody in each grade is older.
DeeDee
