http://www.ctmirror.org/story/11331/malloy-kindergarten-ageMalloy: Raise kindergarten age even without expanded pre-school
January 28, 2011
By Jacqueline Rabe
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Friday the state should move to increase the minimum age for kindergarten, without waiting until it can afford expanded pre-school for low-income students whose public education is delayed.
"I think we should be setting the age based on what we know about the likelihood of success, or increased opportunities for success, based on appropriately aged and grouping students," he said in an interview.
The proposal, made originally by former Education Commissioner Mark McQuillan, is now incorporated in proposed bills that will have a public hearing sometime in February. The idea is to narrow the age range for students in kindergarten, which now includes children from 4 to almost 7 years old.
Malloy and other education officials said such a wide developmental range makes it difficult to meet the needs of all the children in the class.
"It is extremely hard for kindergarten teachers," said Sen. Beth Bye, D-West Hartford, a longtime early childhood educator and co-chairwoman of the Higher Education Committee.
But Bye and others fear delaying the start of kindergarten could hurt children in low-income households unless the state also expands pre-school opportunities--an expensive proposition in a tight budget year.
"Until we solve where these children with low income parents will end up, I can't support changing the age," Bye said.
But Malloy said the fact that some children would start school later should not override the need to ensure that children should not be entering kindergarten before they are ready.
"I think those things should not be linked," he said. "I am a believer in universal access, which I hope will ultimately lead to a system where the state plays a role in making sure no child is denied an educational experience because of financial circumstances. But I don't think that should be tied to the age of a student when they begin kindergarten."
Connecticut currently allows students to be enrolled in kindergarten if they will turn 5 by Jan. 1 of that school year. The state Department of Education's proposal would push the cut-off date back a month at a time, until by the 2014-15 school year, children would have to turn 5 by Sept. 1 in order to enroll in kindergarten. Ultimately, the change would affect about a quarter of some 40,000 kindergarten students in the state.
<rest at link ; my comment below>
Many gifted children with birthdays between September and January are well able to start KG slightly before age 5, but their existence seems to be off the radar screen. I hope the gifted association of Connecticut will remind politicians that some children ARE ready to start KG early.
