I don't understand the perspective that if a child is born for example August 15th is held back for a September 1 cutoff that people think they should not qualify for GT programs.
I didn't see the 60 minutes segment, but I think what the posters above are saying is they think kids are being redshirted who really wouldn't make the GT cutoff if they were in their age-appropriate grade, but parents hold them back thinking they will have higher academic achievement simply because they are older. I'll be honest - it doesn't make sense to me that that would happen! And maybe it doesn't happen in all school districts, but most of the G/T programs I've heard of have *some* component of ability testing required for elementary, which if it's a true ability test you can't prep for it and it's normed by age not grade - so kids who aren't meant to be G/T aren't going to qualify just because they are held back for a year.
We haven't redshirted any of our kids, but fwiw our EG ds has a very late birthday. Even though he needs subject acceleration, it's been a good experience for him to be one of the oldest in his class socially and emotionally. My middle dd is right smack in the middle of the age range for her grade, and to be honest, there have been *quite* a few times I wish we had redshirted her - not to get her into a GT program but because she is on the later side of emotional maturity and by the time she hit 3/4 grade that started impacting her schoolwork.
I haven't known many families who redshirted their kids, and I don't think it's terribly common where we live (my kids haven't had redshirted kids in any of their classes as far as I know). Of the families I know who've held their kids back when starting K, they didn't do it for getting their kids into GT programs, they did it because their children weren't just quite ready for full day school either emotionally or behaviorally. Most of those kids are in middle school now and overall have done well with being redshirted. Most of the families I've known who felt their kids should be in G/T fought hard for acceleration rather than being interested in redshirting.
polarbear
