I agree with epoh. I don't think it's possible to start off ahead and not have extra gas in the tank, so to speak. These kids are wired differently.
I don't agree with that. Some kids entering K have been taught, worked with, others don't know the alphabet. There is not necessarily a correlation with their innate ability.
I'm not saying they all even out, but it is true that by third grade as compared to K they have all had exposure, and instruction, and any effects of early interest or instruction will be gone.
If academic skills are too charged, how about gross motor skills. My oldest started walking at nine months because she was small, light, and very interested in it. She was queen of the playground compared to all the other babies, running, climbing, jumping, while they were all crawling, and a reasonable number were not even doing that. But, fast forward to three or four years old, and some of those kids who weren't even crawling are stronger, or taller, or more co-ordinated than her. They've "evened out" in the same way kids do with academics. They're not all the same, but the distribution of skill is not correlated with the distribution of skill at the point where it was an emergent skill.
