Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Academic "red shirting" - are they really gifted?

Hi,
Just thought I would bring up the issue of academic red shirting (when a parent holds their child back a year, regardless of birthdate, before kindergarten soley to gain an academic advantage over peers).
This has become quite an issue in our school as many kids in the gifted program are a year older than their classmates. Since our school relies soley on achievment testing at the end of 2nd grade to determine eligibilty for the gifted program, many bright, more mature children who are not really gifted get into the program. The immature gifted kid often gets passed over.
Our PTO moms brag about how holding their children back gave them an advantage & some have held all of their kids back for the same reason.
I cannot imagine a Mom of a truly gifted child ever wanting to hold their kid back "so he gets more practice with the basics". Maybe if the gifted child has other special needs I could understand. However this has not been the case here. It's more the "thing to do".
Anyone else have experience with this?

Yes, it's not uncommon in our school district. Perhaps this is the set of kids that 'level out at 3rd/4th'? GS9 didn't get identified at the end of 2nd grade, and by the time his 3rd grade teacher saw enough of him it was too late to get him tested for the 1st half of the 3rd grade gifted program. He was tested for the math in the 2nd half, and accepted. They dragged their feet on testing him for reading, so by the time they did that it was the second week of 4th grade.

Our school uses the state guidelines for achievement tests, so it doesn't really negatively affect the younger gifted kids. They're going to float to the top 5% on a nationally normed test.

Hi NJMOM,

Our upper middle class district is the same way - I would say it is definitely UNCOMMON for any child born in the month of March and after to be in kindergarten the year they turn 5. My DD4 will turn 5 this month and start kindergarten at the "normal" time next year. We had her tested this past winter, and her FSIQ is high enough that we considered a grade skip to 1st - but after learning that she would be TWO years younger than half the class, we've decided against it for now. Unfortunately, enrollment in the district gifted program is often considered a status symbol - most parents don't really consider what is best for their child's actual academic needs. It's also interesting to note that this trend seems to be more common among wealthier families - middle class and below tend to put their children in K during the normal year because they no longer have to pay child care costs. In a situation like yours in which only achievment tests are considered, I would expect that the GT program is overloaded with high socioeconomic status kids. It's this kind of thing that makes gifted education look "elitist", rather than a special need. Frustrating.

Here in NYC most kids enter private K at almost 6. They would consider a child who turns 5 during the summer, or even the spring in many cases, "too young" to start Kindergarten.

So my gifted son, who really needed the small classes only available in private schools here, would have had to wait a year-- which is a terrible idea for a truly gifted kid.

There is no way to redshirt in NYC public schools, because the birthday cutoffs are strictly enforced and actually really late (Dec. 31) (They are this late so that parents who struggle to pay for day care will have free day care as early as possible)-- BUT gifted programs are actively sought here by almost everyone as an alternative to "bad" local schools, and people routinely and aggressively "prep" their children for the tests. So many kids who are bright but not really gifted in the sense we discuss here are in the gifted programs.

Here is an interesting article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080818184420.htm

There are some families who choose to do this locally. I also know a few families with younger girls they tested to get into kindergarten early.

With the local push to all day, very academic kindergarten, I can't say that I blame some parents. Particularly those with young active boys. There were a couple bright boy's in kindergarten with late August birthdays that were shamed all year into "good" behavior by trips to the principle's office and time outs, etc. I'm not sure that's a good way to set up for a happy and successful school career. There was also one boy in my son's K&1st grade class that was older - July birthday. But was still struggling with reading even though both his parents teach at the college level and are highly engaged parents. So in his case, it was totally the right decision. It really depends on the kid and the kindergarten's and first grade's classrooms they are going to. On the other hand there was a boy in DS's kindergarten class with an April birthday held back reading a couple years beyond grade level who was acting out at every turn. He definitely should not have been held back

My October birthday HG+ son still had an adjustment to all day kindergarten. It wasn't horrible for him, but I wouldn't say he just jumped right in and loved it. Academically, it would have been fine a year earlier. Behaviorally and socially - not really. Half day would have been ok. It's hard to know. It clearly wasn't a good fit in many ways.

Our district uses the NNAT. Which is not ideal by any means, but it's normed by the month the child is born. So getting IDed as gifted shouldn't necessarily be affected by your birthday anyway. Although, it is affected by your ability to focus on a group test in a classroom clearly. They are still over IDing in some cases, and missing kids in other cases just using the NNAT though.

St Pauli girl - loved the article.
Red shirting hasn't exactly effected us yet, except my hg DS 7 is asynchronous in a few areas (mostly social/emotional) and his teachers compare him to a bright boy a year older.
My friend was told by her daughter's K teacher that her daughter was behind & said she was very young (she was 5 with an August birthday). She was being compared to classmates, >80% of whom were at least 12 months older. When I mentioned this to a CST director/school psychologist she said that year doesn't matter at this age. I respectfully disagreed with her.
When my friend's daughter started reading in 1st grade it really struck me that if her Mom had held her back the teacher surely would have pegged her as gifted. She' a wonderfully normal and typically developing kid - bright but not gifted.

Other people's academic redshirting was what started our big problem with the K teacher this year! My DS started K at 5 with an April birthday and was a normal (though HG), wiggly 5 year old boy. His teacher within 2 days wanted to know if we were sure he was ready for K and wanted him evaluated for fine-motor disabilities. I assured her that he is just 5 and that he'll come along. She insisted that he go see an OT. Sure enough- he's "normal" for fine motor. It just happens that he is the ONLY boy in her entire class (and for the last 5 years she said) who started K not either already or almost 6.

She continues to argue that his coloring is below level, wants me to hold him back for coloring and hand weakness because he has no "stamina". She's even taken DS's coloring pages and finished them for him so he could "have pretty work too." I've reminded her politely, and then not so, that putting numbers in order from 1-15 all year long is not a stamina problem, it's a lack of interest problem. Give the kid some 3 digit math problems and he has laser focus and stamina!

I don't mind people redshirting because they have a reason (social/academic or whatever) but redshirting so your kid can be the biggest? That bugs me. We have a dad in DS's class that actually has said "Well I got beat up in junior high and I didn't want that to happen to him." He has built a bully on purpose... that's sad.

From St. Pauli's article:


So doesn't that suggest that early entry should not only be considered but encouraged for gifted 4yos?

My ds6 has a May birthday and went to school "on time", so he's one of the younger first graders. I'm soo glad he wasn't a fall birthday because we'd have had a time deciding whether to go for early entrance or to wait until he "should have" started. He did have some immaturity issues, but I don't know that those were due as much to age as to inappropriate curriculum.

OHGrandma, I totally agree with you here:


I think that's very true and I think using achievement testing probably catches almost all of the young gifted students -- as well as a few high-achieving older students. If the assessment process for your school, FNJMom, used teacher inventories, then I think there'd be a bigger concern. Since it's straight-out achievement testing, there's less bias against younger, wigglier kids. (In my humble and most unprofessional opinion, LOL! I have no way of knowing if that's true, it just seems logical to me.)

Good lourd, CAMom, that's amazing! This woman is pulling out all the stops, isn't she? "Pretty work" my foot. Taking a kid's coloring pages and doing them herself is out of line. Did you go to the principal with that?