Kindergarten is more academic than it used to be. Kids are expected to learn to read. They are expected to know how to behave in school already. Not all five year olds are ready for this. Individual parents have to do what's best for their kids. This may reinforce the pressures for academic kindergarten, but a parent who tries to buck the system may hurt their child.

I don't think red-shirting is the cause of the change in kindergarten as much as the change has caused more red-shirting. The increased academics in kindergarten could also be because more children have been to pre-school before kindergarten and have learned the alphabet. In addition, educators are under pressure to raise test scores now or lose their jobs.

The No Child Left Behind Act rewards immediate increases in test scores and doesn't measure whether or not individual children learn more by the time they are 17. If children are older in kindergarten and learn to read before 1st grade, test scores of 3rd graders will go up without schools having to improve their teaching methods. The increases may disappear by the time the children are 17 - or they may not if the curriculum gets harder at each grade level.

"I don't think red-shirting is the cause of the change in kindergarten as much as the change has caused more red-shirting."

That is so true. Parents will always try to do what's best for their kids, but unfortunately what's best is a moving target, depending not only on your own income, location, experience, and resources, but also on the interaction of everyone else's.

Also, kids may be forced to learn to read before 1st grade, but that doesn't necessarily mean they'll have an appreciation for reading. If they read only because they have to, they are less likely to develop meaningful reading comprehension and critical thinking about what they are reading.

Of our three kids, two have late summer birthdays. We "red-shirted" both of them. They are both in college now, and we don't regret the decision at all.

The choice to start children late is an individual choice. As it should be. It simply is not relevant whether or not such choices impact the larger picture of test scores. Parents should ALWAYS do what's best for their own children, regardless of the advice of others. It is rarely wrong to do what we think is best for our own children. No one else will do that, just Mom and Dad. As it should be...

If Kindergarten is now academic and kids are expected to learn what they used to learn in first grade and if they need to be older to succeed, then IT'S FIRST GRADE. Just call it that already, and stop playing games at the expense of the children.