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In many states, the rules about school entry are made by individual school districts.

By contrast, New York City public school children must attend kindergarten in the calendar year of their fifth birthday, and parents are not allowed to elect to delay their child’s kindergarten entry. Oklahoma, for instance, requires children to enroll in half-day kindergarten in the school year after they turn five (September 1 birthday cutoff), but parents are allowed to delay their child’s kindergarten entry by a year at their own discretion by submitting a form.

But states and school district policies vary widely, and many offer exemptions for parents who want to enroll their children in public school either earlier or later than the default age. Most states require children to attend at least half-day kindergarten in the school year after their fifth birthday. When are students supposed to start school? An alternative would be to go in the other direction, enabling and encouraging the lower income parents to have more opportunity for a delayed start in school for their children. Some school districts, including New York City’s, have forbidden redshirting on equity grounds. Given that it is bo ys from less advantaged backgrounds who seem to gain the most from a delayed start, this may raise questions in terms of equality of opportunity. The overall picture from previous studies is that rates of redshirting are higher for white boys from affluent backgrounds. In this piece I describe the existing evidence of the prevalence and patterns of redshirting, especially in light of what appears to have been a spike during the pandemic. But to the extent that there are advantages flowing from a delayed school start, it is important to understand the current patterns of redshirting.

Delaying kindergarten entry by year is often dubbed “redshirting,” a term borrowed from a practice in collegiate sports, where a first-year student athlete practices with their team but is held out of regular competition for a season.įor sure any move in this direction would need careful pilot study and evaluation.