Is There an Ideal Age for Kindergarten School Entry - Research Paper Example

Full Full Determining Whether There is an Ideal Age for Kindergarten School Entry It has been a pressing issue for most parents as to whether there is a best age to begin kindergarten. Parents are wary enough to make sure that their children are not left behind in class and in the process of deciding whether their children is ready for school, they are basing their decisions upon the age of the child and asking whether there is an ideal age to start schooling. Every child is brilliant and intelligent. That is a fact. There is no doubt that he will perform well in school. Nevertheless, the real concern is not related as to whether the child has the talent or not but is related to the child's emotional and social preparedness. Basically, these things affect or manipulate each other. Some of the most common child modifications are contingent to the teacher’s manner of teaching and some other factors that influence how a child may perform in the classroom - factors like the attitude and the personality of the teacher as well as the method in which the class is being managed. If the child is more inclined to social interactions and on his personal volition would be willing to submit to the instructions of his or her teacher, then he may easily conform and adapt to this new test by the age of five. [Student’s Last Name] 2 Psychologists, sociologists, researchers and policy makers have poured in an overwhelming effort in order to determine whether there is a best age for children to start school. In the United States alone, the usual age of kindergarten children is around five years old and obligatory attendance age plays between the ages of five and eight years old. Many policymakers in the United States expressed their dissenting opinions regarding the acceptable age for school admission and many schools based their decisions on the child’s birthdate. Usually, parents decide to send their children to school basing on their linear or chronological age. The judgment as to when is the proper time to admit a child to school will not solely have an effect on the children and their parents but as well as to the pre-school teachers and to the entire educational scheme. Due to the intricacy and the difficulty of the educational system that we have today, most of us, especially educational institutions for pre-schoolers place a strong substantial significance on the child’s competence in reading and mathematical sciences. Is the determination of the ideal age to begin kindergarten important? Does it really matter? The significance of early and repeated standardized tests for young children in order for them to meet the academic challenges in school is being accentuated and supported by education reforms and more so by The No Child Left Behind Act of 2002. While this was ratified in order to ensure the academic success in high school as well as in college, the testing begins early in order to guarantee that the children are headed in the right direction when it comes to “grade-level requirements”. A comparatively easy approach to enhance the performance in earlier years of education is to increment the average age of children enrolling for kindergarten classes. Accordingly, this can be done by setting a “cut-off date” for kindergarten admission or by [Student’s Last Name] 3 advising parents to delay kindergarten admission for an additional one year (1 year). Mostly, school administrators and pre-school teachers are positive that the more mature the child is once he is admitted in kindergarten classes, the more potential there is for academic success. A lot of parents have faith in the idea of delaying the kindergarten entry of their children because they concede that it will contribute to their children’s edge in terms of academic performance. This is what they call as “redshirting”. In most cases, children who were admitted to kindergarten classes develop boredom and disinterest in school activities than those who made their entry later. Redshirting, while it is commonly used in academic application purposes extensively, it also applies to students’ athletic strategy for development. Albeit redshirting provides a student with an edge to become the oldest in the class, it is still hazy whether this presents a long-term influence on high school accomplishments, academic prowess and even up to the collegiate performance. If the older the age of a kindergarten becomes the better his or her performance academically, hence, the strategy of delayed entry is efficient. Consecutively, more mature or older students may undergo struggles and impediments when they reach their sexual maturity before their fellow kindergarteners which may trigger the possibility for them to drop out of school or they might fail to participate in workforce. While there were many studies pertaining to the temporary and short-range advantages of redshirting, a small number of studies were also being conducted regarding its long-term benefits. The study utilizes the NELS or the National Educational Longitudinal Survey that was conducted in 1988 in order to study the long-range influence of age at kindergarten admission and the application of redshirting of a cluster of students who were admitted in kindergarten classes between 1970s and 1980s. Reversion evaluation strengthens and verifies that children of [Student’s Last Name] 4 young age would more likely to repeat grades, which presents an undesirable academic outcomes. Nevertheless, regulation for grade holding and interfaces with age during admission, entering school at such a tender age does have moderate benefits and advantages in terms of lifespan collection of human investment. Moreover, the utilization of semi parametric matching strategies was decided in order to contrast students who underwent redshirting with the students who did not. The findings verify that children who were admitted to kindergarten classes in younger age performed similarly with children who were admitted at an older age. What is the theoretic viewpoint on Redshirting? There were intense debates between specialists and experts on child development regarding the benefits and drawbacks of redshirting. The steady supporters of redshirting trust that there are 154 children who achieve particular conditions of progress centered on the "internal biological clock"; further, neither the parents nor the teachers or the school as a whole can do something in order to expedite the developmental process of maturing. It also supported that the solution for improving the accomplishments of kindergarteners is to delay their school admission for a year. The normal growth progression is anticipated to carry an undeveloped child to the ability and maturity level required for the child to do well in kindergarten. Children who are admitted in kindergarten too young will experience the academic downside for the reason that they are underdeveloped mentally, socially and emotionally and are quite unprepared for a kindergarten education. They may become unenthusiastic; they achieve less, and worried during the course of both their elementary and secondary levels of education as a result of their bad [Student’s Last Name] 5 encounters during their kindergarten years. These drawbacks can lead to "early grade retention" for children who were admitted to kindergraten in such a tender age. Manifold research will prove that grade retention has constantly cause undesirable upshots for children who entered school at a young age in terms of their approach toward education and schooling, self-confidence, and enlarged possibility of dropping out from school. Consequently, redshirting is a possible method for providing schoolchildren an additional year to develop prior to entering kindergarten education without endangering the undesirable upshots of grade retention. School quarters and districts for pre-school education can increment the maturity level of the pre-school classrooms by endorsing redshirting to the parents and/or via increasing the least possible age for kindergarten admission. A secondary methodology to child development disagrees with the idea that maturity and willingness in school are contingent to the school encounters of a child. In this method, underdevelopment or immaturity is the outcome of ecological or genetic influences that is impossible to be remedied by delaying the admission to school or by allowing one year for additional maturity growth. In its place, schools must offer, with the focus on developmental aspects, a suitable teaching, training, and lessons for children of young age with varied upbringings and experiences. If it is true that children of young age gain something out from a rigorous and challenging environment, it is theorized that children who begin their education - especially on their kindergarten education - in fact, can achieve a helpful advantage in terms of cognitive development. Some researchers have strong belief that this edge can be lifelong. On the other, children who began their education in an older age may fail to benefit from the early childhood encounters and deals offered by the school. Adversaries of redshirting repudiates to [Student’s Last Name] 6 the idea that older students who made their school entry later than others may be regarded as someone less proficient or less talented than the younger ones in the same grade level by their pre-school teachers or by their classmates. Furthermore, they may feel uncomfortable about becoming sexually mature compared to their classmates. What are the experimental proofs on redshirting? Previous research of the impact of age in school entry, specifically on kindergarten schools, normally go after an age or grade unit and evaluate and contrast the results for the young starters and older students. Most of the investigations emphasizes only on early education like the first two years or three years of elementary level education or follow a unit via fourth or an addition of two more grade levels. A latest study explores the outcomes of age at school admissions on the grosses in the future. There are astonishingly few attempts of investigating regarding the period in between high school level education and the shifting from high school to college and eventually professions. These investigations determine academic growth and advancement through mental and reasoning tests - cognitive tests - and confirm that students who began their schooling at an early age gained higher test scores in the initial years of their elementary education. A latest study on the works related on age at school admission resolves that academic edge for students who entered school at an older age vanishes by third grade. Generally, research recommends that the maturity edge of students who entered school with a delay of one or two years in early education does not necessarily mean that they will achieve a permanent academic lead. Principles and theories of child development contend to the idea that the age at which the student entered his [Student’s Last Name] 7 first level of schooling is connected to the child's emotional happiness and comfort and comportment. Experimental proofs provide no conspicuous conclusions about who is going to agonize emotionally: the younger or the older? In addition, manifold investigative documents pertaining to some emotional dilemmas associated to younger students are consequential to low self-confidence, pressure and bad impressions toward school. Most of the investigations and studies conducted relating to the emotional and social results discovered no longstanding influence on social problems, peer tunings and feelings toward school. In general, the works related to the importance of age to school entry brings in varied proofs. Students who began their education may achieve more their early rudimentary grades; however, this margin shows some tendencies of decreasing as students develop throughout their elementary education. Nevertheless, older people who have started their education at a younger age typically have higher salaries in later life. This presents an idea that somewhere at any point in between younger ones achieve an edge over the older ones. This study desires to erase this margin by resorting to the examination of influence of age at initial school admission in high school and the transition to further developments. Reiteration on whether there is a linkage between school entry and age and achievements For numerous years that have passed, disagreement, apprehension and concerns have taken place vis-a-vis the best and most ideal age for school admission as we can recall from our previous discussions. The explanation as to why some kids seem to do extremely well in school, while other students are struggling even from the initial start of the school year, remains unclear. The shared objective of policy makers, administrators in educational institutions, teachers, [Student’s Last Name] 8 lawmakers as well as the parents are to guarantee academic accomplishments. With the elevated stress on the responsibility of the teachers and the administrators and on high-risk examination, a drive to have more educationally daring kindergarten pupils has ascended between the years 2009 and 2010 as contrasted to the past years. The NRC or the National Research Council issued a report in 1998 which requested for extensive reorganizations that will make sure that the children are armed with all the imperative abilities that they need in order to become skilled of reading. The National Education Goals Panel placed school preparedness in the nationwide attention in the year 2000 as the report of the United States Secretary of Education asserted that all American children will begin school prepared to study and learn. The No Child Left Behind Act or NCLB was passed in 2002 which reauthorized the ESEA or the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. The NCLB obliges every state to set up its individual educational content criterions for which all students of grade levels three to eight as well as in high school must learn and be capable of performing in central content subject areas. Majority of the US states today are devising early learning standards that outline probabilities and outlook regarding what should the young children do in order to prepare themselves mentally, physically and emotionally prior to entering kindergarten. NCLB asserts that all students should have the capacity to adapt to the elevated learning criterions and standards of states in which they are residing. This national prerequisite - created to enhance the accomplishments of the students - stresses on the importance of early and uniform testing to guarantee that children are well prepared to meet the challenges of pre-school education. Nationwide, many schools are underneath incrementing punishments because of their failure to meet the adequate yearly progress or AYP and that because students are not showing any [Student’s Last Name] 9 satisfactory improvements in their abilities in reading and mathematics. Because of this, educators should take the responsibility of finding results recent studies that will aid them in making decisions for the benefit of the entire academic society. In an attempt to find out the issues influencing scholastic accomplishment, researchers have investigated the impact of age of kindergarten entrance. There is a significant argument and discussion in the research society pertaining to the age at which students are much more appropriate to enter school. In most countries and for the most part, kindergarten is the starting point of education or formal studying. Thus, the appropriate age at which children should have their first entry of education is a very crucial topic in the research community and it appeals to many scholars around the world. For the reason that it prevalently learned that age is an important factor that will determine the success of a certain student in his or her academic life, it triggered numerous discussions and debates in colleges and universities, research organizations, parents, educators and lawmakers. Albeit a vast array of age range is present in every classroom, if we take into account the aspect of age and the important role that it plays, it can lead to an expanded range of progressive and developmental ages inside minor cluster of children. This array in developmental age can bring tremendous influence on learning; thus, will affect the mental capacities of children which, sequentially, can affect the scores of children in admission tests, SATs or any academic-related tests. Rereading the works related to the age of entry investigations, noticed the influence of "entry age" and the wide-ranging study and discussions on its impact on the attainment of every student; recognized two diverse interpretations on kindergarten preparedness that figures the "age of entry" arguments as a policy at the same time, an exercise matter. The former refers to "maturational" standpoint that anticipates the child to [Student’s Last Name] 10 become developed and prepared for schooling, while the latter viewpoint contains inclination for experience in the school. Concluding Statements This research tackles the subject matter about the possible long-term benefits and edges of deferring kindergarten entry while waiting for age six (6). Particularly, the investigation concentrates on the impact of age entry during the shifting of the students from elementary to high school, from high school to college and from college to employment rather than focusing merely on the effects of age entry during kindergarten schooling. This particular study stands for a significant initial step in comprehending the role of age entry into the crucial transitional consequences during which future research will provide more exact results about the early encounters of the children that will definitely help in bringing in more discernment on some issues that are not so clear in this examination. The well-defined policy inference for educational institutions is that redshirting and the grade retention is grounded exclusively on age must be evaded. Nevertheless, the circumstance on the part of the parents is much more complicated. Even though parents have the capability to select as to when they prefer their child to go in kindergarten, parents have a reduced amount of command in cases pertaining to grade retention. Parents who choose to send their children at such a young age may hold them remorseful at the end of the day, that is, if the school decides to postpone child's entry due to age. And so, the consequence for parents they must take heed on the policies relating to age entry and the permitted age of entry before delaying their children's entry to kindergarten. In cases where the school has very high cases of [Student’s Last Name] 11 grade retention, the parents may opt to defer the entry of their child by the following year. Consecutively, parents who have children enrolled in kindergarten classes should closely and continually support for their children concerning holding decisions. Apparently, in the United States, in every 11 children whose age is between four and five years old, one would not be entering kindergarten. It is not due to the reasons that there are no sufficient spaces for more kindergarten students but because of the parents’ decision to defer or delay the entry of their children by the next school year. If you try to cogitate, once your child made his entry to kindergarten at an older age, he will become the oldest or one of the oldest in the class and most likely, he will have the advantage to master the basics in a kindergarten class like memorizing the letters of the alphabet and the numbers, while those students who entered at a younger age might struggle to cope up with the demands of a kindergarten class. They may not be able to recognize a single letter even. Seen this way, one benefit is that the older child will feel better about himself; he will feel brighter than others and might give him a better chance in high school and in college. Nevertheless, the problematic part of this idea is that studies show that any advantage that a child might have, as he grows older, the advantage gradually fades away - the advantage that he showed during kindergarten. That said, there is no guarantee that a child will perform excellently more than others in high school, more so, in college. Notwithstanding the proofs that older students holds an academic edge in rudimentary levels of education, this particular study proposes that there is no significant effectiveness in adapting to redshirting if the motive is to enhance high school performance, graduation rates [Student’s Last Name] 12 and/or college admission. Referring to the work of Angrist and Krueger, this advises that the most substantial and clear effect of age at school admission is that older students who may have resorted to redshirting lost a year of chance to participate in workforce instead of the idea that students who have made their kindergarten entrance at a younger age are disadvantaged in their early rudimentary education. Therefore, the edge may be inclined to the students who entered kindergarten at a younger age because of their early influence to workforce and they have the chance to adjust earlier. References: Buten, N. "The Effect of Kindergarten Entry Age on Acedemic Achievement." domapp01.shu.edu. domapp01.shu, 2010. Web 12 April 2012 Crosser, S. “He has a Summer Birthday: The Kindergarten Entrance Age Dilemma”. cee~.crc.uiuc.edu. cee~.crc.uiuc, 1998. Web. 12 April 2012 Elkind, D. Miseducation. New York, Alfred, A. Knopf., 1987 Gullo, D. F., & Burton, C. Age of Entry, Preschool Experience, and Sex as Antecedents of Academic Readiness in Kindergarten. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 1992. Lincove, J & Painter, G. "Does the Age that Children Start Kindergarten Matter? Evidence of Long-Term Educational and Social Outcomes".utexas.com. utexas, 2006. Web. 12 April 2012 Kilpatrick, T. A Study of How Kindergarten Entry Age and Gender Affect Middle School Achievement. Tennessee State University, 2002. Krauerz, K. Straddling Early Learning and Early Elementary School. Journal of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1998. 64(3), 50-58. National Research Council(NRC). Preventing reading Difficulties in Young Children. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1998. Piaget, J. Science of Education and the Psychology of the Child. New York: Orion Press, 1970. Stipek, D. At What Age Should Children Enter Kindergarten? A Question for Policy Makers and Parents. Social Policy Report, Society for Research in Child Development, 2002. Read More