CT Parent Power

Connecticut legislators are currently considering delaying when kids can enter kindergarten.  Currently, as long as your child is 5 years old by January 1st of the school year, she or he may start kindergarten the prior September. Our legislators are considering making the birthday cut-off three months earlier.

Sherri Davis of Somers worries that this will block children like her 4 year-old Bradon who is ready for kindergarten.  "I don't think starting kindergarten is only all about age," Sherri said. "I think you have to look at it and say whether your child is ready academically and socially."

Back in November of 2010, then Education Commissioner Mark McQuillan told members of the State Board of Education about  the proposal.  Such a wide developmental range makes it difficult to meet the needs of all the children in the class, he said. "What we currently have is not effective," he said. "This is a huge age span and is very, very bad policy."

At the time, Education Committee co-chair Rep. Andrew Fleischman responded, "It just sounds problematic to stop providing kindergarten to some families in the middle of a fiscal crisis."  And more recently, he's added, "It's clear we have a responsibility to offer preschool spots to these children that would be shut out.  I would rather have a child that's a little bit younger than have them shut our of school for an entire year. That's not good policy."

Read on for more responses to this proposal.  You can add your voice to the discussion and also contact your legislator about the proposal.

A number of people testified at the February public hearing on the proposal.  A recently retired Mansfield public school teacher, Ann Cavanaugh Grostjean PhD of Willington, explained the view from thirty-five years in the classroom:

In order for the children to "do well on the tests", what used to be taught in grade one is now taught in kindergarten and most of the younger children, with birthdays after September 1, are not developmentally mature enough to successfully do this work. This leads to our achievement gap and students who are not proficient on our CT Mastery Tests. As a state we need to start with our children at birth to solve this problem. We must provide a strong Birth to Three Program that identifies and addresses problems early on, universal public preschool for three and four year olds whose parents can't afford a private setting and strong K-12 program which begins when children are developmentally ready to learn. Perhaps the proposed Department of Early Childhood Education could coordinate and provide preschool programs for the children who are too young to begin kindergarten... It is important that these children, especially the low-income and at risk children have preschool opportunities in lieu of attending kindergarten. If we send them to kindergarten too early, some of these children will be retained in grades K, 1 and 2 or be diagnosed with ADHD when they are only young ! We must also commit to make universal preschool a priority in the coming years.

Acting Commissioner of Education George Coleman, supporting the concept of the proposal, told legislators:

"In order to ensure that the neediest students in our state who would no longer be eligible to enroll in kindergarten under this bill have access to preschool, the CSDE recommends an ongoing additional investment of funding for providing preschool opportunities through an expansion of School Readiness funding to 4-year olds in the 19 current and former priority school districts."

Principal Kathryn Walsh from Preston testified:

"The Connecticut Association of Schools (CAS) and Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents (CAPSS) whole-heartedly endorse the gradual rollback to October 1st as the kindergarten entrance requirement date as long as there is dedicated support for high quality universal pre-kindergarten programs.

Kindergarten today is not what kindergarten was years ago..  Children are expected to be able to read before the end of the school year.  This can only be accomplished with kindergarten programs that build upon qaulity pre-kindergarten programs that use assessments and data collections thas support and direct the teaching and learning of our youngest students."

The Connecticut Association of Boards of Education (CABE) added, "[W]e are very concerned that this change in the entry age without a corresponding increase in access to early childhood programs for needy children will have a detrimental impact on their educational opportunities.  Therefore, we strongly recommend that you not proceed with this change unless it is accompanied by expanded preschool resources."

Finally, here's the big concern for Cyd Oppenheimer over at our sister organization, CT Voices for Children:

The change doesn't just hurt parents' pocketbooks; it hurts the kids. The proponents of the legislation claim it will "level the playing field" by putting poor minority children on par, age-wise, with wealthier children who are statistically more likely to be red-shirted.  But extensive research shows that low-income students start off behind their higher-income counterparts primarily because they have less preparation, not because they are younger. Studies show, too, that, despite what anxious parents are led to believe, younger students are no more likely to have difficulty paying attention, cooperating, or making friends.

Age is not the issue.  Preparation is.  And changing the cut-off means that our most vulnerable children are likely to be even further behind their peers when they finally do start kindergarten, because their families simply cannot afford the high-quality preschool that would put them on track to school success.  Connecticut already has the largest achievement gap of any state in the country.  Changing the cut-off would make it even bigger.

For more details from Cyd, as well as from Connecticut Education Association, the Connecticut Association for Human Services, the Connecticut Association of Schools, and Connecticut Early Childhood Alliance, see the testimony page from the February, 2011 Public Hearing.  If you really like the wonky details, see the two-page research summary from RAND and Cyd's testimony, especially the footnotes.

(This kindergarten age change is, as of May 11, 2011, embedded in a broader bill, An Act Concerning the Closing of the Academic Achievment Gap, Substitute Bill 929, File No. 796.  You can review a summary of bill or the actual bill text.)

You can tell your legislators what you think about this idea here.  And you can share with us and the New York Times below in the Comments section.  For more information, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .