Too Young for Kindergarten? Tide Turning Against 4-Year-Olds
Erin Ferrantino rarely has to consult the birthday chart in her kindergarten classroom to pick out the Octobers, Novembers and Decembers. This year, there was the girl who broke down in tears after an hour’s work, and the boy who held a pencil with his fist rather than his fingers. Those two, along with another of Ms. Ferrantino’s pupils who were 4 when school started, will be repeating kindergarten next year. “They struggled because they’re not developmentally ready,” said Ms. Ferrantino, 26, who teaches in Hartford. “It is such a long day and so draining, they have a hard time holding it together.” ...
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/28/educatio...
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/28/educatio...
Hey Jen:
This was the first article that caught my eye on the front page of today's NY Times.
My wife runs a preschool--and she agrees totally. In my school, our fifth graders graduate to middle school--and several of them were judged to be too young and developmentally immature to fit into the incoming sixth grade. So the early acceptance to kindergarten has consequences that can only be seen later.