LINCOLN — Melissa Brokaw of Lyons, Neb., knew that kindergarten entry age would become an issue as soon as her oldest was born.
Arianne Brokaw arrived Aug. 6, 2004. She will turn 5 well before the state's Oct. 15 cutoff date and could be starting kindergarten this year.
If Melissa and Craig Brokaw based their decision on educational research, Arianne would be joining the new fall class.
Study after study has found little benefit to the practice of “redshirting” kindergartners, or keeping them out of school for an extra year.
But Melissa Brokaw, who is herself a teacher, believes her daughter needs more time to mature. She said the additional year will give Arianne an advantage both now and when she reaches the difficult teenage years.
The Brokaws plan to send Arianne to a part-time kindergarten program in the fall, with the idea that she will attend full-time kindergarten next year. Both are offered by the Lyons-Decatur Public Schools.
“I feel for my own child it will be beneficial to wait,” Brokaw said. “I see very few summer 5-year-olds that can compete with October 6-year-olds.”
Most school officials who spoke at an interim study hearing Wednesday before the Legislature's Education Committee supported Brokaw's views.
Some urged the committee to set an earlier cutoff date, which would force children to be older when they start kindergarten. May 1, June 1 and July 1 all were suggested as alternatives.
Under current law, children can start kindergarten if they turn five by Oct. 15 and must start school by the year they turn 6. Districts have the option of allowing in children who will turn 5 between Oct. 16 and Feb. 1.
“We don't agree on a date, but we know Oct. 15 is the wrong date,” said Mary Yilk, principal of Doniphan-Trumbull Elementary School.
Some suggested that parents should be able to get waivers if they want to start their children later. Some told of starting transitional kindergarten programs, such as the one at Lyons-Decatur.
The school officials' views put them at odds with a position statement on kindergarten being developed by the Nebraska Department of Education.
Melody Hobson, head of the department's early childhood education office, said the draft statement doesn't include recommendations. Those will be added after the department collects input on the statement during the next six months.
But the research in the draft statement shows no lasting academic benefit in keeping children out of kindergarten or having them spend two years in kindergarten. Those who have to repeat kindergarten are more likely to suffer socially and emotionally.
“Children benefit more from an extra year of schooling than an extra year of age,” Hobson said, noting that schools should be prepared to meet the needs of individual children.
She acknowledged that the issue is controversial and has been for years. She said the department's current kindergarten position statement dates to the 1980s, and many of the same issues were raised then as are coming up now.
“It's been around a long time and goes back and forth,” Hobson said. “This is nothing new.”
Contact the writer:
402-473-9583, martha.stoddard@owh.com
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