The Age for a Public Kinder Garten

M.,

In most situation you are able to have your child tested to see if they are ready for the challenge. Call the school that your child will be attending and ask to see what they are expected to know when they start school. If you know that your child has mastered those area then you should take her in and get her started. Good Luck

J. Gilley

The previous poster is wrong!! They changed the date a few years ago. The cutoff date for kindergarten for Indiana is Aug 1 but individual districts can offer early enrollment for those born in August (Sept 1 cutoff). That is still alot earlier than many other states (Oct-Dec is very common). Most schools will not bend on the Sept 1 cutoff - because state law says Sept 1 is the absolute latest, even for early entrance. I have a friend who's daughter was born on Sept 2 and no dice -- she's waiting a year. If they start making exceptions, where do they draw the line? At 2 days off? 5 days off? 3 weeks off? What's the point of a cutoff date, then? It might suck, but someone has to be the oldest, and the youngest, in the class.

You could look into a private kindergarten. Most around here stick with the same Sept 1 cutoff date but they are more likely to make exceptions for a child who is truly socially and emotionally ready (notice I didn't say academically -- kindergarten teachers care more about a child being ready socially and emotionally than academically). After a year of private kindergarten she could then enter 1st grade at your local public school.

All my kids have birthdays close to the cutoff date (on both sides of it) so I understand how it can be frustrating.

Go to the school principal now and ask if they will enroll her next fall on a condidional basis or give you a waiver.
If they say no, go to the Education Center for that school system and see someone else.
In Indianapolis Public Schools they put my granddaughter in a Kg class in which most of the children I believe had missed the cutoff date.
She did well but some of the children I am sure had to repeat the year.

We had this conversation in the break room at work the other day. I guess, in some school systems, they can be tested if they fall into the gray area around the cut off date.

I'm personally not a big fan of Indiana's laws even though my kids won't be affected. Some kids should be held back, but others are bright and mature enough.

Where I grew-up (outside DC) we went by the calendar year, and a lot of the December kids were just as good academically as the January kids were.

She won't miss a school year, they will enroll her next year. They do it for her own good. All research shows that children are better off being oldest instead of youngest. You can apply for early admittance, but unless she's off-the-charts smart, they won't take her. And that's really better for her.
Go by what they tell you. They have seen tens-of-thousands (hundreds-of-thousands?) of children and know much better than you do if your child is ready.

The cutoff date for Indiana kids to start Kindergarten is July 1. If their birthday is after that they have to wait a year. Really it works out well...my son's birthday is in November but since he had to wait a year he had two years of preschool and he is really excelling in Kindergarten this year. He is also alot more mature than some of his younger classmates.

Don't be so worried about her "missing a school year" as to her cognitive and social and mental and emotional development. She's literally NOT going to miss a school year, you realize, right? It's not like she's going to skip to first grade or second.

As a teacher and former staff memember who did kindergarten screening, I TOTALLY understand all of this. Use this year to develop more cogitive, social, emotional and mental skills.

Honestly, I think parents miss out when they push school too soon and don't take advantage of the time they can spend on development. They are MUCH better prepared for school when they have this foundation.