Holding out or holding back

By the time a child reaches the age of 4 or 5, most parents and caregivers have heard about "kindergarten readiness." But what if a 5-year-old still struggles to count to 10, sing the alphabet song or play cooperatively with other children?

In cases like this, parents may choose to "redshirt" their child or delay their entry into kindergarten by one year. New research from University of Delaware alumna Rachel Fidel of the National Institute for Early Education Research, Associate Professor Kenneth A. Shores and Associate Professor Anamarie A. Whitaker found that Delaware rates of kindergarten redshirting and retention - holding a child back from progressing to first grade - changed dramatically during the pandemic.

"Delaware law generally requires children to enter kindergarten at age 5," said Shores, who studies education policy in UD's College of Education and Human Development (CEHD). "Redshirting is therefore relatively uncommon in Delaware, but our research shows that families do delay kindergarten entry and that these decisions changed considerably during the pandemic."

Redshirting or retention?

Children may benefit academically or socially from redshirting if they spend the year in a developmentally appropriate setting with cognitive and social stimulation.

"If the parents put the child into a high quality-learning environment - and that's a big 'if' - children who are redshirted are more likely to enter kindergarten better prepared than children who were not," Shores said. "But disadvantages can range from social isolation to exposure to lower quality instructional environments to the cost of delaying the child's entry into the labor market."

Amanda Sassaman, a CEHD alumna and fourth grade teacher in Delaware, decided to delay her daughter's entry into kindergarten this fall. Sassaman and her husband - both teachers in a family of educators - decided to redshirt their daughter after she was diagnosed with a speech delay.

"When we found out that our child's due date was in July, my husband [was already considering redshirting, noting that] the baby would have that much more time for social-emotional maturity, academic development [and] athleticism, though it wasn't a sports decision," Sassaman said. "Then, pretty early on, we noticed that our daughter had some speech delay issues, which turned into articulation issues. So once we saw that, we thought that it's only going to benefit her to work on her speech before she socially engages in a kindergarten class."

Sassaman feels confident in her decision to redshirt her daughter, but also acknowledges some social challenges. She was surprised to discover that her daughter "feels that she's older" and has asked why some of her friends went to kindergarten and she did not.

While redshirting is a parent-led decision to delay the start of kindergarten, retention is a school-led negotiation with parents to hold a child back after a first year of kindergarten. Teachers and administrators suggest retention when a child does not meet the benchmarks necessary for first grade. But the research is less clear about its benefits.

"If a child repeats kindergarten, there are real tradeoffs," Shores said. "Maybe another year of instruction will help them be successful in first grade, but there are also costs, including social stigma and greater social isolation. There is evidence that grade-level retention can be beneficial, but much of that evidence comes from later grades."

Families also bear the costs of these decisions differently: redshirting typically requires private resources, like affording another year of preschool, whereas retention leverages the public school system without an extra cost for families. Historically, redshirting has been more common among boys and children from economically advantaged families, while retention has disproportionately affected children from less advantaged backgrounds.