Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2006 > October > 06
Friday, October 6, 2006
Let me show you around
I have a feeling we may have a few first time visitors here at Get on the Bus in the coming days. I’m at the Online News Association conference in Washington, D.C., where this blog is a finalist for a nice award.
To help along those who just want to look around, I compiled some links. Here’s five of my favorite recent posts:
—Football and the magical GPA: An academic disgrace
If you want to go back a bit farther, here are five more from over the past year:
—John Tierney picks the wrong study
—Reasons to love (and fear) Bible school
—When teens work, grades suffer
—Mr. D and the island whisperer
For more of Get on the Bus’ greatest hits, go here.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Journalism
Kindergarten now … or wait?
(Teacher Cheryl Richards comforts Hollie Hohenbrink on her first day of kindergarten at Waynesville Elementary School.)
The day care fees are killing you.
Your son has just turned five years old and he’s eligible — barely — for kindergarten. He’s a bit on the small side and still seems more like a four-year-old to you. Plus, he will be in class with some kids who already are much more mature looking at SIX years old.
But think of the savings. Half a day in public school will cut your day care costs by more than 50 percent. And the boy is smart. Academically, he’s ready. You’re a young, hardworking parent with two little kids, and making ends meet is tough.
Ultimately, your go with your wallet — the boy will start kindergarten on time rather than wait a year.
A new study by USC says this is the right choice, that there is no evidence holding children back a year to start school benefits them.
But a word of warning — your results may vary.
The father in the story I just told you is still tortured today by that decision 12 years ago. His son indeed was ready academically for kindergarten at age five. He became a straight-A student all the way through high school.
But he also was the smallest and one of the least mature kids in his grade nearly ever year and at times struggled socially. Even though only 9 percent of kids are held back to start school at age six, according to the USC study, that boy’s father would hold him back in a minute if he could do it over again.
Still, here’s researcher Gary Painter from USC:
“There is no long-term academic or social advantage for kids who wait a year to enter kindergarten. Instead, they are simply a year older as they enter college and the workforce.”
According to the study, the younger kindergarteners were much more likely to graduate college and ultimately earn slightly more. There was no evidence of a social advantage or even an athletic participation edge for older school starters, except in varsity football — the sport where bulky stature matters most.
In the long run, Painter said, the kids are better off to just go to school at age five.
This year, my daughter started kindergarten at age six. Our motivation to hold her back was to allow her to mature and to space her two years back from her sister. I can’t exactly explain why, but that seemed to offer her some chance for added independence from her sister’s shadow.
In light of this study, I’ve wondered if those were good enough reasons and if we made a mistake. What do you think?
(Image credit: Cox News Service)
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Young Children
