Red-shirting: quite bad for some

New research from Duke University indicates that children who are older when they start kindergarten do well academically and socially in the short term, but as teenagers, can be more likely to drop out and commit serious crimes, depending on context. The study compared North Carolina public school students born 60 days before and 60 days after the school cutoff, which at the time of the study was five years old by October 16 to enter kindergarten that year. Prior studies have established that children who enter school "old for grade" perform better academically than younger classmates. The study confirms this, and also finds old-for-grade students one-third less likely to engage in delinquent behavior while still in school. However, after age 16 and for certain populations, the picture shifts. Among old-for-grade students, likelihood of dropping out and being convicted of a serious crime before age 20 is 3.4 times greater for those born to an unwed mother and 2.7 times greater for those whose mothers were high school dropouts. The explanation may lie with the age at which students may legally withdraw from school, 16 in North Carolina. To improve outcomes, the study recommends that states should require completion of a certain grade or a specified number of years in school for withdrawal, rather than legal age. More

Source:  Public Education News Blast

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Los Angeles Education Partnership (LAEP) is an education support organization that works as a collaborative partner in high-poverty communities.