Redshirting kindergarten and gaming the system

Sunday's New York Times, a forum on TheSchoolBoards.com and pre-K parent conversations currently seem to revolve around the same question - are you starting or holding back your summer/fall child. The gist of the conversation is what is the decision parents can make that give their child an edge. How do you "game the system" is what I've read and heard. 

The real question is what are parents trying to do by trying to "game the system" at all. Some children are smarter, some are more athletic, some are sensitive, some are creative. There's no finish line and there's no guarantee of lifelong success and happiness. I value education tremendously as the gateway to life's possibilities - but my experience has been that the admissions criteria of some of our areas "top schools" for kindergarten are ill-informed and not supported by research. Here's an example - many top schools use aptitude testing on 4 year olds to determine academic ability and readiness. The problem - the IQ test, for example, has up to a 30 point average score change for the same child between ages 4 and 8 (see NurtureShock for the detailed research).So a high scoring 4 year old has the distinct possibility of being an average 8 year old. All you are testing at age 4 is the rate of maturity - and it basically balances out (early, average and late bloomers will be what they will be) by 3rd grade. And the behavioral tests to see if the child can "endure" kindergarten have also been proven to be misguided and non-predictive of later academic success - NurtureShock again.

The holding back phenomenon started with the self-esteem movement and the thought that children who are younger feel worse about themselves. That's been thoroughly debunked. Self-esteem doesn't have to do with age in kindergarten. The children who do better in kindergarten because they are older KNOW they are older than the other children. There's no self-esteem benefit from "beating" someone you should beat. Self-esteem comes from working hard towards a goal and accomplishing it - not coasting to it.  

The New York Times article quotes parents who are very concerned about the maturity span in each grade. As Dr. Jessica wrote on Friday, there needs to be a date when children MUST start school so that we can eliminate 18 month age spans. But even then, some children will physically mature before others and as parents, we have to figure out how to navigate that with our kids.  I suspect parents always did have to do that...

At the end of the day, parents need to stop worrying about getting into the "top" or most prestigious schools and look a bit longer term. Are the gradutes succeeding in middle school and high school? Are the parents committed to a well-rounded education that includes creative efforts, collaboration and critical thinking? Setting up our children on a "Race to Nowhere" (good movie - we're screening it at our school in early November) is the most likely path to burn them out.

We started our children true to grade at a progressive private school that doesn't believe in the testing I mentioned above for the reasons I mentioned above. Our graduates are independent thinkers, strong collaborators and campus leaders - and they genuinely love learning. That's about all I expect of the school - the rest of their success is up to them.  

What do you expect of your elementary school?

AD/HD and younger students

I'm really mad. USA Today published a story that the youngest kids in a grade are frequently misdiagnosed with AD/HD and it is all over the news.  What's making me angry is hearing respected MDs speak of holding young for grade children back as a means of lowering the number of misdiagnosed children.  REALLY? 

As a psychologist specializing in learning challenges, I have some questions:

• Are educators and pediatricians making sure that children are put in age appropriate situations at school? 
• If evaluations are necessary, are they conducted by licensed professionals who base diagnoses on symptom profiles with age appropriate behaviors in mind?  

Teachers do not have the knowledge, expertise, or right to diagnose children with behavior disorders. They are invaluable contributors to the evaluation process. Children spend up to 6-hours of waking time per day at school. Every evaluation for issues occurring at school include at least one observation of the child at school as well as interviews with the teachers and all other professionals that interact with the child at school.  

They know our kids well and their observations should be respected.

BUT, symptoms for AD/HD must be present in multiple settings for the diagnosis to even be considered. So teacher concerns are not enough.

• Do parents, teachers and pediatricians expect and accept that the younger children will behave differently than the older children when classrooms serve children with a likely age range of 15-18 months?
• Are they aware that children with learning disabilities, anxiety, depression, and AD/HD often demonstrate the same symptoms and until those symptoms are identified, picked-apart, and studied systematically, it is not possible to make an accurate diagnosis? 

Kindergarten is not only about academics; teaching social skills is an important aspect of the curriculum. Consider if the children that are old for Kindergarten  are creating this mis-diagnosis problem – their behaviors are not necessarily grade appropriate if they are overly mature. 

There will always be a youngest child in every class.  The problem is the age range in classes has become huge and expectations are inconsistent and often inappropriate.  Rather than simply stating a date by which a child is allowed to start Kindergarten, states need to add a date by which children MUST start Kindergarten (particularly difficult given that many states do not require that children attend Kindergarten at all) so that the age range is restricted. 

Look at the research – the young for grade children do fine.  In fact, students from all places in the age range do fine. In later years, old for grade students disproportionately act out. They are bigger, stronger, have access to the car keys, and can write their own notes to leave high school whenever they want (and the school can’t share that information with the parents because the student is a legal adult). 

Finally, most of these articles also fail to note that “red shirting” Kindergarteners is only a phenomena in affluent communities.  Are well off children really that much less ready for Kindergarten than their poorer peers and if so, why?

When to start kindergarten

Around late August, parents like me, with children born in June through November, start the emotional process of determining when and where their child should start school. Most of us have no idea how to evaluate a school or determine when our summer/fall child should start.

The rule of thumb is that parents know their children best and will know what’s the best timing and setting for their children. Of course, few parents are trained educators or psychologists who conduct research on the topic. In fact, most parents and early childhood educators are uninformed about the ramifications of holding a child back or the impacts of different settings on lifelong attitudes towards learning.

When I realized that I didn't know what the ramifications were of starting versus holding back my son, I started looking for scholarly research. My friend and co-parent has fall kids too and searched the professional psychology journals (she's a PhD in psychology) to inform our choices for our first-born, September children.

Reading Rockets does an amazing job of summarizing the research on when to start a child in school – with cites to the published research. My layman’s interpretation – holding your child back doesn’t help them succeed socially or academically. It “holds them back”. It makes kindergarten and first grade easier (i.e. fewer discipline/impulse control issues – especially if you have a boy) but it has no impact on success from 3^rd grade on. In fact, research shows that students on the younger end often are more accustomed to striving in school (to keep up in kinder and 1^st grade) so that by third grade, they outshine their older classmates because they know how to apply themselves.

If you’d like to hear professional educators discuss this issue, I recommend the Kindergarten Readiness podcast (registration required, but free). 

Since we knew that our bright, high energy child would need to be stimulated in class and that striving in kindergarten and first grade would start him developing expectations that you have to apply yourself in school, my husband and I determined that our son, a September birthday, would start school with his class according to the California cut-off – which is December.

Funny things happened when I spoke to potential schools after making this difficult decision. For example, I called a private school to inquire about their admissions deadline and it was August 31. I politely thanked them and said I would not need a tour or to apply since we missed the date. The woman on the phone attempted, for 15 minutes, to convince me that I should tour and that my son would be much, much better off if I had him repeat pre-K. She hadn’t met him or spoken with his preschool where he was already completing pre-K.

What are you basing this recommendation upon?

I just know – I’ve worked here for 7 years.  The younger kids struggle.

How do they struggle?

They’re just younger.  It’s easier for them if you wait another year.

Why not wait two?

What?

He’s ready for kindergarten, but I respect your rules, we’ll find another school.

He’ll do better if you wait.

And so it continued until I finally gave up and shared both my husband and my birthdays (yup – fall babies) AND our academic accomplishments and honors (pretty good) – asking her how exactly we would have benefited from being held back – suffice to say, that closed the conversation.

We didn’t apply to that school – but we did review and visit 6-8 schools. And I found a passion for education innovation and education research. Over the next few weeks, I’ll share as much as I’ve learned so far. I’ll cover what to look for in a school, questions to ask the school and your spouse.  I’ll have a guest blogger writing about children with special needs and school selection.

What challenged you about selecting a school?  Why did you choose the one you are at?

Healthy lunches

The more I exercise, the more I care about what I put in my body. And the more I care about what I put in my children's bodies so that they are strong and healthy, but not neurotic.  I remember thinking my friends had crazy parents when they wouldn't eat certain foods or only ate organic.  Low and behold, I'm becoming one of them.

One of the most challenging meals to make healthy for my kids is lunch. It's challenging because sometimes they're eating at school and I don't control the menu. It's challenging because it's always time constrained. I'm trying to steer them towards eating raw fruits and veggies - albeit the sweeter veggies like carrots and peas. We eliminated high fructose corn syrup years ago and I minimize soy because it's fed to the animals that become the meat we eat. I'm also trying to limit the amount of bread.  Which makes sandwiches a real issue.

Over a recent vacation, my husband and I tried to eat lunch without eating bread or pasta for an entire week. Our favorite trick was to take a slice of cold cuts (turkey, roast beef) and put sliced avocado and tomato (for hubby) on it and roll it up. Then we brought small amounts of mustard, olive oil mayo or other healthy fat aioli to dip our cold cut rolls in.  The result - delicious and satisfying.

We're going to try this lunch with the kids. I also want to try cold grilled chicken with honey or aioli in which to dip. Hard boiled eggs are a hit too! And good news - our local grocer, Piazza's Fine Foods, is offering kosher cold cuts -

• Turkey sliced salami
• Turkey bologna sliced
• Oven prepared Turkey slices
• Chicken bologna slices
• Turkey pastrami slices
• Smoked Turkey breast slices

And that's enough for some real variety in our lunch options. I'm trying to give them protein, simple carbs in veggies and fruit, and nuts (as long as no one is allergic).  Same things we're trying to eat.

What are you putting in your child's lunch box for back to school?

And if you haven't already - order your kosher grass fed beef before August 24, 2010 to have it for the High Holidays!

Slowing down puberty in little girls

I'm in no rush for my kids to enter puberty - and neither are they - but the Wall Street Journal, MSNBC and countless other news outlets are sharing the news that more and more children, specifically girls, are entering puberty really early - at age 7 - based on three new studies of over 1200 girls. Early puberty correlates to high probability of breast cancer, potentially stunting growth and possibly lowering self-esteem. Plus, who wants to deal with those mood swings any sooner than needed.

The University of Michigan Health System offers a wealth of information about "precocious puberty" including its signs and treatment, if desired. The studies and UM both show that the vast majority of precocious puberty cases have no medical origin meaning that the girl's endocrine system is functioning normally. And precocious puberty impacts minorities worse than white (I really dislike these words) girls -

Among 7-year-olds, about 10% of whites, 15% of Hispanics and 23% of blacks have some breast tissue. Among 8-year-olds, the numbers grew to 18% of whites, almost a third of Hispanics and half of blacks. - Shirley S. Wang, Wall Street Journal, August 9, 2010

18% of white girls, 33% Hispanic girls and 50% of black girls and NO ONE KNOWS WHY.

Nutrition and Obesity

There is no study proving any causality. The scientists theorize that it could be better nutrition as in the 1700s, puberty onset, on average, around 17 years of age - mostly due to malnutrition.  Another theory is that obesity contributes to precocious puberty.

Fat cells produce hormones, and once a critical mass of fat tissue is reached, the hormone leptin is released to trigger puberty, according to JoAnn Manson, an endocrinologist and chief of preventive medication at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, who wasn't involved in the study. - Shirley S. Wang, IBID

Environmental Factors

Other theories are that we've introduced more toxins into our environment - some of which have been tested initially to show correlation to precocious puberty. There haven't been wide-scale, scientifically reviewed long-term studies to prove or disprove this theory, but many are trying. And the FDA is reconsidering regulating BPA. Our Stolen Future, a book and advocacy group, has been advocating the environmental toxins for some time and has a list of the studies to date.

The problem with food

Obesity, nutrition and environmental factors all come together in the food supply. It's daunting to consider that you are what your food eats. It's hard enough to be what YOU eat. Now I need to know what my food is fed because it impacts what we're putting in our body. And encourage (and model) a healthy lifestyle with plenty of exercise because there is no question that obesity is linked to precocious puberty as well as a host of other issues. I've been on an 18 month journey questioning a lot of my assumptions about what's good for me. 

Soy - in particular unfermented soy - mimics estrogen. Estrogen is the key ingredient for puberty and foods can impact it.  And soy is in EVERYTHING. So much so that my family has minimized eating soy (even getting rid of soy sauce in favor of the almost identical tasting amino acid sauce) because I want to limit the amount in our system.  Soy is fed to chickens, cows and used in many processed foods (check labels for fun and see how much soybean oil you find - its scary).  I'm not saying soy is bad.  I'm saying too much, of anything, is bad and we have so much soy in our diet that we don't need to add any.

My approach, started a year ago when my son was only 7, was to eliminate soy products, stop using soybean oil and pay attention to what our food is fed. Recently, I've extended to organic kosher chicken (would prefer pastured, but it's hard to find) and grass fed beef. 

I hope I can keep my kids safe from precocious puberty. There are treatments if your daughter is showing signs of puberty and she's 7-8-9 years old. As part of a breast cancer family, I know that I would act to intervene because my family doesn't need more risk for breast cancer. Hopefully studies that prove correlation and causality will be published in the near future and lead to changes that can reverse this trend. 

Update on Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 2:38PM by Joelle - a Practical Parent

Interesting perspective on healthy eating, moobs (man-boobs) and the relationship between fat and estrogen.  This is a cardiologist in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.