Over the years California lawmakers have tinkered with the kindergarten entry age at least nine times, according to a report by the California Research Bureau. However, the new age requirement has not settled the more complex question: Is a fixed cutoff date the best way to determine which children are ready for kindergarten? In fact, the minimum age for kindergarten has been a subject of considerable debate for more than a century. “The real issue is not what age you enter kindergarten, but what opportunities do children have academically and socially before they enter school,” said Deborah Stipek, an expert on early learning and a professor at Stanford’s Graduate School of Education. They can now attend transitional kindergarten, and then enroll in regular kindergarten the following year. These are children who were previously eligible to enroll in regular kindergarten even though they had not yet turned 5. Having a smaller age spread in the class makes for a “more cohesive class,” and makes it more likely that when students enter kindergarten they will be ready to be “academically challenged,” she said.īlunting the impact of the new deadline is California’s additional kindergarten year, called “transitional kindergarten,” for children whose 5th birthday falls somewhere between Sept. “I think it’s a huge benefit to the children,” said association board member Michelle Jones. 1 deadline for regular kindergarten has been welcomed by the California Kindergarten Association. The others have earlier or later cutoff dates, or leave it up to local school districts to decide. The new cutoff date follows years of efforts in the state Legislature to move the date students were eligible for kindergarten to be in line with at least 20 other states with a Sept. Of the panoply of reforms now being implemented in California schools, the one affecting the state’s youngest public school students passed almost unnoticed this fall.įor the first time since the state enacted kindergarten legislation in 1891, California children have to be 5 years old by Sept. Eyes on the Early Years Newsletter Archive.

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Kindergarten age