News-Record.com

For those debating whether North Carolina should move back its Kindergarten entry age, this story from the NY Times Magazine should be of interest:

States, too, are trying to embrace the advantages of redshirting. Since 1975, nearly half of all states have pushed back their birthday cutoffs and four - California, Michigan, North Carolina and Tennessee - have active legislation in state assemblies to do so right now. (Arkansas passed legislation earlier this spring; New Jersey, which historically has let local districts establish their birthday cutoffs, has legislation pending to make Sept. 1 the cutoff throughout the state.) This is due, in part, to the accountability movement - the high-stakes testing now pervasive in the American educational system.

The N.C. House has already passed a bill to move the Kindergarten entry age back. It would require that children turn 5-years-old before Sept. 1 rather than by Oct. 15, as is the current statute. It is awaiting a hearing in a Senate Committee.

Background here and here.

By the way, Rep. Dale Folwell, a Winston-Salem Republican and the bill's champion, is quoted in the Times story.

All involved in increasing the age of kindergartners — parents, legislatures and some teachers — say they have the best interests of children in mind. “If I had just one goal with this piece of legislation it would be to not humiliate a child,” Dale Folwell, the Republican North Carolina state representative who sponsored the birthday-cutoff bill, told me. “Our kids are younger when they’re taking the SAT, and they’re applying to the same colleges as the kids from Florida and Georgia.” Fair enough — governors and state legislators have competitive impulses, too. Still, the question remains: Is it better for children to start kindergarten later? And even if it’s better for a given child, is it good for children in general?