early entrance

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Home : 2004 : February : 29

early entrance
By christine

I teach third grade at a small rural school in West Texas. I had a parent ask my opinion on getting her 4 year old into kindergarten next year. The child misses the September 1 deadline by 2 days. She wanted to know if I
knew any way to get her child into kindergarten early. I asked her why she wanted to do this, and she replied that her and her husband felt that the child was ready to start school and since our district does not offer preschool, they do not qualify for headstart and the nearest private preschool is an hour away that they would try to get the child into kindergarten. I told her to talk to

the administrator to see what could be done. My question to you kindergarten teachers is: What do you think of early admission into kindergarten? Is there any research that indicates that this is a bad thing? I would really like to help this parent out as she is a concerned parent. She works full time but has always been there for her older child's educational needs. I just don't want to give her the wrong advice. By the time the students get to me most of the early advantages or disadvantages have disappeared so I don't know what affect it would be on the child, who is after all the major one to be concerned with.