School Readiness

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Early Childhood How Old Should a Kindergartner Be? Parents and Districts Clash Over Cutoff Dates
As some districts and states strictly enforce kindergarten cutoff dates, parents feel the squeeze.
Elizabeth Heubeck, September 12, 2025
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6 min read
Northeast kindergarten teacher Patty Benjamin and Valeria Jackson gets students settled in their new classroom at Northeast Elementary located at 1024 Fleming Ave. on the first day of school on Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025.
Kindergarten students get settled in their new classroom at Northeast Elementary in Jackson, Mich., on the first day of school on Aug. 20, 2025. Across the country, educators report that kindergartners are struggling with regulating their emotions.
Abra Richardson/Tribune News Service
Student Well-Being & Movement Is More Playtime the Antidote to Kindergartners’ Behavior Problems?
Kindergartners are struggling with self-control—a key indicator of kindergarten readiness. Is more unstructured play a solution?
Elizabeth Heubeck, August 22, 2025
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4 min read
Transitional kindergarten teacher Amy Weisberg helps a young student at Topanga Charter Elementary School in the Topanga district of Los Angeles on Sept. 11, 2012. A California law requires public schools to add a grade level this fall designed to give the very youngest students a boost when they enroll in kindergarten, but charter schools say the law does not apply to them, pitting them against the state Department of Education.
Transitional kindergarten teacher Amy Weisberg helps a young student at Topanga Charter Elementary School in the Topanga district of Los Angeles on Sept. 11, 2012. California will require public schools that offer kindergarten to add free, inclusive prekindergarten this school year.
Nick Ut/AP
Early Childhood Q&A How a State's Transitional Kindergarten Expansion Has Gone So Far
California is gearing up to help more 4-year-olds get ready for kindergarten.
Elizabeth Heubeck, August 1, 2025
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6 min read
A kindergartener in a play-based learning class prepares for outdoor forest play time at Symonds Elementary School in Keene, N.H. on Nov. 7, 2024.
A kindergartner in a play-based learning class prepares for outdoor forest play time at Symonds Elementary School in Keene, N.H., on Nov. 7, 2024. Across the country, kindergartners are struggling with self-regulation.
Sophie Park for Education Week
Early Childhood ‘Crying, Yelling, Shutting Down’: There’s a Surge in Kindergarten Tantrums. Why?
Educators are reporting a surge in the number of kindergartners coming to school unable to regulate their emotions. What's going on?
Elizabeth Heubeck, July 25, 2025
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6 min read
A group of ethnically diverse Kindergarten children sit on the floor of their classroom, cross-legged and dressed in casual clothing. They are all looking up at their teacher who is holding out a storybook and reading to them. They are all smiling and listening attentively.
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Early Childhood How Kindergarten 'Redshirting' Is Changing
Redshirting was once largely a choice made by higher-income parents of white boys.
Caitlynn Peetz Stephens, October 23, 2024
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5 min read
Students participate in a pre-kindergarten class at Alice M. Harte Charter School in New Orleans on Dec. 18, 2018. Charter schools, which are publicly funded and privately operated, are often located in urban areas with large back populations, intended as alternatives to struggling city schools.
Students participate in a pre-kindergarten class at Alice M. Harte Charter School in New Orleans on Dec. 18, 2018.
Gerald Herbert/AP
Early Childhood Why Parents 'Redshirt' Their Kids in Kindergarten
Parents have a number of reasons why they decide to delay their children's school entry, but it's not always a good idea.
Lydia McFarlane, July 26, 2023
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5 min read
Special education teacher assisting a diverse group of elementary students in art class.
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Special Education Young Children Were Massively Overlooked for Special Education. How Will Schools Respond?
Forty percent fewer preschoolers received special education services during the pandemic. Schools deal with the fallout.
Sarah D. Sparks, October 17, 2022
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6 min read
Tue., September 20, 2022, 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. ET
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From the creators of ABCmouse, learn how a solution grounded in the science of reading can prepare our youngest learners for kindergarten.
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Early Childhood Spotlight Spotlight on Early Learning
This Spotlight will help you examine the impact of early education programs on high school performance, evaluate pre-K programs, and more.
August 1, 2022
Pre-K teacher Vera Csizmadia teaches 3-and 4-year-old students in her classroom at the Dr. Charles Smith Early Childhood Center in Palisades Park, N.J. on Sept. 16, 2021.
Pre-K teacher Vera Csizmadia teaches 3- and 4-year-old students in her classroom at the Dr. Charles Smith Early Childhood Center in Palisades Park, N.J., last month.
Mary Altaffer/AP
Early Childhood What the Research Says Preschool Enrollment Has Plunged: What That Means for School Readiness
Census data confirm that more than a million young children missed preschool during the pandemic, putting school readiness at risk.
Sarah D. Sparks, October 25, 2021
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4 min read
Image shows a multi-tailed arrow hitting the bullseye of a target.
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Early Childhood Opinion Waterford Upstart on Providing Remote Learning to 90,000 Pre-K Kids
Rick Hess speaks with Dr. LaTasha Hadley of Waterford Upstart about its use of adaptive software to close gaps in kindergarten readiness.
Rick Hess, March 25, 2021
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6 min read
Satiria Clayton was looking forward to her 5-year-old son Cassius starting kindergarten this year in Tempe, Ariz., but the recent spike in coronavirus cases has left her, like many other parents, worried about what to expect. "In an ideal would I would love to stay at home and teach him,” she said. “The reality is I have to send him to school."
Satiria Clayton was looking forward to her 5-year-old son Cassius starting kindergarten this year in Tempe, Ariz., but the recent spike in coronavirus cases has left her, like many other parents, worried about what to expect. "In an ideal would I would love to stay at home and teach him,” she said. “The reality is I have to send him to school."
Courtesy of Satiria Clayton
Early Childhood Will Kindergartens Be Empty This Fall?
As cases of COVID-19 continue to grow, parents around the country are struggling with whether to send their child to kindergarten this fall. Some say they won't.
Christina A. Samuels, July 7, 2020
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6 min read
School & District Management What the Research Says Incoming Kindergartners Are Less Ready Than a Decade Ago
Incoming kindergartners in 2017 started school with lower early-math and -reading skills than their peers nearly a decade earlier, though some achievement gaps closed somewhat.
Sarah D. Sparks, October 8, 2019
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1 min read
Early Childhood Video Academic Redshirting, and Why It’s Not So Simple
Academic redshirting has benefits and disadvantages on a child’s development that parents should keep in mind.
August 27, 2019
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2:40
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