• Numbers and Characteristics of Delayed-Entry and Retained Children
• School Performance and Adjustment of Delayed-Entry and Retained Children
• Delayed Entry, Kindergarten Retention, and School Performance: Multivariate Analysis
• References

This Stats in Brief uses information from the 1993 and 1995 National Household Education Survey (NHES) to describe the numbers and characteristics of children who experienced delayed kindergarten entry or kindergarten retention, as well as their subsequent performance and adjustment in school. As defined in NHES, children who experienced delayed entry into kindergarten are those whose parents enrolled them in kindergarten after the eligible age to start school according to the guidelines of their school district. Children who were retained in kindergarten are those who attended 2 or more years of kindergarten before entering first grade.

In both the 1993 and 1995 NHES, parents reported that 9 percent of all first- and second-graders had been held out of kindergarten (table 1). The 1993 and 1995 NHES found that boys experienced delayed entry more often than girls-10 versus 7 percent in 1993, and 11 versus 6 percent in 1995. Children born in the latter half of the year, and thus relatively young at the time they were eligible to enter kindergarten, were also more likely to have been held out of kindergarten. In 1995, white, non-Hispanic children were twice as likely as black, non-Hispanic children to have entered kindergarten late. In 1993, but not in 1995, pupils who had been diagnosed as being developmentally delayed* were twice as likely as other pupils to have been held out of kindergarten.

The overall prevalence of kindergarten retention was similar in the 1993 and 1995 NHES, affecting 6 percent of pupils in 1993 and 5 percent in 1995 (table 1). As with delayed kindergarten entry, boys were retained in kindergarten more often than girls. In both 1993 and 1995, children who had a diagnosed delay in growth or development were several times more likely to be retained in kindergarten. In 1995, for example, 16 percent of the developmentally delayed children were retained, compared to 4 percent of other children.

Table 1. - Percentage of first- and second-graders who experienced delayed entry into kindergarten and who repeated kindergarten, by child characteristics: 1993 and 1995

In 1993, parents of children who had experienced delayed entry into kindergarten received less negative feedback from teachers on two of five indicators, while in 1995, parents of children whose entry was delayed were less likely to report school performance problems on one of four indicators (table 2). In 1993, for example, 17 percent of delayed-entry children were reported to be not learning up to their capabilities, compared to 24 percent of those who entered kindergarten at the prescribed time. Also, 25 percent of delayed-entry children were said to have problems concentrating in class, compared to 30 percent of those who entered kindergarten as soon as they were age-eligible. However, the timing of kindergarten entry was not related to the other indicators. In 1995, children whose entry into kindergarten had been delayed were half as likely as those entering when age-eligible to have repeated first or second grade. On the other indicators, however, those who were held out of kindergarten performed as well as those who started kindergarten when eligible.

Children who had been required to spend 2 or more years in kindergarten performed significantly worse than their first- and second-grade classmates on all five of the 1993 indicators and on two of the four 1995 indicators (table 2). In 1993, 40 percent of the retained pupils were said to have problems concentrating; more than a third, to be not learning up to their capabilities; and 29 percent, to be acting up or disrupting the class. All of these proportions were 40 to 50 percent higher than those for children who had not been retained in kindergarten. While less than a fifth of the retained pupils were said to have trouble taking turns or sharing with others, this proportion was twice as high as that for nonretained pupils. In 1995, more of the retained pupils had schoolwork that ranked around the middle or in the lower half of the class. Nearly 30 percent of retained children had their parents contacted by the teacher or school in the last year because of a schoolwork problem; this percentage was about 40 percent higher than that for nonretained pupils. However, the proportion of those whose parents were contacted because of a behavior problem or who had to repeat first or second grade was comparable among children who had been retained and other children.

Table 2. - Percentage of first- and second-graders with school performance problems, by experience with delayed kindergarten entry and kindergarten retention: 1993 and 1995

The previous section examined some of the associations between delayed kindergarten entry or kindergarten retention and school performance in the first and second grades. To what extent are these observed associations attributable to the demographic and socioeconomic factors with which delayed entry and retention are correlated? This question can be addressed with multivariate analyses that show the association of delayed kindergarten entry and kindergarten retention with early elementary school performance, while at the same time controlling for the child- and family-related factors that may also be associated with children's experiences with kindergarten entry and retention.

In 1993, after controlling for sex, time of birth, race/ethnicity, developmental delay, birth weight, parents' education level, household poverty status, number and type of parents with whom the child was living, language spoken in the home, and whether the child attended a center-based preschool program, first- and second-graders who had been held out of kindergarten until they were older were less likely than other children to elicit negative feedback from teachers. In contrast, the 1995 data indicated that delayed entry into kindergarten was not related to school performance problems in the first and second grades.

In 1993, kindergarten retention also showed a relationship with teacher feedback. First- and second-graders who were retained in kindergarten were more likely to get negative feedback from teachers. In contrast, an association between kindergarten repetition and negative teacher feedback was not evident in 1995.

In summary, when demographic, socioeconomic, and developmental factors were taken into account, the differences in school performance between delayed-entry students and other students were small, but significant in the 1993 survey data. In the 1995 survey data, however, controlling for these background factors essentially eliminated the differences between students who were held out and other first- and second-graders. The same was true of the performance differences between the students who had been retained and other students. NCES has begun a new longitudinal study of kindergartners that will allow more detailed investigation of any beneficial or harmful effects that delayed kindergarten entry or kindergarten retention may have on student performance. The initial findings from this study are reported in America's Kindergartners (West, Denton, and Germino-Hausken 2000).

West, J., Denton, K., and Germino-Hausken, E. (2000). America's Kindergartners (NCES 2000-070). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Zill, N., Loomis, L., and West, J. (1997). The Elementary School Performance and Adjustment of Children Who Enter Kindergarten Late or Repeat Kindergarten: Findings From National Surveys (NCES 98-097). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.