Forced to Redshirt: Quasi-Experimental Impacts of Delayed Kindergarten Entry

Abstract

Parents consider whether to enroll their child in kindergarten on time, or to delay entry, known as “redshirting.” States have also moved their birthdate cutoffs to earlier in the year to create older, higher achieving cohorts. However, the impacts on the intermediate- and long-run outcomes of delayed entry are unclear, as are the mechanisms through which advantages or disadvantages may accrue. We provide plausibly causal estimates of delayed kindergarten entry impacts on achievement by exploiting a policy change in the birthdate enrollment cutoff for North Carolina public schools requiring children born in a six-week window to redshirt. We compare the outcomes of “forced” redshirts with several different counterfactual peer groups using statewide administrative data to triangulate the mechanisms through which delayed entry alters outcomes and inform educational theory. Delayed entry provides benefits to math and reading achievement, and reduced identification of having a disability; these impacts operate through cohort position and maturation advantages, and not from hold-out year experiences. Forced redshirting was differentially beneficial for students who are low-income, but further disadvantaged students of color.