Is delayed school entry harmful for children with disabilities?

Abstract

We examine whether the academic achievement of students with disabilities who delay entry into kindergarten differs from on-time entering students within the categories of students’ identified with disability in a large and representative state using educational administrative data on three cohorts of kindergarten students (N = 262,000). Analyses indicate that the negative association between redshirting (delayed kindergarten entry) as a student later identified as having a disability varies across students with different types of disability. For most disability designations, achievement outcomes were substantially lower for redshirted students compared to students with the same designation who enrolled in kindergarten on time. This supports the hypothesis that schools may provide young children with better access to early identification and intervention services, which outweigh the benefits of maturation experiences during the redshirt year. However, redshirted students with speech–language impairments had slightly higher achievement compared with students with speech–language impairments who entered on time. Study findings suggest that young children with disabilities may benefit from entering kindergarten when first eligible.