Between 2017 and 2025, roughly 5 percent of kindergartners were redshirted per year on average with a peak of 6.4 percent in fall 2021 during the pandemic, according to NWEA’s March brief “Should kindergartners be redshirted? Costs likely outweigh academic benefits.”
A learner is considered redshirted if their fifth birthday is before their state’s cutoff date to enroll in kindergarten, but they don’t enroll until a year after they are eligible. Some parents choose to delay enrollment to give their child additional time to develop socially and/or academically, although it often means paying for another year of child care.
Among the brief’s key findings were that white students and boys were most commonly redshirted, as well as those in low-poverty and rural schools, and that academic advantages associated with redshirting don’t last long. By third grade, students who were redshirted performed similarly to their peers who started school on time on math and reading assessments.
The analysis found that between 1 and 2 percent of students repeated kindergarten per year in the period considered. “In total, approximately 6 percent of students in each kindergarten class were six years or older at their state entry cut-off in each year,” the brief states.
By race/ethnicity, in 2025, 6.7 percent of white students were redshirted, followed by 3 percent of Hispanic students, 2.4 percent of Black students and 2.5 percent of Asian students (Asian students largely had the lowest rates of redshirting in the years examined). By gender, 5.4 percent of boys were redshirted compared to 3.5 percent of girls.
That same year, 6.8 percent of those entering a low-poverty school were redshirted versus 3.2 percent of those going to high-poverty schools. By urbanicity, redshirting rates were 6.5 percent for those residing in towns, 6.1 percent for those in rural communities, 3.9 percent in suburban areas and 3.6 percent in cities.
The brief includes recommendations for parents and educators regarding decisions about redshirting.
“Redshirting is unlikely to produce lasting academic gains for most children. But it is also not a one-size-fits-all decision. The right choice depends on the child,” according to the brief. “Educators can play an important role by helping families weigh the evidence alongside what they know about a child’s readiness, temperament, and specific needs. Decisions about kindergarten entry are rarely about test scores alone. They are about fit, timing, and the broader context of a child’s development.”
