Let's not create an achievement gap before school even starts.
I chose my Capstone project because I was distressed by the inequitable treatment two of my intervention students faced. Both boys were African American and attending a Title I school. In both cases, their mothers had chosen to delay kindergarten the previous year. (This practice, known as "redshirting" in the literature, happens nationally and within our district at schools that serve wealthier populations.) When the mothers came to register their sons for kindergarten this year, they were told that the boys would have to start school as first graders. Because they were starting school one year behind, they were placed in my intervention group, where they struggled all year to close a gap that did not need to exist. Had they been allowed to start as kindergarteners one year late, as children at other schools in our district are, they may not have needed intervention services at all.
My hope is that this project will help protect future students from the experience these two boys had. I want to see all families have equal opportunities to make decisions about kindergarten enrollment.
Background and Need
In the United States, recent attention has focused on closing the achievement gap. In general, children of color and children living in poverty encounter a different education system than White children and children from wealthier neighborhoods. School funding is not equal. Schools are able to provide vastly different resources in different zip codes. These differences lead to different levels of student achievement, graduation, college entrance, etc. (Darling-Hammond, 2010). Parents of disadvantaged students also have fewer options available to choose from as they seek to provide their children with the best possible education. One of the few options within their control is determining when their children begin school. My study compared differences in the rates of delayed kindergarten between schools that serve more white and higher income families and those that served more students of color and lower income families. You can read the full paper by clicking the Research icon on the right of this screen.
Link to Blog Archives
You can read more about my thinking throughout this project on my blog. Directly access some highlights from the very beginning by clicking on the dates below.
9/10/18: I met D and M for the first time.
10/17/17: The beginning of my literature review and my struggle to remain neutral in the face of the unjust treatment my students had received