DOES DELAYED SCHOOL ENTRY REDUCE LATER GRADE RETENTIONS AND USE OF SPECIAL-EDUCATION SERVICES

The practice of delaying children's entry into a kindergarten program 1 year beyond the traditional chronological age of their classmates is a controversial issue. Although this practice has been said to reduce the need for grade retentions and special education services, the res earch literature has yielded contradictory results about the effects o f delayed entry on students. The present study examined the effects of delayed entry in one suburban New York school district on later eleme ntary-school grade retention and special education service rates. In a ddition, the influence of gender on the practice of delayed entry was investigated. The sample for this study consisted of all students (N = 3,238) who were enrolled in Grades 1 through 12; from this, a subsamp le of all children (N = 279) who had delayed school entry were identif ied, and their records were examined for future retentions and use of special education services. It was found that students who delayed sch ool entry were most often male and were placed in special education pr ograms in significantly higher proportions than nondelayed-entry stude nts. No significant effect of delayed entry was noted for retention.