04/10/2026
Research on redshirting suggests that it is associated with a small academic advantage (that is, higher academic test scores) and test scores seem to increase at a greater rate in 1st and 2nd grade (suggesting that redshirted children are showing enhanced learning in these grades). However, this effect may begin to fade as early as the end of first grade. This research is also correlational meaning we do not know whether it is redshirting that causes these advantages or if redshirting is simply associated with advantages. The latter would not be surprising since parents that choose to redshirt their children are often very different from the parents who do not— most notably they are often higher income families.
So research suggests that being older than your peers is consistently associated with at least a small advantage, but are there any situations in which parents might want to avoid redshirting? Research suggests that when your child has an identified disability, a suspected disability, or even if you are just concerned that they may need some extra help in school, you may want to avoid redshirting. In this case, delaying school entry may be associated with worse academic performance, because it would also involve delaying free essential services through the public school system (such as speech therapy and learning support). This short delay may have a big impact as research finds that services before age 5 are more effective in improving a child’s long-term outcome than services after age 5.
For more information on this topic, visit parentingtranslator.substack.com to read the Parenting Translator newsletter for a deep dive on this topic (including links to all of the research)!
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