'Lengthening Childhood' Has A Downside, Study Says

The New York Sun reports:

The "lengthening of childhood" is having grim effects on American academic achievement.

That's the message of a new paper by Harvard researchers, who warn that there is a downside to the increasingly common practice of waiting until children are 6 to enroll them in kindergarten.

Known as "redshirting," after the practice of letting college football stars take a year off so that they can start playing for the varsity a year older, bigger, and stronger, the practice is widespread: A parent decides to hold a child back a year before beginning kindergarten, and suddenly kindergartners are taller and faster and first-graders are more literate. Manhattan private schools call the extra year "the gift of time."

The practice has grown substantially: In 1968, 96% of 6-year-olds were enrolled in first grade or above. In 2005, the number had fallen to 84%, according to the paper by the Harvard researchers, part of a series issued by the National Bureau of Economic Research.