The rise of
redshirting dates to the 1980s, when mandatory testing put pressure on schools to make the early elementary grades more rigorous. As 3rd and 4th grade became more demanding, kindergarten had to keep up. Savvy parents were increasingly likely to worry about their children's early academic performance and resort to
redshirting, Meisels says.
A parallel national trend of moving back the cutoff age for kindergarten eligibility, making the average child older when he or she began, also contributed to the "graying of kindergarten."
—Nara Schoenberg, "Postponing kindergarten," Chicago Tribune, April 26, 2006
About 9 percent of 5-year-olds nationwide are 'academically
redshirted,' or held out of kindergarten for a year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. ...
Academic redshirting is a result of higher expectations of kindergartners, some educators say, and makes sense for students with summer or early fall birthdays, or for ones, usually boys, too immature to handle kindergarten.
—Katherine Cromer Brock, "Redshirted but ready," The Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, August 10, 2006
