I agree with you astrid, I think having the choice complicates things for parents - and for schools - it artificially inflates the distribution of skill level and 'readiness' in the classroom... rather than a 12 month age discrepancy (and the associated normal distribution of skills that arises in that population) there is 18 months and in some cases two years! I really think that just creates an even bigger issue and an even bigger variability in skills - which makes it harder for teachers to teach, and more likely that a struggling kid will feel they are struggling. Why make a bigger distribution than we need - there's always going to be younger and older kids, and more capable and less capable kids (academically and cognitively), so making an even larger age gap I REALLY believe increases the problems that occur in the classrooms.

Take away the choice - and we have less variability - there will always be some kids who are more ready than others - lets just choose an age we want kids to start school - and teach them accordingly.

and the national curriculum is supposed to make the states more equivalent - and we SHOULD be, as we are the same country... instead we have all these differing start dates - and then we have different reporting for teachers across each state too! so frustrating! i think the problem is that the federal government is the one setting the curriculum, but the state government is the one making the decisions of how to implement it in schools in their state - so.... things are all different!!