Early Entrance to Kindergarten & First Grade

In accordance with Hilliard City Schools Board Policies JEB/JEBA and IKEB and Ohio Revised Code Section 3321.01, students in the district must be 5 years old on or before the first day of school in order to be enrolled in kindergarten for the new school year. Students must also successfully complete a credentialed kindergarten program and be six years of age before entering 1st grade. 

However, some children may be best served entering school earlier than typical-aged peers. School-entrance ages and birthdates are established by the state based upon research about immediate school readiness and long-term academic and social outcomes experienced by most children. As such, early entrance is not intended to be an exception for children who are typically developing but miss the date by a few weeks, days, or even hours. Rather, early entrance is for children who are significantly advanced cognitively and academically. 

Caregivers may refer a child for evaluation if the child will turn 5 between August 2 and December 31 (or 6, if applying to 1st grade). If the child’s birthday is between January 1 and August 1, the referral must come from a pediatrician, psychologist, or licensed Ohio educator with knowledge of the child’s cognitive and academic development. 

Referring a child for Early Entrance Evaluation

Caregivers must complete the registration process and submit an application for Early Entrance to the Hilliard City Schools Welcome Center by June 30th. Applications after this date may not be accepted. Early Entrance applications are available from the Welcome Center.

Once the referral and authorization to assess forms are received and reviewed by the Director of Measurement, Intervention, and Enrichment, all necessary information will be shared with the school psychologist at the student’s assigned elementary school who will schedule and conduct appropriate assessments, including both cognitive and achievement testing.

Evaluating a child for Early Entrance

Evaluation for early entrance requires a series of assessments meant to measure a student’s cognitive, academic, and social emotional abilities. With each assessment, students will meet with a school psychologist in a one-on-one setting. The cognitive assessment, which requires a minimum cognitive score of 115, will be normed based upon the child’s age and is used to determine whether further data will be collected. If the composite cognitive score is less than 115, caregivers will be notified by the school psychologist that their child did not meet the eligibility requirements for early entrance to kindergarten and does not qualify for additional testing. 

Achievement tests are normed for the student’s age and two years above. The scores from these cognitive and achievement assessments are placed on the Iowa Acceleration Scale (IAS), a research-based tool approved by the Ohio Department of Education & Workforce for this purpose. In alignment with the critical measures on this instrument, students must have a cognitive score at least one standard deviation above the mean and a combination of achievement scores to meet a minimum threshold to continue on in the process. Those achievement scores are, on average, 90th percentile or higher compared to agemates and 50-75th percentile when using norms two years above.

Early Entrance Decisions

Results from all administered assessments as well as a determination of eligibility for early entrance will be shared with caregivers in writing by the Director of Measurement, Intervention, and Enrichment. Appeals to decisions regarding early entrance must be submitted in writing to the Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction within 10 business days.