Policy 505-R Entrance Age Regulations

Children, who have not reached age 5 by September 1 but have completed a Minnesota public kindergarten program, a Minnesota Accredited private kindergarten program, or a kindergarten program outside of Minnesota, will be enrolled in Wayzata Public School’s kindergarten program for the upcoming school year. Parents may apply for Early Entrance Evaluation to determine if their child meets the eligibility criteria for early entrance to 1st grade.

The parent(s) of any District child whose birthday falls between September 2 and October 15 may request consideration for early entrance to kindergarten or first grade. The procedures for Early Entrance are listed below:

CRITERIA FOR EARLY ENTRANCE
The criteria for early entrance are the same as the criteria for grade acceleration (School Board Policy 602-R), which are a student may be considered for early entrance if the following can be clearly demonstrated: a high level of academic achievement in all areas of the curriculum (with special emphasis on reading, writing and mathematics), intellectual ability two standard deviations above average (i.e., IQ score at least 130), social and emotional maturity, and a high degree of persistence. 

APPLICATION PROCEDURE
The application for Early Entrance is available on the Wayzata Public School website under Teaching and Learning – Early Entrance, or can be obtain by contacting of the office of Research and Evaluation. Please complete all three pages of the application form and mail it along with a non-refundable check for $200.00 made payable to ISD #284 by May 1st. Economic hardship options may be available.

If you live within the school district, or can show proof of residency, and your child meets the birthdate eligibility requirement, you will be contacted to schedule an interview for the first stage of the evaluation. The interviews are typically scheduled during the second full week of June. A final decision on early entrance will be made by June 30th. 

Note: Parents/guardians missing the May 1 deadline will be required to send children at the age appropriate time to kindergarten or Grade 1. If acceleration is requested, procedures for acceleration (Board Regulations on 602-R) will be followed. This will occur during the first six weeks of the school year.
 

EVALUATION PROCESS
The evaluation process consists of the parent information requested in the application and two stages of assessment conducted by Wayzata district staff. 

In the first stage of assessment, children are interviewed by a Wayzata Public Schools teacher for academic and social emotional screening. If children meet the screening criteria in the first stage, they are recommended to move to the second stage of assessments. 

In the second stage, children are administered an individual intelligence test by a Wayzata Public Schools psychologist. In addition, parents and previous teachers (if available) may also be asked to complete a social/emotional/behavior rating scale to supplement the social and emotional screening conducted by the Wayzata Public Schools teacher. 

The parent information requested in the application and teacher observations are part of the information gathering phase of the evaluation process, as required by the state. 

After all the information is collected, the Early Entrance Evaluation team will make the decision on early entrance.
 

• Adopted: October 14, 1985
• Amended: May 16, 1990
• Amended: December 3, 1992
• Amended: March 19, 1998
• Amended: March 15, 2004
• Amended: July 12, 2004
• Amended: October 12, 2015
• Last Reviewed: November 12, 2019

• Policy 505 - Entrance Age