Academic redshirting applies mostly to college athletes. Originally, the term refers to the act of postponing the college athlete’s participation in season games for an entire year. Although the idea might not be that appealing to most athlete students, redshirting can actually be beneficial to them. The main objective of redshirting is to give college athletes an extra year to practice with the team, allowing the student to improve his/her skills for future games.

Nowadays, the term academic redshirting may also refer to the postponing the entrance of age-eligible children into kindergarten. The idea behind this practice is to allow young children to have more time for intellectual, socioemotional, as well as physical growth. Oftentimes, this type of academic redshirting applies to children whose birthdays fall near to the cut-off dates, making them among the youngest in the class.

Several studies have been made regarding the potential effects of academic redshirting. However, most studies that were made have yet to sort out the long term and short term effects of redshirting.

Several studies examining the effects of the practice in the children’s early elementary years have found that redshirting might raise the child’s achievement in reading, math, and general knowledge. Apart from that, the practice might also be a contributing factor to raising the child’s level of confidence in social interactions.
Some studies made on academic redshirting also show that there is no clear evidence that the practice may harm children in the long term.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, academic shirting happens at the rate of around 9% each year among kindergarten-age children. According to the figures gathered by the NCES, kindergarten-age boys were more often redshirted than girls. Additionally, children whose birth date falls in the latter half of the year are more likely to become subjects to the practice than those children who were born earlier.