We went through kindergarten screening last year. However, the district was very clear that it was not "readiness testing." It was was benchmarking to let the teachers know what the kids coming in already know/don't know. If your child would be 5 by September 30, they were not denied admission.
I got the impression that it was a generalized result. As in, "Most of the kids know ___, ___, and ___, so those can be covered quickly." Not "Johnny needs extra help on his shapes."
That being said, my son's birthday is September 28 (two days before the deadline.) I chose to start him the following year. I spoke to a number of teachers and one of them told me the same think that k8c said: they'd never had a parent regret holding a child back in K, but they had parents who wished they had.
My son could have been academically ready last year... Probably. But, I'll admit, I'm surprised at the amount and level of work that the kids are expected to do. The "big finish" to my Kindergarten experience was learning to write my name. Not only was DS "expected" to know how to do that before he even started K, he's writing sentences now and reading whole picture books!
The biggest difference I noticed in my son between August 2005 (when he would have qualified by age to begin K) and August 2006 (when he did start) was his self confidence. He's always been a really "good kid" and never a discipline problem. However, he didn't speak up much in class... And had a tendency to follow other kids' leads, even if he knew they were making poor choices.
This year, he is a self-confident young man who makes his own choices. He even started hanging around less with one child that he'd been buddy-buddy with at the beginning of the year. I asked why, and he said it was because the other boy makes poor choices (and often ends up on "red" on the behavior chart) and he doesn't want to do the same. I think that shows some maturity that he would not have had last year. And he loves school... Which, I think, is huge.
My decision was not at *all* based in trying to make him the "best" in his class or anything. The most critical point in my decision making process was setting him up in a place where he could succeed and develop a good attitude toward school. It's only going to get tougher from here, I think, and I think starting out with an "I love school" attitude is so much easier to foster/work with than if he started out with a "School's too hard." attitude.
Best of luck with whatever decision you make.
