Methodology · 2025–26
How What Grade Is My Kid works.
The math is unfussy. The hard part is keeping the 50-state cutoff data current and being honest about the six states where the question doesn't have a single answer.
The grade math
Compute age on cutoff day
For the chosen state's cutoff date and the 2025–26 school year start, we compute how old the child will be on that date.
Map age to grade level
Kindergarten begins at age 5 on the cutoff day. Every additional year of age adds one grade level.
Handle edge cases honestly
Under 5: "Not in school yet — starts kindergarten in fall <year>." 18+: "Past high school." States with varies-by-district policy: callout, not a confident answer.
Year-stamp everything
Every page shows the 2025–26 stamp. The school-year-start integer
is the single source of truth for the date math — bumping it for the next cycle
updates every page at once.
What we don't try to answer
- Whether your child should be in that grade — that's a teacher and parent conversation
- Private school grade policy (varies widely by school)
- Reading or writing level — different question, different tools
Sources
Spot an error?
State policies change. The 50-state matrix is reviewed each spring before back-to-school, but if you see something off — a wrong cutoff date, missing TK detail, a typo, anything — please email [email protected]. Fixes land in the next weekly publish.
A note on district-level variation
Six states (Colorado, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Vermont) defer the kindergarten cutoff to local school districts. Our result page shows a clear callout in those cases, not a confident answer.
Even in the 44 states + DC with a statewide rule, individual districts can sometimes set an earlier cutoff (never later than the state minimum). New York is the most prominent example: the statewide minimum is December 1, but most districts use September 1 or September 30. Always confirm with your local district before relying on this answer for enrollment decisions.