Academic Achievement and Adjustment of Underage and Overage Third Graders

Abstract

INTEREST IN this study resulted from hearing primary grade teachers frequently explain a child's low academic achievement with an observation such as, He is so young, or She is too imma ture for the work. A few recent investigations have suggested that mental age and intel 1 i g e n c e quotient can be over-emphasized as determiners of the child's early school success. Certain other factors, both physical and psychological, related to the child's developmental status, appear to de ter or to facilitate the use he can make of his learn ing opportunities. Among studies which have produced evidence of this kind was a comparison of the achieve ment of 73 pairs of Kansas City public school children, matched on intelligence quotient, sex and, in about two-thirds of the cases, the school first attended. One child of each pair had entered the fall term of kindergarten following a fifth birthday in January or February, while the child with whom he was paired did not reach the age of five until November or December after enrollment in school. Data from cumulative records showed that the overage group, from kindergarten through grade ten, had made significantly higher marks in school subjects^ significantly higher achievement test scores in reading, arithmetic and social studies, received significantly higher ratings from teachers on personal traits, and were sig nificantly more successful in moving regularly from grade to grade. ** A study reported by Carter compared the a chievement of 100 children who had entered first grade in the Austin Public Schools in September 1947.2 Half of these children were un der and half over six when they enrolled in grade one. Matching was done on the basis of sex and intelligence quotient. Achievement test scores carefully recorded throughout elementary school provided data for comparison. Findings suggested