Abstract
Using an unanticipated policy reform in Mexico that shifted 4 months the cutoff date for elementary school eligibility in 2006 and information on academic performance of 15-year-old students from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 survey, who entered first grade in 2006, this paper estimates the effects of starting first grade without having reached 6 years of age on middle-run academic performance. We found that entering school at a younger age increases the probability of having repeated at least one academic year by 7 percentage points and reduces academic performance (measured throughout PISA’s score points) between 6 and 10 score points in mathematics, reading and science (a Cohen’s d effect size between 0.06 and 0.10). We did not find evidence to claim that the effect of early entrance on academic performance is different for girls and boys or for urban and rural locations.
Highlights
Every year more than 120 million children in the word begin their formal education by entering first grade of elementary school
Taking advantage of the unanticipated shift in the cutoff date for school eligibility fulfilled in Mexico in 2006, the objective of this paper is to measure the effect of the relative age of entry to first grade on the school performance of 15-year-old students in Mexico
In June 2006 an unanticipated modification of the Article 65 of the General Education Law (DOF 2006) shifted the official age to enter first grade to 6 years old by December 31st of the school year. This shift increased the number of children younger than 6 years registered in first year of elementary school from 17% in 2004 to 31% in 2006 (PISA 2006, 2018)
Summary
Every year more than 120 million children in the word begin their formal education by entering first grade of elementary school. In June 2006 an unanticipated modification of the Article 65 of the General Education Law (DOF 2006) shifted the official age to enter first grade to 6 years old by December 31st of the school year This shift increased the number of children younger than 6 years registered in first year of elementary school from 17% in 2004 to 31% in 2006 (PISA 2006, 2018). Studies that considered “relative age” at school, such as Armstrong (1966) and Freyman (1965), pointed out that, it is necessary for administrative processes to establish age cohorts to enter school, age differences between students within the same cohort may benefit the older students and may harm the younger ones Even though, such studies did not find enough evidence to prove such hypothesis, they opened a line of research that has given important contributions to help us understand early childhood and primary education
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