Investigating the influence of school-entry age on academic performance at high school level in Zimbabwe

Abstract

The education policy for elementary school enrolment age has been reduced to 3 to 4 years. This change causes conflict among the parents that believe a child must be home schooled until at least age 7 years. This conviction is backed by some theories of development and some religious beliefs of course. Studies have been done exploring internal and external factors that affect academic performance. A few investigated the relationship of school-entry age and academic performance at elementary level. However, no study shows such an examination at high school level. This causal-comparative study investigated the influence of school-entry age on academic performance at high school level. Parental support and socio-economic status were utilized as control variables and the analysis of the archival data including English and Math scores from two high schools in Zimbabwe showed a significant difference in the academic performance of students in three different age groups. However, further tests indicated that parental support has more influence on academic performance than age. Thus, regardless of age, parental support can make a difference.