Abstract
The existence of a rigid cutoff date which determines when children start primary school creates a large heterogeneity in students’ level of maturity within the classroom. We use rich administrative data of the universe of public schools in Catalonia to show that: (1) relatively younger children do significantly worse both in tests administered at the school level and at the regional level, and they experience greater retention. (2) These effects are homogeneous across SES and significant across the whole distribution of performance. (3) Younger children in our data exhibit higher dropout rates and choose the academic track in secondary school less often. (4) Younger children are more frequently diagnosed with learning disorders.
Highlights
The fact that a unique school cutoff date determines when a child begins primary education induces large heterogeneity in the age at which children enter school
Younger children are less likely to enroll in academic high school than the older one, suggesting that the gap in maturity is persistent over time and has long-run consequences
The age effect is highly persistent over time, decreasing in magnitude: it is 0.41 standard deviations in grade 4 and 0.33 s.d. in the last grade of primary education, while during lower secondary education being 1 year older is still associated with about 0.2 standard deviations increase in the GPA
Summary
The fact that a unique school cutoff date determines when a child begins primary education induces large heterogeneity in the age at which children enter school. Studies for countries with early tracking such as Germany (Puhani and Weber 2007) and Italy (Ponzo and Scoppa 2014) show that difference in performance is persistent and affects students’ allocation to academic or vocational education, which in turns will affect their labor market outcomes. This suggests that the longer run effect of age at enrollment depends upon the educational system in place.
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