The Impact of Relative Age Effect on Mathematics Achievement

Ali Ünal

doi:10.5539/ies.v12n6p39

Abstract

The timing of children’s start to school is the interest of researchers, policy-makers and especially parents. Researches on this issue have recently pointed to the concept of relative age effect (RAE). The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of RAE on mathematics achievement in Turkey. In order to accomplish this purpose, the question was sought: Does RAE have an impact on TIMSS 2015 the fourth and eighth grades mathematics scores of Turkey? The research was conducted in survey model. In the present study, the data obtained from the TIMSS 2015 results of Turkey was used. Totally 6456 students were sampled for TIMSS 2015 the fourth grade in 242 schools. Also, totally 6079 students (2943 girls and 3136 boys) were sampled for TIMSS 2015 the eighth grade in 218 schools. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to analyze the data. In conclusion, it has been reached that RAE has an impact on TIMSS 2015 the fourth and eighth grades mathematics scores of Turkey and the youngest children born just before the cut-off date has the worst performance. The recommendations based on the results have been submitted as making the enrollment dates more flexible, especially for children in rural areas, not applying honors classes in schools, raising awareness about RAE in pre-service and in-service training programs for teachers, no pressure on children at home and at school for their lagging in competition.

Highlights

When should children start to school? This is a question that concerns parents and policy makers and researchers
Since children born in the beginning of the year used the advantage of being a few months older, they were more likely to be skilled by their trainers, get coach support, and play more matches, and at the same time move to the upper leagues with coach support and extra practical advantage
It was aimed to determine whether the long-term impact of relative age effect (RAE) on mathematics achievement of Turkey using TIMSS 2015 mathematics results

Summary

Introduction

This is a question that concerns parents and policy makers and researchers Those who have tried to answer the question face the concept of relative age effect (RAE). The RAE concept has become popular with Gladwell’s (2008) Outliers book In this book, he argues that children who are older than their peers experience the success early and this achievement process continues and reinforces itself (Dixon, Horton & Weir, 2011). In this book translated into Turkish in 2016, Gladwell based his claim on the fact that Barnsley, Thompson and Barnsley (1985) decreased the number of elite ice hockey players from January to December, indicating that those born at the beginning of the calendar year were superior to those born after. After the determination on ice hockey athletes, the existence of a RAE in sports has been clearly confirmed by researches almost in all sports fields (Cobley, Baker, Wattie, & McKenna, 2009; Dixon et al, 2011)

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Conclusion