Delayed School Entry Research Articles

Relative Age Within School Grade, Including Delayed and Accelerated School Start: Associations With Midlife Psychiatric Disorders, Suicide, and Alcohol- and Drug-Related Mortality.

Within a school grade, children who are young for grade are at increased risk of psychiatric diagnoses, but the long-term implications remain understudied, and associations with students who delay or accelerate entry underexplored. We used Norwegian birth cohort records (birth years: 1967-1976, n= 626,928) linked to records in midlife. On-time school entry was socially patterned; among those born in December, 23.0% of children in the lowest socioeconomic position (SEP) delayed school entry, compared with 12.2% among the highest SEP. Among those who started school on time, there was no evidence for long-term associations between birth month and psychiatric/behavioral disorders or mortality. Controlling for SEP and other confounders, delayed school entry was associated with increased risk of psychiatric disorders and mortality. Children with delayed school entry were 1.31 times more likely to die by suicide (95% confidence interval: 1.07, 1.61) by midlife, and 1.96 times more likely to die from drug-related death (95% confidence interval: 1.59, 2.40) by midlife than those born late in the year who started school on time. Associations with delayed school entry are likely due to selection, and results thus underscore that long-term health risks can be tracked early in life, including through school entry timing, and are highly socially patterned.

Children's Relative Age and Medicine Treatment for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Across Australian Jurisdictions with Different School Enrolment Policies.

Background: Children who are relatively young for their school grade are more likely to receive treatment for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It is unclear whether the phenomenon also exists across Australia or is impacted by the school enrolment policy in place. Objective: We evaluated the association between children's relative age and initiation of ADHD medicines across Australian jurisdictions with different school enrolment policies and rates of delayed school entry. Methods: We used Australia-wide dispensing data for a 15% random sample of children 4-9 years of age in 2013-2017 to create a nationwide cohort. Due to high rates of delayed school entry in New South Wales (NSW), we used linked prescribing and education data for a cohort of NSW residents starting school in 2009 and 2012. We estimated incidence rate ratios (IRRs) for ADHD medicine across children's birth month, sex, and jurisdiction. We used asthma medicines as a negative control. Results: For girls, we observed a relative age effect in three out of five jurisdictions, with an IRR ranging from 1.3 to 2.8, comparing the youngest versus oldest birth month thirds. We observed more modest effects among boys, ranging from null to 1.5-fold. In NSW, the relatively youngest boys were less likely to initiate stimulant medicines than the oldest (IRR = 0.5, 95% confidence interval 0.29-0.78). We did not observe a relative age effect for initiation of asthma medicines. Conclusions: In jurisdictions with low rates of delayed entry, relatively young children were more likely to initiate ADHD medicines than their older classmates. We observed the inverse association in NSW where delayed entry was highest, likely reflecting the characteristics and needs of children who delay school entry for 1 year and become the oldest children in the grade. Increased awareness around children's maturity differences and school readiness may enhance appropriate diagnosis and treatment of ADHD.

Impacts of delayed school entry on child learning in rural northwestern China — forced delay versus voluntary delay

ABSTRACT Most previous studies exploit the discontinuity in children’s school entry age around the enrolment cut-off to identify the effect of delayed school entry on child learning. However, the effect so identified is only relevant to children who were ‘forced’ to enter school late because of being born slightly after the enrolment cut-off. In developing countries, many children voluntarily start school late regardless of their birthdates, for whom the commonly-used discontinuity-based strategy fails to identify the effect relevant to their delayed enrolment. This study exploits community peer effects to estimate the impact of voluntary delay in school entry, using older peers’ school entry age to instrument one’s own school entry age. Analysing data on nearly 4,000 children from rural northwestern China, we found that while both types of delay in school entry raise the incidence of first-grade repetition, the effect of voluntary delay is much larger than that of forced delay. More specifically, one year of voluntary delay increases a child’s likelihood of first-grade retention by 12.4 percentage points, which is more than twice the effect of forced delay.

A Phenomenological Analysis of Teaching Experiences for Children with Disabilities with Delayed School Entry Experience Perceived by Child Care Teachers for Children with Disabilities

본 연구는 장애영유아보육교사가 경험한 현상과 그 관계경험의 의미를 탐색하면서 참여자의 공통적인 속성을 통해 교사경험의 본질을 이해하고자 하는 현상학적 연구이다. 연구를 위해 취학을 유예한 장애아동을 지도한 경험이 있는 6인의 연구 참여자들을 대상으로 그들의 보육 활동 경험에 대해 각각 심층면접을 진행하였다. 그리고 심층면접을 통해 얻어진 자료에 대해 주제 분석을 진행하여 4개의 본질적 주제와 13개의 하위주제들을 도출하였다. 연구를 통해 나타난 장애영유아보육교사들이 지각한 취학유예 장애아동과의 경험 의미는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 참여자들은 장애아동이 어린이집 환경을 통해 학교 준비도를 갖춰 유예를 끝내고 취학의 문으로 갈 수 있도록 학습을 위한 교사의 본질에 충실하고 있었다. 둘째, 참여자들은 아동들과의 상호작용에서 신체접촉과 감각을 통해 부모의 마음으로 대하면서 정서에 기반한 상호작용을 이끌어내기 위해 노력하고 있었다. 셋째, 참여자들은 취학유예 장애아동과의 경험을 통해 교사관의 변화를 겪고 있었는데, 취학에의 준비를 마치지 못하여 같은 곳에 머무르는 장애아동을 담임하는 새로운 경험을 통해 자신의 교사관과 아동을 위한 목표를 돌아보게 되었다. 본 연구의 결과는 취학유예로 인한 과연령 아동을 돌보는 교사의 고충과 노고에 대한 이해를 높이고 교사로서의 인간적 본질을 들여다보게 하는 데 기여할 수 있을 것이다.

Why am I late for school? Peer effects on delayed school entry in rural northwestern China

ABSTRACT This paper estimates peer effects on children’s school entry age, using a dataset on 4,165 children from rural northwestern China (Gansu province). Instrumental-variable estimation, exploiting variations in (older) peers’ home-to-school distance to identify the effect of their school entry age, reveals that a one-year increase in (older) peers’ school entry age raises a child’s school entry age by 0.43 years. This effect is much stronger than the effects of family-background factors such as parental education and family wealth, suggesting that the dominant driving force of delayed school enrollment lies outside of the family.

Age culture, school-entry cutoff, and the choices of birth month and school-entry timing in South Korea

AbstractThis study explores how the distinctive Korean age reckoning, the Confucian age culture, and the school-entry-cutoff date affect the decisions of parents on both birth and school-entry timing for their children in Korea. There is a traditional method of age calculation in Korea that all people get one year older on January 1. Korea also has a distinctive age culture influenced by Confucianism. I find a substantial amount of birth and school-entry timing selections around the Korean age-cutoff date, January 1. The estimation results show that children born in January and February delayed school entry by 18.2–21.2 percentage points more than those born in November and December and 24% of births moved from one week before January 1 to one week after when the school-entry cutoff was March 1. After the school-entry cutoff has changed to January 1, children barely delay school enrollment, while more births are moved from December to January: 42% of births are shifted within the 7-day window. These behaviors are made by two motives: (1) parents want their children to have the same Korean age with their classmates because of the Confucian age culture; (2) they also want their children to be relatively older to have academic advantages.

Exploring the Associations Between Delayed School Entry and Achievement in Primary and Secondary School.

This research investigated whether delayed school entry was associated with higher achievement in national tests of reading and numeracy in Grades 3, 5, 7, and 9 (n=2,823). Delayed entry was related to advantages in reading (0.14SD) and numeracy (0.08SD) at Grade 3, although little variance was explained (1%-2%). This slight advantage persisted for both domains in Grades 5 and 7, albeit with smaller effects. In Grade 9 there was no association between delayed entry and either reading or numeracy. Exploratory analyses with subsamples in each grade (n=424-667) revealed no associations between delayed entry and achievement after controlling for inattention and hyperactivity, and negative associations between inattention and achievement in all grades in both domains (-0.33, -0.49SD).

The effect of school entrance age on educational outcomes: Evidence using multiple cutoff dates and exact date of birth

Using Israeli data, we estimate the effect of school entrance age (SEA) on student outcomes. Unlike much of the recent literature, our unique identification strategy separates the SEA effect from date of birth effects. We find that delaying school entry by one year increases fifth grade test scores in Hebrew by 0.29 standard deviations and in math by 0.16. Interestingly, while the advantage in Hebrew decreases in eighth grade, in math it almost doubles. We show that although the bias induced by failing to control for date of birth effects is generally rather small, in some cases it is quite notable. This bias could have mistakenly led us to conclude that the SEA effect on math test scores slightly decreases from fifth to eighth grade while it actually substantially increases.

Exposure to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in utero and early elementary school outcomes.

Data on special education in offspring exposed to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in utero are lacking. We examined associations of in utero SSRI exposure with special education needs and delayed elementary school start. A population-based case-cohort study using Danish nationwide birth and prescription registry data from 2005 to 2008. Follow-up ends during 2011-2015 to capture special education needs during and delayed entry to the first elementary school year. Cases were in utero SSRI-exposed offspring. Cohort-controls were SSRI-unexposed offspring of mothers previously on SSRIs. We reported odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), adjusted for relevant potential confounders. Of 117 475 first-incident non-multiple pregnancy births, 3314 were SSRI-exposed, and 3536 were unexposed. Among SSRI-exposed offspring, 3.2% (n = 98) had special school needs vs. 2.4% (n = 77) in unexposed offspring, P-value=0.048. Correspondingly, 12.3% (n = 383) among SSRI-exposed children had delayed school entry vs. 9.4% (n = 308) in unexposed offspring, P-value < 0.001. Adjusted OR for the association with special school needs was 1.12 (95% CI 0.82-1.55; P-value = 0.48) and 1.38 (95% CI 0.90-2.13; P-value = 0.14) for exposure in all three trimesters. The corresponding adjusted ORs for delayed school entry were 1.17 (95% CI 0.99-1.38; P-value = 0.073) and 1.40 (95% CI 1.11-1.76; P-value = 0.004). In utero SSRI exposure in all three trimesters was associated with delayed elementary school start but not special education needs.

Does ethnic bias affect kindergarten teachers’ school entry recommendations?

BackgroundEthnic educational inequality is present in almost all Western societies. One possible explanation for the persisting disadvantages of children from immigrant family backgrounds is discrimination. Individual ethnic discrimination has been reported in the form of ethnic bias in school teachers’ evaluations and recommendations. Children of immigrant families tend to be disadvantaged with regard to both school teachers’ evaluations of their competencies as well as to recommendations of further steps in their educational career.PurposeThe aim of this research paper is to analyse whether ethnic bias is also present at earlier stages of the educational career, in kindergarten teachers’ recommendations. The study, conducted in Germany, investigated (a) whether kindergartens’ recommendations of school entry (early, regular or delayed school entry) differed with respect to whether the child had a Turkish migration background or was a child of German origin and (b) whether these potential differences can be explained by children’s individual skill levels and family background characteristics.Design, sample and methodsThe research was carried out from a quantitative secondary analysis, using data from the longitudinal project ‘Preschool education and educational careers among migrant children’, conducted in Germany since 2006. The sample consists of 742 children, with around half of the sample being children of Turkish origin and half being children of German origin, and their parents. Parents were interviewed and children’s individual skills were tested using standardised instruments from the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children. The effect of Turkish origin on kindergarten teachers’ school entry recommendations is analysed, controlling for children’s social background, individual skills (non-verbal cognition, German language, mathematics) and children’s social behaviour, using a stepwise multinomial logistic regression analysis.ResultsThe analysis indicated that, although kindergarten teachers’ school entry recommendations differed according to a child’s ethnic background, there was no ethnic bias evident. Children of Turkish origin were significantly less frequently recommended for early school entry than children of German origin and significantly more often for delayed school entry, but these differences vanished when the parents’ educational level was controlled and disappeared when children’s individual skills and social behaviour were additionally considered in the model.ConclusionsWe conclude that, in the sample studied, there was no ethnic bias in kindergarten teachers’ school entry recommendations. The disadvantage of children of Turkish origin as compared to the children of German origin can be fully explained by differences in parental educational level and children’s individual skills and social behaviour. The remaining effect of social background, however, should be studied further to clarify whether this effect captures other characteristics such as unobserved skills of the children and differences in parental engagement.

Is delayed school entry harmful for children with disabilities?

We examine whether the academic achievement of students with disabilities who delay entry into kindergarten differs from on-time entering students within the categories of students’ identified with disability in a large and representative state using educational administrative data on three cohorts of kindergarten students (N = 262,000). Analyses indicate that the negative association between redshirting (delayed kindergarten entry) as a student later identified as having a disability varies across students with different types of disability. For most disability designations, achievement outcomes were substantially lower for redshirted students compared to students with the same designation who enrolled in kindergarten on time. This supports the hypothesis that schools may provide young children with better access to early identification and intervention services, which outweigh the benefits of maturation experiences during the redshirt year. However, redshirted students with speech–language impairments had slightly higher achievement compared with students with speech–language impairments who entered on time. Study findings suggest that young children with disabilities may benefit from entering kindergarten when first eligible.

Impacts of Late School Entry on Children's Cognitive Development in Rural Northwestern China—Does Preprimary Education Matter?

AbstractThis article estimates the causal effect of primary school entry age on children's cognitive development in rural northwestern China, using data on nearly 1,800 primary school aged children from the Gansu Survey of Children and Families. Instrumental variable estimates, exploiting the discontinuity structure in children's school entry age around the enrolment cut‐off date, indicate that a 1‐year delay in school entry reduces children's scores on a cognitive ability test administered when they were aged 9–12 by 0.11–0.16 standard deviations (of the distribution of test scores). The negative late‐school‐entry effect is significantly larger in villages with no preprimary schools. It also persists as children advance to higher grades. These findings suggest that delayed school entry, even if it may be rural parents' rational response to resource constraints, can be harmful for children's cognitive development in developing areas with underdeveloped preprimary school systems.

Social and geographical inequalities in school starting age in Australia: a population data linkage study

ABSTRACT&#x0D; ObjectiveIn Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales (NSW), children must start school in the year they turn five, unless they are born between February-July, in which case they can delay starting until the year they turn six. Consequently, children start their first year of school aged 4.5-6 years. This may translate into a wide range of developmental ability in the classroom in the first year of school and may impact on the magnitude of inequalities in longer-term educational outcomes. To inform how this policy currently translates into the demographic composition of NSW classrooms, this study aims to identify child, family, and area-level characteristics associated with the practice of delaying school entry.&#x0D; ApproachThe ‘Seeding Success’ study cohort (N=154,936) includes an almost complete population of children who started school in NSW in 2009 or 2012, and were born in NSW, identified by linking the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) data to perinatal and birth registry data. Restricting this analysis to the 88,716 (57%) children born in February-July, we defined ‘delayed school entry’ as children who were eligible to start school the previous year (i.e. 2008 or 2011), but started in the AEDC data collection years (i.e. 2009 or 2012). Multilevel regression models were used to investigate child, family and area-level characteristics associated with delayed school entry.&#x0D; ResultsThe prevalence of delayed school entry was 46% in the 2009 AEDC cohort and 47% in the 2012 AEDC cohort. Boys and children born closer to July were more likely to be delayed, as were children of older mothers. Prevalence of delay was similar in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children, however, children of mothers born overseas were less likely to delay school entry compared to Australian-born mothers. Delaying was less common in major cities compared to remote and regional areas, and less common in socio-economically disadvantaged areas.&#x0D; ConclusionChildren born in February-July who live in socio-economically disadvantaged urban areas are more likely to start school up to a year earlier than their peers, with poorly understood educational consequences. The current policy on school starting age results in an 18-month age range in classrooms, which may be challenging for teachers and confusing for parents who need to make a decision regarding their child’s ‘school readiness’. It is likely that access and affordability of childcare during the study period impacted on parent’s decisions about when to send their children to school.

Don't Hold Back? The Effect of Grade Retention on Student Achievement

This study analyzes the effect of age-based retention on school achievement at different stages of education. I estimate an instrumental variable model, using the predicted probability of retention given month of birth as an instrument, while simultaneously accounting for the effect of month of birth on maturity at the time of testing. The analysis further assesses heterogeneity in retention effects by achievement, by background characteristics, and by type of skill. Using international data from multiple waves of the PISA international assessment test, I find that grade retention in primary school harms student achievement across the distribution, while delayed school entry can produce positive results for those at the lower end. The identified local average treatment effect indicates that letting students retain in primary school because of a low relative age is harmful for their future school achievement.

The Effect of School Entrance Age on Educational Outcomes: Evidence Using Multiple Cutoff Dates and Exact Date of Birth

Using Israeli data, we estimate the effect of school entrance age (SEA) on student outcomes. Unlike much of the recent literature, our identification strategy strictly satisfies the monotonicity assumption required for interpreting our estimates as the local average treatment effect (LATE), and also separates the effect of SEA from date of birth effects. We find that delaying school entry by one year increases fifth grade test scores in Hebrew by 0.34 standard deviations and in math by 0.19. Interestingly, while the advantage in Hebrew slightly decreases in eighth grade, in math it almost doubles. We also show that by failing to control for date of birth fixed effects we would have erroneously concluded that the SEA effect on math test scores decreases slightly from fifth grade to eight grade while it actually substantially increases.

The Analysis of Meanings of Delayed School Entry Experiences through Retrospections of Parents of Children with Disabilities

The Analysis of Meanings of Delayed School Entry Experiences through Retrospections of Parents of Children with Disabilities

The risk of delayed school entry in relation to migration background in different institutional settings

In Germany, children of immigrants are faced with delayed school entry about twice as often as children of native-born parents because they are more often diagnosed not being ready for school. We investigate these early educational inequalities, focusing on the interplay of individual competencies and the institutional context in terms of the school enrollment procedure. We compare the conventional procedure, where school enrollment is supposed to be bound on school readiness, with reformed procedures where school enrollment is not supposed to be bound on school readiness. Data of school entry examinations from Hesse, Germany from 2008–2012 are analyzed (N = 50,717). The results show that children of immigrants from all origin groups have a substantially higher risk of obtaining a recommendation for delayed school entry than children of native-born parents. However, these ethnic differences are strongly reduced in the reformed procedures as compared to the conventional school enrollment procedure, indicating that these procedures could be an effective measure to reduce ethnic educational inequalities at school start.

Relationship of Age for Grade and Pubertal Stage to Early Initiation of Substance Use.

IntroductionStudies suggest students who are substantially older than the average age for their grade engage in risky health behaviors, including substance use. However, most studies do not account for the distinct reasons why students are old for their grade (ie, grade retention vs delayed school entry) or for their pubertal stage. Thus, whether the association between age for grade and substance use is confounded by these factors is unknown. We sought to determine whether age, grade, or pubertal stage were associated with early substance use.MethodsCross-sectional Healthy Passages Wave I survey data from 5,147 fifth graders and their caregivers in Alabama, California, and Texas from 2004 through 2006 were analyzed in 2014. Logistic regressions examined whether older age for grade, grade retention, delayed school entry, or pubertal stage were associated with use of any substance, cigarettes, alcohol, or other drugs.ResultsSeventeen percent of fifth graders reported trying at least 1 substance. Among boys, advanced pubertal stage was associated with increased odds of cigarette, alcohol, or other drug use, whereas delayed school entry was associated with lower odds of any substance, alcohol, or other drug use. Among girls, advanced pubertal stage was associated only with higher odds of alcohol use, and delayed school entry was not associated with substance use. Neither older age for grade or grade retention was independently associated with substance use after controlling for potential confounders.ConclusionAdvanced pubertal stage may be a more important risk factor for substance use than age for grade. Pediatricians should consider initiating substance use screening earlier for patients with advanced pubertal stage.

Negotiating Access to Health Information to Promote Students' Health.

Access to student health information, such as immunizations, screenings, and care plans for chronic conditions, is essential for school nurses to fulfill their role in promoting students' health. School nurses typically encounter barriers to accessing health records and spend many hours attempting to retrieve health information. As a result, nurses' time is poorly utilized and students may suffer adverse outcomes including delayed school entry. In response to this pressing public health issue, a school medical advisor and director of school nurses in a local health department successfully negotiated access for school nurses to three health record systems: a state immunization tracking system, an electronic lead surveillance program, and an electronic health record system. This negotiation process is presented within a framework of the Theory of Diffusion of Innovation and provides a strategy for other school nurses seeking access to student health information.

Academic red-shirting and academic achievement among students with ADHD

Academic red-shirting via voluntary delayed school entry is a debatable practice for students but has been argued a potentially viable practice for children with a range of disabilities by providing students “the gift of time.” The current study (n = 21,409) indicated that children with ADHD (n = 1057) were more likely to be red-shirted as compared to children without ADHD (n = 20,352). We examined the academic trajectories of those children with ADHD who were red-shirted versus children with ADHD who were not red-shirted. Results revealed no meaningful association of red-shirting with academic achievement across time. We subsequently examined the relationship of red-shirting and academic achievement among children with ADHD who received medication (n = 426) versus children with ADHD who did not receive medication (n = 631). Among children with medicated ADHD, the negative association of red-shirting with achievement across time was stronger but medication received was also associated with more severe symptoms of inattention across time, which may account for this relationship. Academic red-shirting does not appear to be especially beneficial for students with ADHD (medicated or not) in terms of academic achievement across time.