School Entry Age Research Articles

Why are young adults affected? Estimating measles vaccination coverage in 20-34 year old germans in order to verify progress towards measles elimination.

Background: The introduction of measles vaccination into routine childhood vaccination programmes has led to a shift of disease burden and incidence among young adults. This was confirmed by the recent rise in measles cases and outbreaks throughout Europe. To prevent outbreaks and eliminate measles, one of the key objectives of the WHO Europe measles elimination framework is achieving overall vaccination coverage of ≥95% in the population on a district level. In the absence of national registers, data on vaccination coverage in Germany is recorded at the age of school entry, through insurance refund claim data and population studies. Vaccination status (VS) of young adults is largely unknown. Methods: We assessed measles vaccination coverage in young adults aged 20-34 years on a district level of the German Federal State of Rhineland-Palatinate. The knowledge and attitude towards immunization of unvaccinated to vaccinated young adults were compared using Likert questions. We used proportional allocation for stratified random sampling across 36 counties. We mailed a self-administered questionnaire with pre-paid return envelopes along with an offer to complete online. Prior to calculating coverage we tested for non-responder bias using logistic regression. Results: 465 (28%) of 1,637 persons contacted responded (mail: 23%, online: 5%). More women responded than men (odds ratio (OR)=2.1; 95% confidence intervall (CI)=1.7-2.6) but age did not vary between responders and non-responders. Vaccination coverage was 90% (95%CI=87%-93%) for one and 56% (95%CI=51%-61%) for two doses. We found a statistically significant association between receiving two doses and age group. The 20-24 years age group had a 2.3 higher incidence rate ratio (95%CI=1.7-3.2) than the reference group of 30-34 year old to have received two doses of measles vaccination. The group of 25-29 year old had a 1.5 higher incidence rate (95%CI=1.0-2.1) than the reference group to have received two doses of measles vaccination. Conclusions: Coverage has failed to reach the WHO Europe elimination goal of 95% measles vaccination in the general population. Targeted approaches including enlistment of occupational health services and checking vaccination status during general practitioner (GP) visits are needed to increase vaccination uptake in this age group in order to achieve measles elimination.

The Youngest Get the Pill: Adhd Misdiagnosis and the Production of Education in Germany

Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a leading diagnosed health condition among children in many developed countries but the causes underlying these high levels of ADHD remain highly controversial. Recent research for the U.S., Canada and some European countries shows that children who enter school relatively young have higher ADHD rates than their older peers, suggesting that ADHD may be misdiagnosed in the younger children due to their relative immaturity. Using rich administrative health insurance claims data from Germany we study the effects of relative school entry age on ADHD risk in Europe's largest country and relate the effects for Germany to the international evidence.We further analyze different mechanisms that may drive these effects, focusing on physician supply side and demand side factors stemming from the production of education. We find robust evidence for school-entry age related misdiagnosis of ADHD in Germany. Within Germany and internationally, a higher share of misdiagnoses are related to a higher overall ADHD level, suggesting that misdiagnoses may be a driving factor of high ADHD levels. Furthermore, the effects in Germany seem to be driven by teachers and parents in an attempt to facilitate and improve the production of education.

Control of varicella in the post-vaccination era in Australia: a model-based assessment of catch-up and infant vaccination strategies for the future.

In Australia, varicella vaccine was universally funded in late 2005 as a single dose at 18 months. A school-based catch-up programme for children aged 10-13 years without a history of infection or vaccination was funded until 2015, when those eligible for universal infant vaccination would have reached the age of high school entry. This study projects the impact of discontinuing catch-up vaccination on varicella and zoster incidence and morbidity using a transmission dynamic model, in comparison with alternative policy options, including two-dose strategies. At current vaccine coverage (83% at 2 years and 90% at 5 years), ceasing the adolescent catch-up programme in 2015 was projected to increase varicella-associated morbidity between 2035 and 2050 by 39%. Although two-dose infant programmes had the lowest estimated varicella morbidity, the incremental benefit from the second dose fell by 70% if first dose coverage increased from 83% to 95% by age 24 months. Overall zoster morbidity was predicted to rise after vaccination, but differences between strategies were small. Our results suggest that feasibility of one-dose coverage approaching 95% is an important consideration in estimating incremental benefit from a second dose of varicella vaccine.

School Entry Age: 66 Months of Age for Literacy Skills

The new Compulsory Education Law enacted in 2012 lowered school entry age from 72 months to 66 in Turkey. The interaction among age, schooling, and early literacy has been issue of interest. The aim of this study was to examine literacy development of first graders in terms of school entry age and pre-schooling. This qualitative case study was conducted at three primary schools in Ankara. One of them was a private primary school in which children of high income families attended. The other two were state primary schools; in one of which children of middle -income families, and in the other, children of low-income families attended. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The participants of the study were nine first grade teachers to give implications from classroom settings via their experiences. The curriculum guide and annual/daily lesson plans of grade 1 Turkish course were also analyzed. The findings indicated that the children below 72 months had shorter attention span and their literacy development took longer time. Effective literacy training at pre-school stage had positive influence on the literacy.

The long-lasting effects of school entry age: Evidence from Italian students

Using data for 9, 13 and 15-year-old students from three different datasets (PIRLS-2006, TIMSS-2007 and PISA-2009), we investigate whether the age at school entry affects children school performance at the fourth, eighth and tenth grade levels. Since student's age in a grade may be endogenous, we use an instrumental variable estimation strategy exploiting the exogenous variations in the month of birth coupled with the entry school cut-off date. We find that younger children score substantially lower than older peers at the fourth, the eighth and the tenth grade. The advantage of older students does not dissipate as they grow older. We do not find any significant effect of the relative age of a child with respect to the classmates’ age. Finally, we show that secondary school students are more likely to be tracked in more academic schools rather than in vocational schools if they are born in the early months of the year. From a policy point of view our results suggest that it might be useful to postpone the entry at school of children, or at least pupils should be prevented to anticipate the age of their entry at school. Tracking should also be delayed.

Lost in Translation? Comparing British, Japanese, and Italian Children’s Theory-of-Mind Performance

Findings from cross-cultural theory-of-mind studies highlight potential measurement effects and both general (e.g., East-West) and specific (e.g., pedagogical experiences) cultural contrasts. We compared theory-of-mind scores for children from UK and Italy (two Western countries that differ in age of school entry) and Japan (a Far-Eastern country in which children, like their Italian counterparts, start school later than British children). Confirmatory factor analysis was applied to data from 268 age-gender- and verbal ability-matched 5- to 6-year olds. Key findings were that (i) all 8 indicators loaded onto a single latent factor; and (ii) this latent factor explained significant variance in each group, with just one indicator showing differential item functioning. Supporting the importance of pedagogical experiences, British children outperformed both their Italian and Japanese counterparts.

Test score gaps between private and government sector students at school entry age in India

Various studies have noted that students enrolled in private schools in India perform better on average than students in government schools. In this paper, I show that large gaps in the test scores of children in private and public sector education are evident even at the point of initial enrolment in formal schooling and are associated with previous attendance in private and public preschools. Children in the sample were aged between 4.5 and 6 years at the time of the survey and were tested on receptive vocabulary and quantitative skills. Most (albeit not all) children in the sample had attended private and/or government preschools and at the time of the survey, about 44% had made a transition into formal schooling. Attending private preschools is associated with substantially, and significantly, higher test scores relative to attending public preschools. A considerable portion of this difference can be removed by controls for parental background and selected child characteristics but the gap remains significant. Possible implications of these results are discussed.

Cognitive and Behavioural Outcome of Preterm Versus Full Term Infants, at School Entry Age

Cognitive and Behavioural Outcome of Preterm Versus Full Term Infants, at School Entry Age

Conduct problems in young, school-going children in Ireland: Prevalence and teacher response

Conduct problems in school settings can pose significant challenges for both children and teachers. This study examined the teacher-reported prevalence of conduct problems in a sample of young children ( N = 445) in the first two years of formal education. A secondary aim was to assess teachers’ perceptions of child behaviour and their classroom management strategies. The study was undertaken in 11 schools located in south west Ireland. Overall, children displayed positive socio-emotional and behavioural adjustment, although more than one-quarter had difficulties outside the ‘normal’ range. Class size and gender were shown to play a role in the level of difficulties experienced. Teachers reported significant challenges in managing classroom behavioural problems. This study provides some useful insights into the socio-emotional and behavioural needs of school-entry age children. The findings also have important policy and practice implications for school psychologists and other key school personnel and highlight, in particular, the need to develop and implement early intervention and prevention strategies in schools.

School Entry Age and Children's Social-Behavioral Skills: Evidence from a National Longitudinal Study of US Kindergartners

Prior research evaluating school entry-age effects has largely overlooked the effects on social-behavioral skills despite the growing recognition of returns to such skills. This study is the first to examine the effects of kindergarten entry age on children’s social-behavioral outcomes using 9 years of panel data on a national sample of U.S. children. We leverage exogenous variation in birth dates and kindergarten entrance age policies to estimate instrumental variables models. Our results show that entering kindergarten a year later is associated with significantly better social-behavioral outcomes during elementary school. However, these effects largely disappear by the end of middle school. Larger gains over time among younger entrants support the notion that the estimated effects are age-at-test effects.

Life-cycle Effects of Age at School Start

In Sweden, children typically start school the year they turn seven. We combine this school entry cutoff with individuals' birthdates to estimate effects of school starting age (SSA) on educational attainment and long-run labour market outcomes. We find that school entry age raises educational attainment and show that postponing tracking until age 16 reduces the effect of SSA on educational attainment. On average, SSA only affects the allocation of labour supply over the life-cycle and leaves prime-age earnings unaffected. But for individuals with low-educated parents, we find that prime-age earnings increase in response to age at school start.

The Impact of Food for Education Programs on School Participation In Northern Uganda

There is a general consensus that Food for Education (FFE) programs increase primary school participation. Although this view is widely held, there is limited causal evidence to support it. Moreover, little is known about how the design of FFE programs affects schooling outcomes. This paper presents evidence of the impacts of alternative methods of FFE delivery on schooling in Northern Uganda using a randomized controlled evaluation conducted from 2005-2007. We compare the impacts of the World Food Program's in-school feeding program (SFP) with an experimental take-home rations (THR) program conditional on school attendance. Results show that the in-school meals program increased enrollment for those children who were not enrolled at baseline, but who had reached the recommended age of school entry. For many outcomes we cannot reject that the THR impact is equivalent to that of the SFP. Both programs had large impacts on school attendance and reduced grade repetition. The SFP program also reduced girls' age at entry to primary school. Neither program affected progression to secondary school, but children in grade 6 in SFP schools at baseline were significantly more likely to remain in primary school and repeat a grade than drop out. Program benefits may be improved by offering school meals in secondary schools as well, so that the attraction of school meals is at least neutral with respect to grade progression.

Determinants of vulnerability in early childhood development in Ireland: a cross-sectional study

ObjectivesEarly childhood development strongly influences lifelong health. The Early Development Instrument (EDI) is a well-validated population-level measure of five developmental domains (physical health and well-being, social competence, emotional maturity, language...

The Impact of Food for Education Programs on School Participation in Northern Uganda

AbstractThere is a general consensus that food for education (FFE) programs increase primary school participation. Although this view is widely held, there is limited causal evidence to support it. Moreover, little is known about how the design of FFE programs affects schooling outcomes. This article presents evidence of the impacts of alternative methods of FFE delivery on schooling in Northern Uganda using a randomized controlled evaluation conducted from 2005 to 2007. We compare the impacts of the World Food Program’s in-school feeding program (SFP) with an experimental take-home rations (THR) program conditional on school attendance. Results show that the in-school meals program increased enrollment for those children who were not enrolled at baseline but who had reached the recommended age of school entry. For many outcomes we cannot reject that the THR impact is equivalent to that of the SFP. Both programs had large impacts on school attendance and reduced grade repetition. The SFP program also redu...

The influence of different forms of early childcare on children's emotional and behavioural development at school entry

Over the past few decades there has been a dramatic increase in maternal employment and, as a result, an increase in the use of non-maternal childcare in the early years. The purpose of this longitudinal study was to examine, in a large representative English sample, the influence of different forms of childcare on children's behavioural and emotional development around the age of school entry. A sample of 991 families, originally recruited when the children were 3 months old, was assessed around school entry age at 51 months. The main outcome variable was the children's emotional and behavioural functioning, measured by questionnaire completed by both mothers and teachers. A range of repeated assessments were carried out at different time points, including direct observation of the quality of maternal caregiving and observations of the quality of non-parental care, and amount of time spent in different forms of care. The strongest and most consistent influences on behaviour and emotional problems were derived from the home, including lower socio-demographic status, poorer maternal caregiving, parental stress/maternal mental health problems, as well as child gender (being a boy). Non-parental childcare had small effects on child outcome. One finding that did emerge was that children who spent more time in group care, mainly nursery care, were more likely to have behavioural problems, particularly hyperactivity. These findings suggest that interventions to enhance children's emotional and behavioural development might best focus on supporting families and augmenting the quality of care in the home.

State of Dental Care Among Medicaid-Enrolled Children in the United States

To evaluate the prevalence of dental care visits (DCV) in 2007 in the United States among Medicaid-enrolled children from birth to age 18 and measure progress since 2002. By using Medicaid research files and information from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services 416 Early Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment forms, we calculated the prevalence of DCV in 50 states and the District of Columbia, stratifying by age, race, type of health plan, and Children's Health Insurance Program status. The prevalence of having DCV ranged from 12% depending on age, to 49% with a median value of 33% but did not exceed 50% in any state. The median percent change between 2002 and 2007 was 16%. DCV among toddlers and infants were low in all but 3 states and in most states peaked at age of school entry to >60% in some states. In most states, there were few racial differences in the prevalence of DCV. Children enrolled in Primary Care Case Management tended to have the highest DCV, the effect of Children's Health Insurance Program enrollment on the number of DCV was generally positive. To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the prevalence of dental care by using paid Medicaid claims. Consistent with other reports, levels of DCV were low; but when the number of DCV was stratified by age and type plan, striking patterns emerged suggesting that a combination of school programs and having a medical home may have a positive impact on dental care.

The Relationship Between Learning to Read and Language-Specific Speech Perception: Maturation versus Experience

Does the intensification of what can be called “language-specific speech perception” around reading onset occur as a function of maturation or experience? Preschool 5-year-olds with no school experience, 5-year-olds with 6 months' schooling, 6-year-olds with 6 months' schooling, and 6-year-olds with 18 months' schooling were tested on native and nonnative speech contrasts, phonological awareness, and letter identification. Native speech perception was predicted by phonological awareness, but not school experience or age, whereas nonnative speech perception was negatively related to school experience and had no relationship with age or phonological awareness. Over and above any limitation of a possible selection bias associated with parents' choice of school entry age, the results suggest that intensified language-specific speech perception is due to more robust phoneme categories: increased phonological awareness facilitates judgments of native phoneme membership, whereas increased experience with phoneme-to-grapheme mapping assists in the process of disregarding allophonic variations within native phoneme classes.

Home‐based Child Development Interventions for Preschool Children from Socially Disadvantaged Families

This Campbell systematic review assesses the effectiveness of home‐based child development interventions in improving children's developmental outcomes. The review summarises findings from seven studies. Two of the studies were undertaken in the US, one in Canada, one in Jamaica, one in Ireland, one in an unreported location and one in Bermuda.The nature of the evidence makes it difficult to assess the impact on child cognitive development. Evidence synthesis of four of the seven studies finds no effect. But evidence from the other three studies cannot be combined, so the overall finding is inconclusive. Adverse outcomes for parents (for example, disempowerment) were not reported in any of the seven studies, so no conclusion can be reached.The evidence did not allow conclusions to be reached for secondary outcomes such as child physical development and parenting behaviour.AbstractBACKGROUNDSocial disadvantage can have a significant impact on early child development, health and wellbeing. What happens during this critical period is important for all aspects of development. Caregiving competence and the quality of the environment play an important role in supporting development in young children and parents have an important role to play in optimising child development and mitigating the negative effects of social disadvantage. Home‐based child development programmes aim to optimise children's developmental outcomes through educating, training and supporting parents in their own home to provide a more nurturing and stimulating environment for their child.OBJECTIVESTo determine the effects of home‐based programmes aimed specifically at improving developmental outcomes for preschool children from socially disadvantaged families.SEARCH STRATEGYWe searched the following databases between 7 October and 12 October 2010: Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (2010, Issue 4), MEDLINE (1950 to week 4, September 2010), EMBASE (1980 to Week 39, 2010), CINAHL (1937 to current), PsycINFO (1887 to current), ERIC (1966 to current), ASSIA (1987 to current), Sociological Abstracts (1952 to current), Social Science Citation Index (1970 to current). We also searched reference lists of articles.SELECTION CRITERIARandomised controlled trials comparing home‐based preschool child development interventions with a ‘standard care’ control. Participants were parents with children up to the age of school entry who were socially disadvantaged in respect of poverty, lone parenthood or ethnic minority status.DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSISTwo authors independently selected studies, assessed the trials' risk of bias and extracted data.RESULTSWe included seven studies, which involved 723 participants. We assessed four of the seven studies as being at high risk of bias and three had an unclear risk of bias; the quality of the evidence was difficult to assess as there was often insufficient detail reported to enable any conclusions to be drawn about the methodological rigour of the studies. Four trials involving 285 participants measured cognitive development and we synthesised these data in a meta‐analysis. Compared to the control group, there was no statistically significant impact of the intervention on cognitive development (standardised mean difference (SMD) 0.30; 95% confidence interval ‐0.18 to 0.78). Only three studies reported socioemotional outcomes and there was insufficient data to combine into a meta‐analysis. No study reported on adverse effects.AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONSThis review does not provide evidence of the effectiveness of home‐based interventions that are specifically targeted at improving developmental outcomes for preschool children from socially disadvantaged families. Future studies should endeavour to better document and report their methodological processes.PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARYThe early years of a child's life are extremely important in terms of development and growth. Children from a deprived family background are at greater risk of developmental problems and poor health. Parenting and the quality of the home environment can help boost young children's development and reduce the negative consequences of deprivation. The purpose of this review was to look at whether home‐based parenting programmes, which aim to improve child development by showing parents how to provide a better quality home environment for their child, are effective in doing so. Seven randomised controlled trials (RCTs) met the inclusion criteria for this review. It was possible to combine the results from four of the seven studies, which showed that children who received the programme did not have better cognitive development than a control group. Socioemotional development was measured in three studies but we could not combine this data to help reach a conclusion about effectiveness. None of the studies measured adverse effects. The quality of the evidence in the studies was difficult to assess due to poor reporting. More high quality research is needed.

Home-based child development interventions for preschool children from socially disadvantaged families

Social disadvantage can have a significant impact on early child development, health and wellbeing. What happens during this critical period is important for all aspects of development. Caregiving competence and the quality of the environment play an important role in supporting development in young children and parents have an important role to play in optimising child development and mitigating the negative effects of social disadvantage. Home-based child development programmes aim to optimise children's developmental outcomes through educating, training and supporting parents in their own home to provide a more nurturing and stimulating environment for their child. To determine the effects of home-based programmes aimed specifically at improving developmental outcomes for preschool children from socially disadvantaged families. We searched the following databases between 7 October and 12 October 2010: Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (2010, Issue 4), MEDLINE (1950 to week 4, September 2010), EMBASE (1980 to Week 39, 2010), CINAHL (1937 to current), PsycINFO (1887 to current), ERIC (1966 to current), ASSIA (1987 to current), Sociological Abstracts (1952 to current), Social Science Citation Index (1970 to current). We also searched reference lists of articles. Randomised controlled trials comparing home-based preschool child development interventions with a 'standard care' control. Participants were parents with children up to the age of school entry who were socially disadvantaged in respect of poverty, lone parenthood or ethnic minority status. Two authors independently selected studies, assessed the trials' risk of bias and extracted data. We included seven studies, which involved 723 participants. We assessed four of the seven studies as being at high risk of bias and three had an unclear risk of bias; the quality of the evidence was difficult to assess as there was often insufficient detail reported to enable any conclusions to be drawn about the methodological rigour of the studies. Four trials involving 285 participants measured cognitive development and we synthesised these data in a meta-analysis. Compared to the control group, there was no statistically significant impact of the intervention on cognitive development (standardised mean difference (SMD) 0.30; 95% confidence interval -0.18 to 0.78). Only three studies reported socioemotional outcomes and there was insufficient data to combine into a meta-analysis. No study reported on adverse effects. This review does not provide evidence of the effectiveness of home-based interventions that are specifically targeted at improving developmental outcomes for preschool children from socially disadvantaged families. Future studies should endeavour to better document and report their methodological processes.

Comparação entre metodologias de idade-período-coorte para o estudo de uma medida da progressão escolar no Brasil

The aim of this article is to conduct a comparative methodological essay of two estimators of ageperiod-cohort models: the conventional estimator obtained by the generalized linear restricted models (MLGR) and the so-called intrinsic estimator (EI). The objects are contributions of age, period and cohort effects to temporal changes in the progression probability to the 5th grade of elementary school for Brazilian women. The APC modeling is justified because age, period and cohort effects may significantly affect the probability of grade progression: age effects reflect both the minimal age of school entry and the trade-off between study and work; period effects are associated with different economical and political conjunctures, as well as with current educational policies; finally, cohort effects reflect social attributes unique to a group. Both are juxtaposed in terms of the efficiency, significance and parameter estimates. The results reveal the potentiality of the solution to the age-period-cohort model based on intrinsic estimator, which presents parameters with smaller variance than those estimated from generalized linear restricted models. Therefore, projections of grade progression probabilities based on the extrapolation of standard errors of the intrinsic estimator can be promising.