Purpose: We investigated the roles of leisure reading and word reading ability in vocabulary and reading comprehension development in 598 adolescents at ages 10, 11, and 12 (285 girls, 313 boys). Method: Structural equation modeling was used to test whether word reading was associated with vocabulary and reading comprehension: a) directly; b)…

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…

This study aims to make a comparison of various lessons' mean exam scores achieved at the first, second, third and fourth grade by students who started elementary school at 60-66 months and those who started at or above 69 months as these students started the elementary school at the same time after an amendment in elementary education law in…

Background: Compulsory school entrance age and admission policies differ across countries and educational systems, and there is a continuing debate on the question whether and how the age at school entry affects various student outcomes. Aims: This study explored the relation between school entrance age and school achievement among students…

Chile operates one of the oldest and largest school feeding programs in Latin America, targeting higher-calorie meals to relatively poorer schools. This paper evaluates the impact of higher-calorie meals on the education outcomes of public, rural schools and their students. It applies a regression-discontinuity design to administrative data,…

We look at the effect of school starting age on standardized test scores using data covering all Grade 4 and Grade 8 students in Hungary. Instrumental variables estimates of the local average treatment effect suggest that children generally gain from starting school 1 year later, and the effects are much stronger in the case of students coming…

Early childhood education and school readiness is essential to preparing children to succeed in an increasingly competitive global economy. Compared to other countries, however, the United States lags far behind on preschool, trailing a number of other countries in enrollment, investment, and quality. In February 2013, however, President Barack…