The belief that additional time allows children to become more ready for school has affected public policy and individual practices. Prior studies estimated either associations between school entry age and academic growth or causal effects on achievement measured at one or two points. This article contributes novel causal evidence for the impacts…

Background/Context: The age at which children can enter kindergarten continues to be discussed in both educational research and practice, and the debate for whether to increase kindergarten entry age remains active on both sides. A critical oversight has been the lack of attention paid towards entry age for those students who begin school with a…

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 (0.14 SD) and numeracy (0.08 SD) at Grade 3, although little variance was explained (1%-2%). This slight advantage…

There are sizable and pervasive academic achievement gaps between minority and non-minority students in the United States. Non-minority students -- particularly boys -- are more likely to enroll in school one year after they become eligible, a practice known as 'redshirting.' Consequently, non-minority students are on average more mature than…

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…

Literature on age of entry into formal education is inconsistent at best in determining if early or late entry impacts the educational experience in positive or negative ways. The purpose of the current study was to add to the literature by examining the relationship between age of entry into formal education and participation in the Accelerated…

European American students are more likely delayed entrance in kindergarten than African American students. This study examined whether age at kindergarten entry influences the reading proficiency skills of African American and European American students at the start of kindergarten, at the end of first grade, and at the end of third grade. Using…

Although it is well established that Black male students are underrepresented in gifted educational programs in the United States, due to a scarcity of longitudinal prospective research, little is known about the protective factors at the child, family, and school level that increase the probability of Black male students being identified as…

Research Findings: Data on more than 900 children participating in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care were analyzed to examine the effect of age of entry to kindergarten on children's functioning in early elementary school. Children's academic achievement and socioemotional development were…