Purpose: Using longitudinal data of children in Nepal, this study examines the relationships between dropouts, grade repetition and the causes of dropout, such as entrance age, to derive concrete recommendations to improve the basic education completion rates in Nepal, one of the targets of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4).…

Using an unanticipated policy reform in Mexico that shifted 4 months the cutoff date for elementary school eligibility in 2006 and information on academic performance of 15-year-old students from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 survey, who entered first grade in 2006, this paper estimates the effects of starting…

The education laws of each country establish starting cutoff dates for compulsory education which could, potentially, affect students' academic achievement. Specifically, they could be detrimental for those students whose birthday is just before the school entry cutoff, as they will be the youngest in their classroom, while it could boost the…

Because of the regulations concerning school entry in most school systems, a child's date of birth may significantly affect his or her age at entry into school, and thus their first experience of schooling. Using data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), this paper provides a comparative analysis of the impact of a…

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…

As a result of Universal Primary Education (UPE) and reform efforts, primary school enrollment in Uganda doubled from 2.9 million in 1995 to 5.8 million by 1998. By 2016, enrollment had reached 8.3 million. Although enrollment gains have been dramatic, the completion rate has stalled for at least a decade, with only about 60% of learners…

This paper describes a 2016 pilot study undertaken in Uganda to document the real repetition rate in Primary 1 classes and to examine the relationship between repetition in Primary 1 and attendance in pre-primary education. The study explored knowledge and practice about the age of entry for children into pre-primary education and Primary 1. It…

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,…

In this paper, we estimate the effect of pupil's relative age within the first grade of primary school on mathematics and reading test scores at age 15. The main objective is to evaluate the long-term causal effect of relative age in the first grades of primary school on pupil's test in 16 different countries. We use the national rule for…

Various indicators suggest that math and science students in many developing countries are lagging behind their counterparts in other nations. Using Madagascar as a case study, we aimed to: (1) evaluate the effectiveness of education among those enrolled in science and math programs at primary, secondary, and university institutions; and, (2)…

This study is a contribution from the Eurydice Network to the debate on school failure and early school leaving within the framework of the European Commission's policy on education and training. In all education systems, in one form or another, pupil progress is assessed throughout the school year and various measures are put in place to support…

Late entry into primary school is a widespread phenomenon in developing countries. Students who enter school late are more likely to repeat grades, drop out and perform more poorly. Yet the phenomenon has received little scholarly attention, and there is a dearth of cross-national data. In this paper, we draw on data from the Multiple Indicator…

Late school entry prevails in many developing countries, and a brief international comparison suggests it has a general negative impact on school retention rates. Yet this widespread phenomenon has received little attention. This essay investigates late school entry in one of the larger countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Mozambique, for which data…

This paper assesses progress made in elementary education in Latin America from 1990-2000. Besides examining completion rates, it looks at four critical indicators: the extent to which repetition rates have declined over the decade; the extent of timely access and on-time ages of elementary school students; the level or elementary school students'…

This study compared the academic and social development of students who entered grade 1 very early (5:6 years or 5:7 years), in the mid range (5:8 to 6:3 years), and very late (6:4 years or older). The purpose of the study was to explore the hypothesis that the early grade 1 entrants would have continuing problems in both academic and social…