engleski

The Relation of School Entrance Age and School Achievement in Primary School

There is continuing controversy regarding the optimal age at which children should begin formal schooling. In substantial number of countries in the world, the age of admission to compulsory schooling is six years, but it varies from four to seven, and some countries allow individual children to delay entry to school or to start school before compulsory school age (Bertram and Pascal, 2002 ; Sharp, 2002). In some cases, parents choose to delay their children’s entrance to school to allow them additional time to mature and thus acquire academic advantage, which is often referred to as “red-shirting”, and in some cases delayed entrance is recommended on the basis of readiness testing done prior to school entry (Zill et al., 1997). On the other hand, early admission refers to allowing children to begin schooling at an age younger than the officially approved school entrance age (Proctor et al., 1986). Among young children, small differences in age can lead to substantial differences in cognitive and emotional development, and hence affect their initial and/or later performance in school (Deming and Dynarsky, 2008). While some studies did not find significant relationship between school entrance age and academic achievement (e.g. DeMeis and Stearns, 1992), others show that within different grades older children tend to perform better academically than younger ones (e.g. Borg and Falzon, 1995). However, the size of achievement differences is seldom very large, and they are probably not persistent, although the age at which they disappear varies across studies (DeMeis and Stearns, 1992). In Croatia, children are obliged to enroll school if they reach the age of six by the cutoff date, which is April 1st of the current year. Early admission is possible on parental request and with permission of expert committee, which assesses child’s psychophysical status and determines regular, early or delayed entrance to school. The aim of this study is to examine the differences in achievement in various subject areas among pupils who were younger or older at the time they entered school. These differences were examined among pupils who attended fourth or eight grade of Croatian primary schools at the time of testing. Pupils within these grades had received the same length of formal schooling, namely four or eight years. Method Data used in this study were collected as a part of a larger project of external evaluation of educational achievements of fourth and eight grade pupils in all Croatian primary schools. School achievement was measured with objective exams assessing pupils’ knowledge in different subject areas. Forth-grade pupils completed exams in Croatian language, Mathematics, Science and first foreign language, and eight- grade pupils completed exams in Croatian language, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography, History and first foreign language. Expected Outcomes The results show that fourth grade pupils who were older when they entered school achieved significantly better results than their classmates who were younger when entering school on exams measuring their knowledge from almost all subjects (i.e. Croatian language, Mathematics and Science). The difference in achievement was largest in Science and smallest in Croatian language. Among eight grade pupils, differences in achievement in Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography, History and Croatian language between pupils who were younger and older when entering school were not significant. In the case of first foreign language (English), there were no significant differences between younger and older enterers among fourth grade pupils, but among eight grade pupils younger enterers outperformed their classmates. These results show that the school entrance age may affect school achievement in different subjects. However, differences in achievement among younger and older enterers are small in the lower grades of primary school, and are not present at the end of primary schooling. Results are discussed in relation to contemporary debates regarding the school entrance age policies.

School Entrance Age ; School achievement ; Primary School

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