Does delaying kindergarten entrance give children a head start?
Does delaying kindergarten entrance give children a head start?
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DOI：
10.1016/j.econedurev.2004.10.004
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发表时间：
2006-02-01
影响因子：
2.2
通讯作者：
Datar, A
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Datar, A
美国幼儿园最低入学年龄的上升趋势是由横断面研究发现的，即年龄较大的幼儿园学生比年轻入学的学生有更好的学习成绩。然而，这些研究未能解释父母选择导致入学年龄的内生性，导致对入学年龄效应的偏见估计。本文使用出生日期和幼儿园入学年龄政策的外生变量来生成延迟入学对儿童学习成绩影响的工具变量估计。同时考察了考试成绩的初始水平差异和随后的增长。我发现，大一岁上幼儿园会显著提高幼儿园入学考试的分数。更重要的是，进入老年意味着在学校的头两年，考试成绩轨迹会更陡峭。结果还表明，对于高危儿童来说，推迟幼儿园入学的好处往往要大得多。(C)2005爱思唯尔有限公司。保留所有权利。
The rising trend in the minimum entrance age for kindergarten in the US has been motivated by findings from cross-sectional studies that older entrants have more favorable school outcomes compared to younger entrants. However, these studies fail to account for endogeneity in entrance age resulting from parental choice, leading to biased estimates of the entrance age effect. This paper uses exogenous variation in birth dates and kindergarten entrance age policies to generate instrumental variable estimates of the effect of delaying kindergarten entrance on children's academic achievement. Both initial level differences and subsequent growth in test scores are examined. I find that entering kindergarten a year older significantly boosts test scores at kindergarten entry. More importantly, entering older implies a steeper test score trajectory during the first 2 years in school. Results also suggest that the benefits from delaying kindergarten entrance tend to be significantly larger for at-risk children. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.