Working Paper: NBER ID: w14124
Authors: David Deming; Susan Dynarski
Abstract: Forty years ago, 96% of six-year-old children were enrolled in first grade or above. As of 2005, the figure was just 84%. The school attendance rate of six-year-olds has not decreased; rather, they are increasingly likely to be enrolled in kindergarten rather than first grade. This paper documents this historical shift. We show that only about a quarter of the change can be proximately explained by changes in school entry laws; the rest reflects "academic redshirting," the practice of enrolling a child in a grade lower than the one for which he is eligible. We show that the decreased grade attainment of six-year-olds reverberates well beyond the kindergarten classroom. Recent stagnation in the high school and college completion rates of young people is partly explained by their later start in primary school. The relatively late start of boys in primary school explains a small but significant portion of the rising gender gaps in high school graduation and college completion. Increases in the age of legal school entry intensify socioeconomic differences in educational attainment, since lower-income children are at greater risk of dropping out of school when they reach the legal age of school exit.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: I21; I28
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| increasing age of school entry (I21) | stagnation in high school completion rates (I21) |
| increasing age of school entry (I21) | stagnation in college completion rates (D29) |
| delayed school entry (I21) | increased dropout rates (I21) |
| delayed school entry (I21) | negative impact on lifetime earnings (J17) |
| increasing age of school entry (I21) | exacerbation of socioeconomic disparities in educational outcomes (I24) |
| increasing age of school entry (I21) | decreased high school graduation rates (I21) |
| increasing age of school entry (I21) | increased dropout rates (I21) |
| changes in school entry laws (I28) | decline in grade attainment (I21) |
| academic redshirting (Z22) | decline in grade attainment (I21) |