Working Paper: NBER ID: w24492
Authors: Philip J. Cook; Songman Kang
Abstract: Since, other things equal, older children do better in school, the extent and pattern of delayed entry affects observed patterns in academic performance. This paper provides three new sets of relevant findings, utilizing comprehensive data on birth cohorts of children who enrolled in first grade in North Carolina public schools.: (1) Delayed entry (redshirting) reduces the male-female achievement gap by 11%; (2) For each of 6 groups defined by sex and race/ethnicity, the likelihood of redshirting is strongly inversely related to academic ability; and (3) A recent shift in the cut date to earlier in the calendar year reduced redshirting, and provided clear evidence that parental decisions are tied to the absolute age of the child rather than age relative to classmates. The adaptation of redshirting to changes in the cut date is an important mechanism by which such changes affect patterns in academic outcomes.
Keywords: redshirting; school entry age; academic performance; achievement disparities
JEL Codes: I21; I24
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| redshirting (Z22) | improved academic performance (I24) |
| academic ability (I23) | decision to redshirt (Y40) |
| cut-off date (C24) | redshirting patterns (C92) |
| age (J14) | standardized test scores (C12) |