RAEs in Education

Most jurisdictions worldwide have a single specific cut-off date which determines when a student can enter primary school. For example, in Ontario, a child is eligible to enter kindergarten if s/he turns four years old by January 1st of the relevant school year. These cut off dates create a distribution of ages of children within each cohort at school entry, where the oldest child will be approximately one year older than the youngest child. Studies have found that children who are relatively older than their classmates at the beginning of primary school have a variety of short- and medium-run advantages such as scoring higher on standardized exams through primary and secondary school, having higher development of non-cognitive skills, and being less likely to commit a crime as a teenager or an adult. These findings suggest that early differences in maturity can propagate through the human capital accumulation process into later life and may have important implications for adult outcomes and productivity. This presentation will explore the effects of school entry age on children\u27s outcomes and provide evidence on the optimal age to enter primary education