No country for young kids? The effects of school starting age throughout childhood and beyond

• Autor(a) principal: Lima, Gonçalo
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: Nunes, Luís Catela, Balcão Reis, Ana, Seabra, Carmo
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/133796
• topic: School starting age; Education; Student achievement

Being the youngest in a cohort entails many penalties. Using administrative data of every public-school student in Portugal, we show that although performance gains from being 1-year older fade quickly from primary education to high school, age-related penalties persist through a combination of grade retention, educational tracking and testing policies. Those that start school younger are more likely to repeat grades and ultimately drop out from school. Older entrants are more likely to enroll in scientific curricula in high school, are more successful at accessing public higher education and enroll in more selective undergraduate courses.