Age of entry,sex, and academic achievement in elementary school children

It was hypothesized that children who enter school at a relatively early age do less well on standard measures of school achievement than do their older peers. One hundred fifty-two children born in 1970 and attending grades one through six in an upper-middle-class, suburban school district were studied. In general, it was found that children born in the later quarters of the year did, in fact, perform less well than children in the same grade born earlier through grades one to four. Analyses of covariance yielded a main effect for birth quartile (p < .05) in most cases. A significant main effect for sex was found for language scores at grades two and three. Implications of these findings for age of school entry, educational programming, and screening procedures are discussed.