Birth Date and Sex Effects on the Scholastic Attainment of Primary Schoolchildren: a cross‐sectional study

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of pupil age as a major cause of the birth date effect in scholastic performance. Sex differences in performance were also investigated. A sample of 4123 pupils in Grades III, IV and V was selected from 12 state primary schools in Malta. Since in this educational setting there is only one intake of pupils per scholastic year it ensured that all children within any given year group would have received the same length of formal schooling. Analyses based on a data set consisting of scores in Maltese, English and mathematics derived from the national end-of-year examinations showed a strong and consistent age effect in all three attainment measures at each of the three grade levels: the 'oldest' pupils performed better in Maltese, English and mathematics -than the 'youngest' pupils. Results also showed that girls consistently outperformed boys in the three school subjects. 0141-1926/95/010061-14

The relation between school entrance age and school achievement during primary schooling: Evidence from Croatian primary schools

“…Thirdly, in the present study, the differences in achievement between the younger and older school entrants were observed across different subjects, to examine their consistency. In some studies, older students outperform the younger ones across subjects (e.g., Borg & Falzon, ; Kalk et al ., ; Sharp et al ., ; Teltsch & Breznitz, ). On the other hand, Cobley et al .…”

Actual age at school entry, educational outcomes, and earnings

“…Previous studies indicate that relatively older students in the same cohort achieve more in school (Thompson (1971), Allen and Barnsley (1993), Borg and Falzon (1995), and Lien et al (2005)), are less likely to be diagnosed as having specific learning disabilities (Martin et al (2004)), are less likely to commit suicide (Thompson et al (1999)), and are more likely to be class leaders in high school (Dhuey and Lipscomb (2008)). Relative age effects also are found in the field of sports (Dudink (1994) and Helsen et al (2000)).…”

Is There a Relationship Between the Birth-Date and Entering the University?

“…This could be partially explained by the existence of studies proving that girls consistently outperform boys in scholastic attainment in primary and secondary studies [6], meaning that in the end a disproportionately greater proportion of women gains admittance to university. In addition, a study of the birth dates, sex and cognitive abilities of children with special educational needs showed that males were significantly over-represented compared to females [20].…”

“…In these cases the asymmetric age distribution could be explained by the specific abilities in mathematics required in these studies. Analyses based on a data set consisting of mathematics scores showed a strong and consistent age effect: the 'oldest' pupils in an age class were better in mathematics than the 'youngest' pupils [6,[20][21][22].…”

“…In the same way, professionals working in the field of education have long been aware that the youngest children in a school year tend to be disadvantaged by the educational system, particularly in the earlier years of school [4][5][6][7].…”