School Entry, Educational Attainment, and Quarter of Birth: A Cautionary Tale of a Local Average Treatment Effect

Barua, Rashmi; Lang, Kévin

doi:10.1086/687599

Cited by 69 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Second, above and beyond the possible issues surrounding the exclusion restriction, Barua and Lang () and Fiorini and Stevens () point out that, due to redshirting, the monotonicity assumption may be violated when using instrumental variables . Their arguments can also be extended to the reduced‐form estimates if we utilize the full sample of births.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In our case, the first stage coefficients across over 30 different groups range from 0.60 to 0.66—remarkably constant given that the test score differences across these same groups exceed one standard deviation. Furthermore, as pointed out in Barua and Lang (), monotonicity can be particularly problematic in the U.S. because of the prevalence of redshirting. On average, in our largest sample August born children are redshirted at a rate of 5.2 percent, but this rate is 3.0 percent among those whose mothers did not complete high school as compared to 11.6 percent among families with college‐educated mothers.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly striking gaps appear across other dimensions like income, race, or gender. Following the logic of Barua and Lang (), we would expect monotonicity violations to be more severe for children coming from more vs. less affluent families. We do not observe such a pattern, and our test score effects are essentially constant across all these groups.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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School Starting Age and Cognitive Development

Dhuey

Figlio²,

Karbownik

et al. 2019

J Policy Anal Manage

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We present evidence of a positive relationship between school starting age and children's cognitive development from ages 6 to 18 using a fuzzy regression discontinuity design and large‐scale population‐level birth and school data from the state of Florida. We estimate effects of being old for grade (being born in September vs. August) that are remarkably stable—always around 0.2 SD difference in test scores—across a wide range of heterogeneous groups, based on maternal education, poverty at birth, race/ethnicity, birth weight, gestational age, and school quality. While the September‐August difference in kindergarten readiness is dramatically different by subgroup, by the time students take their first exams, the heterogeneity in estimated effects on test scores effectively disappears. We do, however, find significant heterogeneity in other outcome measures such as disability status and middle and high school course selections. We also document substantial variation in compensatory behaviors targeted towards young‐for‐grade children. While the more affluent families tend to redshirt their children, young‐for‐grade children from less affluent families are more likely to be retained in grades prior to testing. School district practices regarding retention and redshirting are correlated with improved outcomes for the groups less likely to use those remediation approaches (i.e., retention in the case of more affluent families and redshirting in the case of less affluent families.) Finally, we find that very few school policies or practices mitigate the test score advantage of September‐born children.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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School Starting Age and Cognitive Development

Dhuey

Figlio²,

Karbownik

et al. 2019

J Policy Anal Manage

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show abstract

“…Some researchers have expressed concerns about the monotonicity assumption when school starting rule is used as an instrument. For instance, Barua and Lang (2016) use U.S. data from 1950s and show that children born in the rst quarter of the year started school on average at an older age than the children born during the last quarter. However, among the individuals born in the beginning of the year, there were more children who started school at an especially young age and fewer children who started the school at an especially old age compared to the individuals born in the end of the year.…”

Section: Fuzzy Regression Discontinuity Design and Latementioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of Relative School Starting Age on Educational Outcomes in Finland

Kaila

2017

SSRN Journal

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In Finland, children start school during the calendar year they turn seven years old. This creates a discontinuous jump in school starting age. Children born after New Year are on average one year older at the beginning of first grade than the children born before New Year. There exists a rich literature which uses school entry rules like this to study the effects of relative school starting age on various outcomes. This thesis investigates how the relative age difference affects educational outcomes in Finland.The primary data source of this thesis is the joint application register of the Finnish National Board of Education. The sample includes individuals who have applied to upper secondary school during the year they have graduated from comprehensive school between years 1991-2007. Furthermore, the individuals are linked to the Finnish Longitudinal Employer-Employee database. My main outcome variables are the grade point average (GPA) at the end of comprehensive school, and the probability of admittance and graduation from general upper secondary school. I utilize a regression discontinuity design to study whether the discontinuous jump in the school starting age at turn of the year affects these educational outcomes. I estimate the effect in window of ±30 days around new year.I find that the school starting age law generates a significant jump in the school starting age at the turn of the year, which in turn affects educational outcomes. According to my results, those who are born just after new year have on average a 0.15 grade points higher GPA and are significantly more likely to be admitted to and graduate from general upper secondary school. School starting rule is not completely binding. To take this into account, I use a fuzzy regression discontinuity design and show that the estimates on compliers are higher. The findings may be taken as a causal effect of relative school starting age. To support this, I show that the density of assignment variable and various background variables evolve continuously in the vicinity of New Year. Finally, I study heterogeneity in the results and find that the effect is significantly stronger for women than men. My results indicate that the magnitude of relative school starting age effect is similar to what has been found in other countries. This contradicts previous studies on Finland, which document smaller effects.There are three mechanisms which may explain the difference. Firstly, the deviation may arise from the optimal school starting age. Secondly, the gaps may be caused by peer effects and, lastly, relatively older children may perform better since they take the exams at an older age. I cannot distinguish between the different channels, and hence my results should be taken as a combined effect of all mechanisms. Suomessa opintovelvollisuus alkaa sinä vuonna kun lapsi täyttää seitsemän vuotta. Tästä seuraa se, että alkuvuodesta syntyneet lapset aloittavat koulun keskimäärin vuoden vanhempana kuin loppuvuodesta syntyneet. Sitä miten tämänkaltainen suhtee...

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“…Barua and Lang () question the use of instrumental variable (IV) techniques arguing that the required monotonicity assumption is likely to fail when dealing with pupils' age and attainment. These authors propose an instrument that satisfies this assumption and gives rise to consistent estimates of the policy‐relevant treatment effect.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

PARENTS KNOW THEM BETTER: THE EFFECT OF OPTIONAL EARLY ENTRY ON PUPILS' SCHOOLING ATTAINMENT

2018

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The effect of optional early school entry on pupils' educational outcomes is investigated using data covering the entire population of Italian primary school students and exploiting exogenous thresholds imposed by norms regulating first enrollment. Results highlight the fact that pupils whose parents can choose when their children start school perform better than those who are bounded by terms imposed by law. These findings suggest that parental choice leads to a better match between pupils' characteristics and the beginning of formal learning. Results show that giving parents the option to anticipate or delay school entry could be a beneficial measure. (JEL I20, H52)

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School Entry, Educational Attainment, and Quarter of Birth: A Cautionary Tale of a Local Average Treatment Effect

Cited by 69 publications

References 31 publications

School Starting Age and Cognitive Development

School Starting Age and Cognitive Development

The Effects of Relative School Starting Age on Educational Outcomes in Finland

PARENTS KNOW THEM BETTER: THE EFFECT OF OPTIONAL EARLY ENTRY ON PUPILS' SCHOOLING ATTAINMENT

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