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Open Access Thesis

Keywords

School age (Entrance age); Academic achievement;

Abstract

This study examined the effect of beginning school age on achievement as well as differences in achievement between boys and girls and the interaction of age and gender on achievement. The study also examined the relationship between beginning school age and retention in grade. The subjects for this study were 227 students who were enrolled in the kindergarten class of the Cedar Falls Community School District during the 1981-82 school year. This group of children was divided into four age groups according to the Iowa cut-off dates for school entrance. The overage group consisted of 44 children who were more than 6 years old when they began kindergarten. These students had been kept·out of school for a full academic year by parental choice or administrative recommendation. The older group consisted of 76 students who were between 5 years, 9 months and 6 years at school entry. The middle group was between. 5 years, 5 months and 5 years 9 months, and the youngest group was between 5 years of age and 5 months. Achievement information was obtained from the cumulative records. The Iowa Tests of Basic Skills was used to obtain information on reading, math, and composite grade equivalents in the second and fourth grades. The Cognitive Abilities Test, given to each student in the first grade, was used as a often than their older classmates. There was no advantage to be realized, from the results of this study, from parents keeping their children out of school for a year. The apparent inconsistencies between the performance of the age groups points up the need for multiple measures of readiness for kindergarten.

Year of Submission

1986

Degree Name

Specialist in Education

Department

Department of Educational Psychology and Foundations

First Advisor

Barry J. Wilson

Second Advisor

Mary Nan Aldridge

Third Advisor

Charles V. L. Dedrick

Comments

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Date Original

1986

Object Description

1 PDF file (60 leaves)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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Education Commons

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