posted on 2017-08-16, 00:00authored byD Lubotsky, R Kaestner
We use exogenous variation in the skills that children have at the beginning of
kindergarten to measure the extent to which “skills beget skills” in this context. Children who are
relatively older when they begin kindergarten score higher on measures of cognitive and noncognitive
achievement at the beginning of kindergarten. Their scores on cognitive assessments
grow faster during kindergarten and first grade. However, after first grade the scores of younger
entrants catch up. We find no evidence that the growth in non-cognitive measures differs
between older and younger entrants. Finally, we provide evidence suggesting that schools are not
the cause of the younger students’ faster growth after first grade.
Funding
Financial support was generously
provided by the University of Illinois at Chicago Office of Social Science Research.
History
Publisher Statement
This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Economics of Education Review. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Economics of Education Review. 2016. 53: 194-206. doi: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2016.04.001.