Catching up over time

: the impact of early school entry on school performance

Abstract

This thesis examines the impact of early school entry on school performance in Italy using national standardized test data (INVALSI). Since student’s age of entry in primary school may be endogenous, I employ an instrumental variable estimation strategy that leverages variations in the quarter of birth to compare test scores of younger and older students within the same cohort. Additionally, I use a propensity score matching approach to assess the impact of early school entry on similarly aged students from two adjacent cohorts. Results show that early entrants score significantly lower in both verbal and mathematics tests in grade 2. However, this score gap diminishes over time, becoming insignificant in verbal tests by grade 5 and narrowing in mathematics tests by grade 10. Furthermore, the analysis examines the existence of spillover effects at classroom-level, finding that the proportion of early entrants in a class does not negatively affect the performance of regular students. These findings suggest that while early school entrants may face initial challenges, supportive interventions can help mitigate the gap with respect to older peers over time. Policymakers should consider flexible strategies that aim at providing anticipating students with additional support, rather than prohibiting early entry.

Date of Award	2 Jul 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Joana Silva (Supervisor)