Early effects of an early start: Evidence from lowering the school starting age in Poland

Mikołaj Herbst and Pawel Strawinski

Journal of Policy Modeling, 2016, vol. 38, issue 2, 256-271

Abstract: This paper investigates some early outcomes of the reform to lower the school starting age in Poland. It explores data on the school performance of 6- and 7-year-old pupils, collected in the transitory period of the reform, when parents were welcomed to enroll their 6-year-old children in the first grade on a voluntary basis. The discovery is that older students do perform better at the end of first grade, but the separately measured effect of an early school start also seems to be beneficial. We point out a selection of unobservables as a possible explanation of the results obtained. The study concludes with some recommendations regarding educational policy and the implementation of politically difficult reforms.

Keywords: School starting age; Administering educational reform; Educational achievement; Poland (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I21 I28 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Working Paper: Early effects of an early start: Evidence from lowering the school starting age in Poland (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jpolmo:v:38:y:2016:i:2:p:256-271

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpolmod.2016.01.004

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