Long-term effects of school-starting-age rules

H. Oosterbeek; S. ter Meulen; B. van der Klaauw

doi:10.1016/j.econedurev.2021.102144

Long-term effects of school-starting-age rules

H. Oosterbeek, S. ter Meulen, B. van der Klaauw

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

© 2021To study the long-term effects of school-starting-age rules in a setting with early ability tracking, we exploit the birth month threshold used in the Netherlands. We find that students born just after the threshold perform better at the end of primary school than students born just before it. This translates into increased placement in high ability tracks in secondary education. This difference diminishes gradually during subsequent stages, and we find no effect on the highest attained educational level. Those born just before the threshold enter the labor market somewhat younger and have therefore more labor market experience and higher earnings at any age until 40. We conclude that early ability tracking does not harm long-term outcomes of children who were, for exogenous reasons, placed in a lower track.

Original language	English
Article number	102144
Journal	Economics of Education Review
Volume	84
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2021.102144
Publication status	Published - Oct 2021

Funding

We gratefully acknowledge valuable comments from two anonymous referees and from seminar participants in different places. The non-public micro data used in this paper are available via remote access to the Microdata services of Statistics Netherlands (CBS). Oosterbeek received support from the Research Council of Norway Toppforsk grant no. 275906. Van der Klaauw acknowledges financial support from a Vici-grant from the Dutch Science Foundation (NWO).

Funders	Funder number
Research Council of Norway Toppforsk	275906
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.econedurev.2021.102144

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title = "Long-term effects of school-starting-age rules",

abstract = "{\textcopyright} 2021To study the long-term effects of school-starting-age rules in a setting with early ability tracking, we exploit the birth month threshold used in the Netherlands. We find that students born just after the threshold perform better at the end of primary school than students born just before it. This translates into increased placement in high ability tracks in secondary education. This difference diminishes gradually during subsequent stages, and we find no effect on the highest attained educational level. Those born just before the threshold enter the labor market somewhat younger and have therefore more labor market experience and higher earnings at any age until 40. We conclude that early ability tracking does not harm long-term outcomes of children who were, for exogenous reasons, placed in a lower track.",

author = "H. Oosterbeek and {ter Meulen}, S. and {van der Klaauw}, B.",

year = "2021",

month = oct,

doi = "10.1016/j.econedurev.2021.102144",

language = "English",

volume = "84",

journal = "Economics of Education Review",

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AU - ter Meulen, S.

AU - van der Klaauw, B.

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AB - © 2021To study the long-term effects of school-starting-age rules in a setting with early ability tracking, we exploit the birth month threshold used in the Netherlands. We find that students born just after the threshold perform better at the end of primary school than students born just before it. This translates into increased placement in high ability tracks in secondary education. This difference diminishes gradually during subsequent stages, and we find no effect on the highest attained educational level. Those born just before the threshold enter the labor market somewhat younger and have therefore more labor market experience and higher earnings at any age until 40. We conclude that early ability tracking does not harm long-term outcomes of children who were, for exogenous reasons, placed in a lower track.

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DO - 10.1016/j.econedurev.2021.102144

M3 - Article

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VL - 84

JO - Economics of Education Review

JF - Economics of Education Review

M1 - 102144

ER -

Long-term effects of school-starting-age rules

Abstract

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UN SDGs

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