First in the Class? Age and the Education Production Function / Elizabeth Cascio, Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cascio, Elizabeth.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Schanzenbach, Diane Whitmore.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w13663.

NBER working paper series no. w13663

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2007.

Summary:

We estimate the effects of having more mature peers using data from an experiment where children of the same age were randomly assigned to different kindergarten classrooms. Exploiting this experimental variation in conjunction with variation in expected kindergarten entry age to account for negative selection of older school entrants, we find that exposure to more mature kindergarten classmates raises test scores up to eight years after kindergarten, and may reduce the incidence of grade retention and increase the probability of taking a college-entry exam. These findings are consistent with broader peer effects literature documenting positive spillovers from having higher-scoring peers and suggest that - contrary to much academic and popular discussion of school entry age - being old relative to one's peers is not beneficial.

Notes:

Print version record

December 2007.