When Should Children Start School?

Those who support older entry ages argue that older children are biologically,cognitively, and socially more mature, and therefore that they are better able to take advantage of formal instruction. There is also the implicit assumption that the "'gift of time' and general (out of school) experience,outweigh the benefits of a school setting" for increasing readiness (Stipek, 2002, p. 4). Others disagree, arguing that there is no single age at which all children will achieve "readiness" across all the biological, cognitive, and social skills involved in schooling. No matter what the cutoff age is, some children will be more and some less ready. More fundamentally, critics argue that holding children back from schooling will only put them further behind, because the school environment is precisely what children need to further their development. Keeping children out of school will only increase the gap between their skills and those of their peers, and it will put them at even higher risk for poor academic achievement. Finally, critics argue that it is not the child's responsibility to be ready for school, but schools' responsibility to be ready for children—no matter what their level of skills and abilities when they begin.

The research evidence does not argue strongly for older entry ages. Some studies indicate a small advantage for some skills for older children, but the difference fades within the first few years of schooling. For most skills studied, schooling has a significantly stronger effect than age, and younger children at a grade level benefit from schooling as much as older children (Oshima & Domaleski, 2006; Stipek, 2002). There also may be some risks for children who are older than their classmates because of delayed entry. These children show more behavior problems than younger children at the same grade level, with some studies finding that the difference increases over time while others show no long-term disadvantages (Byrd, Weitzman, & Auinger, 1997; Lincove & Painter, 2006; Mayer & Knutson, 1999).