Starting school one year later can shrink the graduation gap between boys and girls by a massive 60%.
By studying children who started school a year older, researchers found massive improvements in test scores, graduation rates, and mental health—but almost exclusively for boys. This suggests the standard school starting age is significantly more detrimental to the development of boys than girls.
Can Academic Redshirting Shrink the Education Gender Gap? Causal Evidence on Student Achievement and Mental Health
SSRN · 6394399
I study voluntary delays in the school entry of age-eligible children ("academic redshirting"), using Hungarian administrative test score and medical prescription data, and mental health surveys. I identify a new Local Average Treatment Effect of starting school a year older due to redshirting, by exploiting a school-readiness evaluation required only for potentially redshirted children born before January 1. Instrumenting with post-January 1 births, I estimate effects for non-school-ready child