TY  - JOUR
AU  - Deming,David
AU  - Dynarski,Susan
TI  - The Lengthening of Childhood
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 14124
PY  - 2008
Y2  - June 2008
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14124
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14124.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
David Deming
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Gutman 411
Appian Way
Cambridge MA 02138
E-Mail: david_deming@gse.harvard.edu

Susan Dynarski
University of Michigan
Weill Hall
735 South State Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-3091
Tel: 734 615 5113
Fax: NA
E-Mail: dynarski@umich.edu
AB  - Forty years ago, 96% of six-year-old children were enrolled in first grade or above. As of 2005, the figure was just 84%. The school attendance rate of six-year-olds has not decreased; rather, they are increasingly likely to be enrolled in kindergarten rather than first grade. This paper documents this historical shift. We show that only about a quarter of the change can be proximately explained by changes in school entry laws; the rest reflects "academic redshirting," the practice of enrolling a child in a grade lower than the one for which he is eligible. We show that the decreased grade attainment of six-year-olds reverberates well beyond the kindergarten classroom. Recent stagnation in the high school and college completion rates of young people is partly explained by their later start in primary school. The relatively late start of boys in primary school explains a small but significant portion of the rising gender gaps in high school graduation and college completion. Increases in the age of legal school entry intensify socioeconomic differences in educational attainment, since lower-income children are at greater risk of dropping out of school when they reach the legal age of school exit.
ER  -