title: Delayed school entry and academic performance: a natural experiment.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Recent reports suggest that delayed school entry (DSE) may be beneficial for children with developmental delays. However, studies of the effects of DSE are inconclusive. This study investigated the effects of DSE versus age-appropriate school entry (ASE) on children's academic achievement and attention in middle childhood.
  
  
  METHODS
  In total, 999 children (492 females, 507 males; 472 born preterm) were studied as part of a prospective population-based longitudinal study in Germany. Using a natural experimental design, propensity score matching was applied to create two matched groups who differed only in terms of DSE versus ASE. Teacher ratings of achievement in mathematics, reading, writing, and attention were obtained in Year 1, and standardized tests were administered at 8 years of age.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was no evidence of a difference in the odds of DSE versus ASE children being rated as above average by teachers in Year 1. In contrast, the standardized mean test scores for DSE children were lower than ASE children's mean scores in all domains (mathematics: B=-0.28 [-0.51 to -0.06)], reading: B=-0.39 [-0.65 to -0.14], writing: B=-0.90 [-1.07 to -0.74], and attention: B=-0.58 [-0.79 to -0.36]).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  DSE did not affect teacher-rated academic performance. However, missing 1 year of learning opportunities was associated with poorer average performance in standardized tests at 8 years of age. Future research is needed to determine the long-term effect of DSE on academic achievement.
authors.affiliation: Department of Developmental Psychology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jaekel
authors.affiliation: Centre for Statistics in Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Vicky Yu-Chun
authors.initials: VY
authors.lastname: Strauss
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK.
authors.forename: Samantha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.affiliation: Mathematics Education Centre, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK.
authors.forename: Camilla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gilmore
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.
authors.forename: Dieter
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wolke