Entry into kindergarten: Educational stratification at the beginning school experience.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

When is the right time to enter children into kindergarten? In this dissertation, I employ data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K) to take an in-depth look at the timing of entry into kindergarten and ask the following questions: Are there race, class, or gender differences between those who enter "on time" and those who either enter "early" or are "delayed"? What role do reference groups play in influencing how parents might make decisions regarding the timing of entry into kindergarten for their children? And do any longer term cognitive effects exist for children according to the timing of their kindergarten entry?.
My results suggest that there are indeed differences between children by kindergarten entry status. For example, boys and White children are more likely to be held out, whereas African American children are more likely to be sent early. My results also provide limited support that parents use reference groups for guidance and comparison when considering kindergarten entry. Kindergarten entry status also appears to influence cognitive test scores over time: by third grade, children who were entered into kindergarten early perform significantly worse on reading and math assessments than children who entered into kindergarten on time. On the other hand, delayed children, who performed worse in reading and math in kindergarten and first grade than on time children have caught up by the third grade. Finally, my results suggest that the age a child enters into kindergarten and kindergarten entry status itself are two different concepts. I discuss the implications of these results for educational stratification, and stratification more broadly.