1. Child Care Policy and Experiment
Determinants of Early Primary School Enrolment – A Natural Experiment Using Childcare Policy
Stephen Burgess, School of Economics
Early Enrolment
Australia has two laws that determine school starting age: A child is eligible to enrol if they turn 5 before the cut-off date of the state they reside in and they must enrol prior to their 6th birthday.
Children born in the first few months of the year are eligible for school twice; when they are 4 and when they are 5. Their peers will only be eligible at age 5.
Outcomes for Children
Other studies (Elder & Lubotsky (2009), Black et al (2008), Jha 2014, Edwards et al, 2011) have found children who enrol early linked with:
Poorer grades and increased repetition
Higher prevalence of teen pregnancy
Higher rates of subsistence abuse and drug taking
Higher rates of ADD/ADHD
As a result of being relatively young/immature for their cohort.
Child Care Policy and Experiment
In 2005, a tax rebate was added to the existing Child Care Benefits (CCB) and allowed families to claim for 30% of costs (later 50% in 2007). This rebate was NOT means tested.
Eligibility requirements: Parents must be at least part time workers and use an authorised childcare provider.
Experiment involves testing responsiveness of early enrolment to a partial, and uniform subsidisation of Childcare.
Prediction: Parents concerned with their child’s maturity level are incentivised to delay school by one year, giving the child an additional year to develop. This should have a measurable impact on standardised test scores.
Results
Early enrolment reduced by approximately 5% as a result of the policy
2% reduction in the instances of Kindergarten repetition
50 point and 48 point (~2%) increase in aggregate NAPLAN scores in year 3 and year 5 respectively
Empirical Model R
Early Enrolment
Kindergarten Repetition
NAPLAN Scores
Regression Models
Pr 𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑡=1 𝐶𝐶𝑇𝑅,𝑋 = 𝛽 0 + 𝛽 1 𝐶𝐶𝑇𝑅+ 𝑋 𝑖 𝛽+𝜇 𝑖
P𝑟(𝑘𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑡=1|𝑐𝑐𝑡𝑟, 𝑋)= 𝛽 0 + 𝛽 1 𝑐𝑐𝑡𝑟 1 + 𝛽 2 𝑤𝑛𝑑 𝑤 𝑖 + 𝛽 3 (𝑐𝑐𝑡𝑟×𝑤𝑛𝑑𝑤 ) 𝑖 + 𝑋 𝑖 𝛽+ 𝜇 𝑖𝑡
∆ 𝑁 𝑖𝑡 = 𝛼 0 + 𝛾 1 𝑐𝑐𝑡𝑟 1 + 𝛾 2 𝑤𝑛𝑑 𝑤 𝑖 + 𝛾 3 (𝑐𝑐𝑡𝑟×𝑤𝑛𝑑𝑤 ) 𝑖1 +∆ 𝑥 𝑖𝑡 𝛽+ 𝜇 𝑖𝑡
References
Todd E. Elder & Darren H. Lubotsy “Kindergarten Entrance Age and Children’s Achievement:Impact of State Policies, Family Backgrounds and Peers, Journal of Human Resources, 44(3), 2009
.Nikhil Jha “Late Starting with Extra Schooling: The Effect of School Entry Age Increase and the Introduction of Preparatory School, Melbourne Institute Applied Working Paper, 10 (4) 2014
Sandra Black, Paul J. Devereux Kjell G. Salvanes “Too Young To Leave the Nest: The Effects of School Starting Age” NBER Working Papers, March 2008
Ben Edwards, Matthew Taylor and Mario Fiorini “Who Gets The Gift Of Time in Australia? Explorting Delayed Primary School Entry” Australia Review of Public Affairs 10(1), 2011