Date of Award

4-1-1990

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Specialist in Education (Ed.S.)

Department

Psychology

Abstract

The impact of chronological age on academic success has been a controversial topic in education for several decades now. Researchers have met with varying levels of success in demonstrating that the age at which a child begins schooling can predict later academic progress. While some studies have demonstrated that younger students appear less able in school than their classmates (Baer, 1958; DiPasquale, Moule, & Flewelling, 1980), others have criticized the findings as overly simplistic (Gredler, 1980; Jones & Southern, 1987). They cite other factors such as socioeconomic status (SES) which might account for a large part of the apparent birthdate effect. Also, because evidence for the birthdate effect has been almost exclusively based on correlational data and because other methodological concerns have been largely ignored in the literature, some researchers have been skeptical (Gredler, 1980; Jones & Southern, 1987).

Comments

A Field Project Presented to the Department of Psychology and the Faculty of the Graduate College University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Specialist in Education University of Nebraska at Omaha. Copyright Christine Ellenberg Borgelt April, 1990

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