Child development and school readiness in Uruguay: the effects of cognitive and non-cognitive lags at the end of kindergarten on academic performance throughout primary education

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7203/RASE.16.1.24777

Keywords:

Early development, school attainment, inequality

Abstract

The paper assesses the effect of cognitive and non-cognitive lags in children development by the end of kindergarten on future school attainment. We use the Uruguayan EYE 2016 Panel, a longitudinal study that follows primary school trajectories of pupils assessed by the Early Years Evaluation (EYE) in 2016 (n=15,529) before the beginning of graduate school. Regression models (OLS and logistic) show overall and domain-specific development lags are associated to substantial decreases in different school outcomes, including: students’ achievement in reading and math standardized tests, teachers’ grades -attainment and behavior- and retention risks throughout elementary school. Consistently with previous research, our results suggest that, although early cognitive abilities are the best predictor of later school outcomes, other early developmental domains play a crucial role for school readiness. In particular, EIT’s “Socio-emotional skills and approaches to learning” domain has strong effects on all school outcomes -especially, on children’s school behavior. Early motor development, as well, has significant, although lower effects. Early identification of children who will most certainly face difficulties to stay on track in school is a promising and feasible goal in national educational systems like Uruguay, with high pre-school attendance rates and high-quality educational assessments, including early evaluations such as EIT.

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Author Biography

Santiago Cardozo Politi, Departamento de Sociología, Udelar (Uruguay) Dirección de Investigación y Estadística de ANEP (Uruuguay)

Doctor en Sociología (Udelar), Profesor Adjunto, G°3 (Docente e investigador) del DS - Udelar. Investigador Principal de la DIEE-ANEP.

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Published

2023-01-26

How to Cite

Cardozo Politi, S. (2023). Child development and school readiness in Uruguay: the effects of cognitive and non-cognitive lags at the end of kindergarten on academic performance throughout primary education. Revista De Sociología De La Educación-RASE, 16(1), 57–75. https://doi.org/10.7203/RASE.16.1.24777
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