Can Starting School a Year Younger Help Kids Close the Achievement Gap?

We would all want our kids to become achievers one day and even become wildly successful in whatever field they would eventually like to pursue. What if one small change allowed that to become a reality? Well, one policy change in Australia is said to do so: extending public preschool subsidization to include three-year-olds.

Just last year, the subsidies for three-year-old children in the public preschool system were removed so that they could be able to better focus on the four-year-olds. This is important, because according to reports from the Sydney Morning Herald, there is a lot of international evidence suggesting that the achievement gap between 5 and 6 year olds who start school is quite considerable. It also apparently carries on later in the child's life.

This achievement gap includes social adjustment and earning capacity, which are two very important things in a child's schooling. An achievement gap can eventually also show up in "grades, standardized test scores, course selection, dropout rates, and college completion rates," according to Ed Week.

Overcoming this achievement gap is important, especially for children whose families come from a lower socio-economic background. This is the reason why some parents opt to send their children, even younger than 3, to attend daycare centers or even early learning centers.

"What children experience before school has long-term implications for their education right through school, and when they leave school," says Edward Melhuish, a professor of Human Development at Oxford University. "Those effects are maintained right through into adulthood, into higher salaries, better self-regulation, better social adjustment," he adds.

Professor Barnett of Rutger's University also weighs in on the topic saying, "In the US disadvantaged kids are 18 months behind when they enter kindergarten. Almost all the achievement gap, which is what produces the income gap, is there before they start school."