The Relative Age Effect Across Different Autonomous Communities in Spain

• In Event: International Views on Achievement and Performance

Abstract

A person’s month of birth is an exogenous variable, unrelated to their ability to acquire knowledge and skills. However, when education systems use cut-off dates to regulate which students start receiving formal education each year, a child’s month of birth determines their relative age within the classroom. Relatively younger students tend to have worse academic performance and higher retention rates, and long-term consequences have been found in adult population. The present study uses the regional Spanish PISA 2015 datasets to research how the Relative Age Effect operates across educational systems that are similar in many ways, but also have key structural differences. The results show that the RAE is heavily modulated by educational policies, most notably those concerning grade retention.

Author

• Alejandro Pérez Pita, Complutense University of Madrid