Third Grade Academic Outcomes for Delayed-Entry Students with and without Disabilities

• In Event: Poster Session 05
  In Poster Session: PS 05 Topic - School Readiness/Childcare

Abstract

Parents who are concerned about their child’s school readiness may choose to delay their child’s entry into kindergarten, even if they are age eligible. While some families hold out typically- to high-functioning students, many delayed entrants appear more academically at-risk than their peers, scoring more poorly on readiness indicators and having a higher likelihood of being identified later as disabled (Fortner & Jenkins, 2017; Greenburg & Winsler, 2020). Despite the high prevalence of delayed entry among students with disabilities, little research has examined how these children fare compared to their peers. Fortner and Jenkins (2017) found that delaying kindergarten entry was associated with poorer math and reading performance in 3rd grade for children with disabilities but higher performance for children without disabilities. Their 2018 follow-up study indicated that delayed entry was associated with poorer performance for children with cognitive, learning, and other disabilities but higher performance for children with speech/language disorders.

This project adds to this body of literature by replicating Fortner and Jenkins (2018) using a smaller (N = 27,468; 1% delayed entry), more ethnically diverse (58.3% Latinx; 34.1% Black, 7.6% White/Asian/Other), low-income sample. Specifically, we examined whether 3rd grade outcomes for delayed-entry students vary by disability status. These data were drawn from a larger, ongoing project that prospectively followed children from age 4 throughout their public schooling. Approximately 19% of the overall sample was identified as having a disability, with a higher proportion (47.5%) having disabilities among those who delayed entry. Nearly half (45.9%) of students with disabilities had learning disability (LD) as their primary exceptionality.

We conducted a series of regression models to predict 3rd grade GPA, reading, and math scores. The first set of models included an indicator for redshirting status, latest disability status (Y/N) between kindergarten and 3rd grade, and an interaction between redshirting and disability status. The next set of models replaced the single disability (Y/N) indicator with two indicators representing LD vs. none and Other Disabilities (OD) vs. none. No interaction terms were in this model. Only two categories were used given small ns for other disability types among delayed-entry students. The third set of models included the two disability categories and interactions between redshirting status and these categories. All models accounted for nesting within schools and controlled for demographic variables. Tables 1 and 2 summarize the results of the GPA and reading models (math followed the same pattern). Model 1 results suggested that delayed entrants performed more poorly in G3 compared to their on-time peers, as did students with disabilities, but the interaction between disability status and delayed entry status was not significant. While delayed entry was associated with poorer child outcomes, it was not necessarily more harmful for children with disabilities. Results were similar across Models 2 and 3, when disability indicators were broken into LD and OD. These results differ from Fortner and Jenkins (2018), who found that delayed entry was associated with more positive 3rd grade outcomes overall but was associated with poorer outcomes for many students with disabilities.

Authors

• Jordan E Greenburg, Lindsey Wilson College
  Presenting Author

• Adam Winsler, George Mason University
  Non-Presenting Author