Age standardisation

Eleven Plus (11+) in Warwickshire

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Sally-Anne
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Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 8:10 pm
Location: Buckinghamshire

Re: Age standardisation

Post by Sally-Anne »

Thank you for sending the information to us, Tramps13.

I have forwarded it to Okanagan and she will post on the Warks section when she has time to do so.
Rob Clark
Posts: 1298
Joined: Tue Nov 25, 2008 1:59 pm

Re: Age standardisation

Post by Rob Clark »

As regular posters will know, this is something of a hobby-horse of mine, despite it no longer being relevant to my own children :D

Pretty well every study (one of the most recent was from the highly respected IoE) shows that not only are summer-born babies at a disadvantage but that that disadvantage is more pronounced and lasts longer – possibly even to GCSE and beyond – than previously suspected.

Certainly it is well known that professional sportsmen and women are disproportionately represented by autumn-born children, so the figures which Tramps13 has dug up don't surprise me in the least.
Tramps13
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Joined: Thu May 09, 2013 10:02 am

Re: Age standardisation

Post by Tramps13 »

Thanks Rob. It would be great to see more effort to support summer-born children throughout their school lives.

I would not be surprised if less Summer-born children were actually entered for the exam. I have not asked for this data.

What I found most sad when looking at these figures is that you were 33% more likely to get into South Warwickshire Grammar schools in the last 3 years if you were lucky enough to be born in Sept/Oct (165) than if you were born in July/August (125).
ToadMum
Posts: 11946
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2012 12:41 pm
Location: Essex

Re: Age standardisation

Post by ToadMum »

Tramps13 wrote:Thanks Rob. It would be great to see more effort to support summer-born children throughout their school lives.

I would not be surprised if less Summer-born children were actually entered for the exam. I have not asked for this data.

What I found most sad when looking at these figures is that you were 33% more likely to get into South Warwickshire Grammar schools in the last 3 years if you were lucky enough to be born in Sept/Oct (165) than if you were born in July/August (125).
Actually, if the system is "opt in", without knowing how many children in each band entered for the exam, let alone what proportion they were of the population they came from, you cannot say that they were more or less likely to get in.

There are all kinds of reasons why kids perfectly likely to pass are not entered for the 11+ - parental ideology; not wanting to subject little Johnny / Cynthia to the "stress", etc. Last year, our primary school entered 7 children for the Level 6 Maths paper - of the two who got it, one had never not been going to be entered for the 11+, IYSWIM, and had passed (late July birthday), but the other (Feb / March birthday I think) didn't even take it, following an older sibling to a local comprehensive.
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx
ginx
Posts: 2151
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 2:47 pm
Location: Warwickshire

Re: Age standardisation

Post by ginx »

Sorry, everyone - I feel guilty my May daughter passed now. Maybe that's just because she got the extra 8 points or so from being born then. I just feel she is quite mature for her age.

I am aware of the potential difference - my July born daughter would have done so much better if she was in the year below, also she always gets on with dc who are a year younger than her. When I say she is immature for her year, maybe I should say she is typical for a July baby.
scary mum
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Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2010 3:45 pm

Re: Age standardisation

Post by scary mum »

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-22469216" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
scary mum
mike1880
Posts: 2563
Joined: Sat Sep 27, 2008 10:51 pm

Re: Age standardisation

Post by mike1880 »

It would be interesting to have the breakdown of birth months of the children being entered for the exam. It's by belief that, regardless of whether standardisation does its job on the day of the test, summer-born children are disadvantaged long before they get through the door of the exam room. Summer born children stand a very good chance of being "filtered out" of the 11+ process long before standardisation kicks in. Setting in primary schools correlates disturbingly closely with age according to studies - the chances of a summer born child making it into top sets are vanishingly small.

Mike
Tramps13
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu May 09, 2013 10:02 am

Re: Age standardisation

Post by Tramps13 »

I think that is an important point Mike, and there needs to be much more work done on this before we can draw any conclusions about age standardisation marking.

I think Okanagan will post the data on the forum today for people to draw their own conclusions.

For the record, my child was not born in July or August.
Rob Clark
Posts: 1298
Joined: Tue Nov 25, 2008 1:59 pm

Re: Age standardisation

Post by Rob Clark »

Very interesting post, Mike. Has specific research been done on that?

In my field – sport – there has been a study by the FA which found that some 57% of young footballers at Premiership Academies were born between September and December and only 14% between May and August (figures from the 2008-09 season).

Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers brought this to wider attention when it found similar discrepancies in professional ice hockey in Canada.

The presumption is that children who are older in their year are likely to be taller, quicker, stronger, and so on, meaning that they get selected for the teams. Thereafter the effect is twofold: firstly, those children gain confidence from their selection and the mental benefits that accrue from that and secondly they may get extra training, matches etc which enables them to play more often and gain greater experience more quickly. It becomes a virtuous circle for those inside it, and increasingly hard for those outside it to break into it.

There may not be a direct correlation with academic ability (or the perception thereof) but research would seem to indicate that some similar assumptions are made, both by schools and by parents.
Okanagan
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Joined: Mon Aug 22, 2011 9:20 pm
Location: Warwickshire

Re: Age standardisation

Post by Okanagan »

Rob Clark wrote:In my field – sport – there has been a study by the FA which found that some 57% of young footballers at Premiership Academies were born between September and December and only 14% between May and August (figures from the 2008-09 season).
This is presumably the reason why junior football is about to switch to using calendar years instead of academic years to determine which age group they play in?
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