A LONGITUDINAL RESEARCH ON CHILDREN WITH DIFFERENT PRIMARY SCHOOL ENTRANCE AGE.

This study was designed and conducted as the second step of a longitudinal research planned to be carried out in four steps. The aim of the study was to observe and compare the academic achievements in formal education period and the status in the transition to the labor market of the children enrolled in primary school at the age of five or six in 2012-2013 academic year. This longitudinal study, which started in the 2013-2014 academic year when the students in the study group were in the second grade of primary school, will end in 2028, when the students will theoretically graduate from a four-year undergraduate program. The first step of the longitudinal study was conducted when the students in the study group were in the second grade of primary school and was published in 2016. The purpose of the second step of the study was to compare the academic achievements of the participants in the fourth grade of primary school, secondary school and in the transition to high school education. Correlational survey model was used in conducting the second step of the study. The number of participants in the study sample was 60. The number of participants in the study group of the second step changed due to loss of participants. Data was collected using the document review technique. Descriptive and relational statistical techniques were used to analyze the data. As a result of the study, it was determined that the end-of-year grade point averages and High School Entrance Exam scores of the participants who started primary school at the age of five were lower than those who started at the age of six. The difference between the scores of the two groups was statistically significant. Based on the findings of the study, it is recommended to end the practice of starting primary school at the age of five and to take measures for students who started school early and are still studying in pre-university classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]