The effects of age and gender on reading achievement: implications for pediatric counseling

The hypothesis that age of school entrance and gender interact to affect academic achievement was tested on three samples of children at the end of 1st (n = 1215), 2nd (n = 1141), and 3rd grade (n = 1037). Multiple regressions of age, gender, and their interaction on reading achievement resulted in significant effects of age for each sample. However, these variables together accounted for less than 1% of the variability in reading scores at each grade. There was a significant interaction between age and gender for the 3rd grade sample. Separate gender analyses of variance by age class revealed that girls who were 6 years or older at the time of entrance achieved significantly lower than middle-entrance-age or younger girls. Contrary to popular belief, there were no significant age class effects for boys. These findings indicate that significantly more attention should be focused on the specific skills that children bring to the learning process than on their age and gender in assessing readiness. Implications for pediatric counseling are discussed.