Chapter 3. Primary School Skill Development: from First to Sixth Grade experience a steeper advancement throughout primary education, resulting in an even larger lead at the end of primary education. Sixth-grade achievement gaps regarding parental education are largely formed within primary education. For reading, it appears that 36% of the achievement gap between students with low- and middle-educated parents is developed during schooling. Similarly, 47% of the gap between students with high- and middle-educated parents is developed during schooling. For spelling, these percentages are slightly lower, with 31% and 34%. For math, 49% and 42% of the achievement gap between students with low- and middle-educated parents and those with high- and middle-educated parents is established during schooling, respectively.16 This means that both the period before primary education and the period within primary education itself, shapes achievement gaps at the end of primary school. More than half of these achievement gaps is already formed before second grade. While OLS and IV estimates give similar conclusions, the OLS estimates show larger differences in learning advancement. They overestimate the percentage of the sixth-grade achievement gap formed during schooling and underestimate the role of the achievement difference already present before second grade. We conclude that sixth-grade achievement gaps are shaped both before and after second grade. Figure B.3 of the appendix performs a similar analysis to examine insights into in which grades disparities 16If we calculate the same percentages for the differences between students with lowand high-educated parents, 45%, 34%, and 43% of the sixth-grade achievement gap between both student groups are formed throughout primary school, between second and sixth grade, respectively. This means that between a half and two-thirds of the sixth-grade achievement gap was already in place in second grade. 68
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