Is School Readiness At Age 5-6 Associated With Academic Performance At Age 14-15? A Prospective Cohort Study of Data From the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children

Abstract Research has consistently placed early school readiness as a significant predictor of academic performance across primary schooling. Less is known about the effects of school readiness on academic performance in the high school years. This prospective cohort study aims to examine the association between school readiness at age 5–6 years and academic performance at age 14–15 years. The present study used data from the Baby Cohort of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children ( n = 1,161), linked to data from the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC), a measure of teacher-reported school readiness at Year 1, and the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN), a standardised measure of academic performance at Year 9. School readiness domains measuring physical, cognitive, social, emotional, and communication skills were compared to NAPLAN domains on reading, writing, spelling, grammar, and numeracy. School readiness was found to be associated with academic performance, even after adjustment for a range of child and family characteristics. Cognitive skills at school entry were found to be the most consistently associated with numeracy performance in high school, OR = 9.08, 95% CI [3.93, 20.98], followed by social competency and spelling skills, OR = 3.68, 95% CI [1.95, 6.94]. A holistic understanding of the role of school readiness in later academic performance may aid in understanding whether policies directed at reducing poor academic achievement should focus on the preschool years to support the development of school readiness as a long-term preventive approach.