ABSTRACT
This chapter examines issues related to how elementary school organization affects children's development. The variation in socioeconomic level between elementary schools actually outstrips that between secondary schools. Within elementary schools, students are sorted in at least three ways: by being held back; by being placed in Special Education; and by being grouped for instruction within or between classrooms. Each of these administrative decisions effectively creates a "track". The chapter begins by pointing out that children's age is the prepotent determinant of elementary school organization in the US Typically all children born within a designated 12-month period are placed in one grade-school cohort. The rigid age grading of students in elementary schools goes against scientific information about how children's chronological age affects their schooling. The matter of student age when children begin school demands review. Almost everywhere in the US, chronological age alone dictates when children begin first grade.
