This study examines the developmental level of reading and writing skills of students who started the first grade of primary school at 60-66 months of age, while they are attending the second grade. The changes experienced in the field of education in recent years, especially the reduction of the school starting age to 66 months and the fact that students who have completed 60 months can register upon parental request, have brought about significant debates on this issue. This situation raises the question of whether children have reached the biological maturity and readiness necessary to acquire critical skills such as reading and writing. The subject of this research is to determine how the reading and writing skills (reading speed, word recognition, reading comprehension, writing speed, compliance with spelling and punctuation rules, legibility) of students who start school at an early age develop.

In this qualitative study, a survey model was used. The study group consists of 38 second-grade students who studied in 2 different primary schools in the city center of Uşak in the 2013-2014 academic year and started primary school when they were 60-66 months old. Various tools such as reading and writing texts, video recordings, reading comprehension questions, a miscue analysis inventory, and a multidimensional legibility scale were used as data collection tools. The data were analyzed using arithmetic mean, percentage, and frequency values.

As a result of the study, it was determined that the reading and writing skills of the students who started primary school at 60-66 months of age were generally behind the level they should be. In the reading speed sub-dimension, the average number of words read per minute by the students was determined as 53.17, which is behind the 60 words expected for the second-grade level. In word recognition skills, it was observed that the vast majority of the students (nearly 95%) were at an adequate level. However, in reading comprehension skills, it was revealed that 71% of the students were unsuccessful and only 5% understood at a good level. When the writing skill was examined, it was found that the writing speed of 41.4% of the students was below the second-grade level, and 89.6% of their writing was illegible. On the other hand, the average score for compliance with spelling and punctuation rules was determined to be at a "good" level with 71.5.

In the discussion section, the concerns brought about by the legal regulations made in Turkey, despite the decrease in the school starting age in European countries, are mentioned. There are many studies showing that students who start school at an early age lag behind older students in terms of academic success and reading-writing skills. The results obtained by the research also suggest that the fact that these students did not receive preschool education may have an effect on this picture. For educators, it is recommended that course materials be rearranged according to the developmental levels of 60-66 month-old students and that the decision to start school should be made not only with parental initiative but also with expert evaluation.

We thank the thesis author Ahmet Erkam Işık for this valuable study. The full thesis can be accessed via www.tez.yok.gov.tr using the code 370469.