The focus of this paper is on variation in the early literacy skills among first-grade students using longitudinal survey of children during their transition from kindergarten to primary school (25 school, 439 pupils). This study tests the hypothesis of gender gap in the reading skills at the very beginning of the first grade.
Preliminary results proceed by the analysis of data from the first stage of panel surveys find that girls don't outperform boys in first grade in reading skills. Differences are very poor and (with the exception of test listening comprehension) not statistically significant.
Children have a high level of early literacy skills in the beginning of primary school attendance, roughly comparable in boys and girls.