The ECLS-B collects information from children, parents, child care providers, teachers, and schools. The study collects information from children and their parents at each wave. Children's early care and education providers, teachers, and schools are included at different waves.
Trained assessors visit children in their homes. With the parent's permission, children participate in activities designed to measure important developmental skills in the cognitive, language, social, emotional, and physical domains. Children's length/height, weight, and middle upper arm circumference are also measured. The same developmental and physical measures are used at 2-years with the addition of a measure of children's attachment. At Preschool, the ECLS-B child assessments bridge measures and instruments used in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K) kindergarten and first grade instruments. Fine and gross motor skills are assessed along with the same physical measures obtained in previous waves (e.g., height, weight, etc.). The Kindergarten assessments are designed to link with both the Preschool and the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K) kindergarten and first grade instruments. As in the Preschool wave, fine and gross motor skills are assessed along with the physical measures (e.g., height, weight, etc.).
Trained assessors also conduct a computer-assisted interview with the sampled child's primary caregiver, most frequently the mother. Unique to the ECLS-B is the inclusion of fathers. Fathers (both resident and nonresident) complete self-administered questionnaires.
With the permission of the child's parents, individuals and organizations who provide regular care for the child are interviewed. Trained staff conduct a computer-assisted interview over the phone. For home-based care settings, the primary provider is interviewed about the care setting and the sampled child's experiences there. For center-based care programs, first the center director is questioned for general information about the program; next the sampled child's primary provider in the center is interviewed about the group care environment and the child's experiences. A subsample of the child care settings are observed and rated.
Kindergarten teachers of ECLS-B participants complete questionnaires which capture not only teacher information, but also information on the sampled children, their classrooms and schools. School data is obtained from teachers and from universal data bases (e.g., Common Core of Data (CCD), Private School Survey (PSS), etc.).
The ECLS-B strives to include all children and families. Within the limits of time and fiscal constraints, materials have been developed to include children and families whose primary language is not English. For example, both the parent interview and the early care and education provider interview have been translated into Spanish. If the parent or provider feels more comfortable in a language other than English or Spanish, then translators are utilized when available.
Additionally, at 9-months and 2-years, the child assessments were administered in the child's primary language either by a bilingual interviewer or with a translator. At Preschool and Kindergarten the cognitive assessments have been translated into Spanish. Spanish-speaking children are administered the cognitive assessments and the fine and gross motor assessments in Spanish. If children speak neither English nor Spanish, they are administered the motor items via a translator and their physical measurements are taken. They do not receive the cognitive assessment. At each wave, children's English language proficiency is reassessed.
Children with disabilities are included in the sample. The ECLS-B is designed to maximize participation of children with special needs at every data collection wave.
