Data Information

Errata Information

The following links are for documents describing errors on the ECLS-K data files and ways to fix them.

• Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K) Correct Theta Scores for the Kindergarten through Eighth Grade Data Collections Errata (NCES 2010052)
• ECLS-K Child Disability Composite Errata and ECB Functionality Errata for Data Products Released 2000 through 2006 (NCES 2007031)
• ECLS-K Base Year Public-Use ECB Errata (NCES 2001029e)

Periodicity

1998-99 (the kindergarten year): The ECLS-K child assessments, parent interviews, and teacher questionnaires were fielded in the fall. Children, parents, and teachers participated again in the spring, along with school administrators.

1999-2000 (the first-grade year): The ECLS-K conducted child assessments and parent interviews for a 30 percent sub-sample of children in the fall. The full sample of children, their parents, their teachers, and their school administrators participated in the spring.

2002 (the third-grade year): The ECLS-K conducted child assessments and parent interviews in the spring. Teachers, school administrators, and the children themselves completed questionnaires in the spring as well.

2004 (the fifth-grade year): The ECLS-K conducted child assessments and interviews, and parent interviews in the spring. Teachers, school administrators, and the children themselves completed questionnaires in the spring as well.

2007 (the eighth-grade year): The ECLS-K followed the children into middle school. Information was collected from the children, their parents, their teachers, and their school administrators in the spring.

Released Data

The longitudinal Kindergarten Through Eighth Grade Full Sample Public-Use Data And Documentation (http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2009005) are now available. This longitudinal K-8 data file includes all released data for all cases that ever participated in the study, including those that became nonrespondents at some point after kindergarten. This is the only file that is needed for analysis of publicly available data for any round of ECLS-K data collection. Information on other data releases, including supplemental and restricted-use files, can be found at http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/getpubcats.asp?sid=024.

Restricted Data

Due to NCES' confidentiality legislation, researchers must obtain (or amend) a restricted data license to access restricted data from the ECLS-K. Unlike the public-use data, restricted-use ECLS-K data are released only as cross-sectional, grade-level files. Researchers interested in analyzing restricted data from more than one grade must request the cross-sectional files for each grade of interest (i.e., kindergarten, first grade, third grade, fifth grade, or eighth grade).

Data Format

ECLS-K data are released in CD-ROM and DVD formats, with the type of disk dependent on the particular data set requested. The CD-ROMs and DVDs include the data files, electronic codebooks (ECBs), user's manuals, methodology reports, survey instruments, and file record layouts. ECBs can be used to 1) examine variables in a data set, 2) examine question wording, response categories, and frequency distributions, and 3) select and export variables along with the appropriate code needed to create SAS, SPSS-PC, and STATA datasets. Public-use data are also available through an on-line version of the ECB called the EDAT system. To access the EDAT system, please visit https://nces.ed.gov/datalab/..

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