The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998–99 (ECLS-K) was designed to provide detailed information on children’s early school experiences. The study began in the fall 1998. A nationally representative sample of 22,782 children enrolled in 1,277 kindergarten programs during the 1998–99 school year was selected to participate in the ECLS-K. The children attended both public and private kindergartens, and full-day and part-day programs. The sample included children from different racial/ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds, and oversamples of Asian and Pacific Island children, and private kindergartners. Base-year data were collected in the fall and spring of the kindergarten year. Data were collected again in the fall of first grade (30 percent subsample) and spring of first grade, and then in spring of the third grade in 2002 and spring of the fifth grade in 2004.
The ECLS-K includes a direct child cognitive assessment that was administered one-on-one with each child in the study. The assessment used a computer-assisted personal interview (CAPI) approach and a two-stage adaptive testing methodology. The direct assessment includes three cognitive domains: reading, mathematics and general knowledge at kindergarten and first grade. General knowledge was replaced by science at third and fifth grade. Children’s height and weight were measured at each data collection point and a direct measure of children’s psychomotor development was administered in the fall of the kindergarten year only. In addition to these measures, the ECLS-K collected information about children’s social skills and academic achievement through teacher reports.
A computer-assisted telephone interview with the children’s parents/guardians was conducted at each data collection point. Parents/guardians were asked to provide key information about their children on subjects, such as family demographics (e.g., family members, age, relation to child, race/ethnicity), family structure (e.g., household members and composition), parent involvement, home educational activities (e.g., reading to the child), child health, parental education and employment status, and child’s social skills and behaviors.
Data on the schools that children attend and their classrooms were collected by self-administered questionnaires completed by school administrators and classroom teachers. Administrators provided information about the school population, programs, and policies. At the classroom level, data were collected on the composition of the classroom, teaching practices, curriculum, and teacher qualifications and experience. A representative sample of teachers in the sample students’ grade in the ECLS-K sampled schools were asked to complete the teacher questionnaires, not just those who teach ECLS-K children.
Further information on the ECLS-K may be obtained from:
Elvira Germino Hausken
Early Childhood and Household Studies Program (ECICSD)
National Center for Education Statistics
1990 K Street NW
Washington, DC 20006
ecls@ed.gov
http://nces.ed.gov/ecls
NCES Sources