Table 220.60.

Fall 2010 kindergartners' reading, mathematics, science, cognitive flexibility, and approaches to learning scale scores, by kindergarten entry status and time of assessment: Fall 2010, spring 2011, and spring 2012

[Standard errors appear in parentheses]
Type and time of assessment	Overall mean score1		Mean score by fall 2010 kindergarten entry status2
			Early kindergarten entrants		On-time kindergarten entrants		Delayed kindergarten entrants		Kindergarten repeaters
1	2		3		4		5		6
Reading scale score3
Kindergarten
Fall 2010	37.6	(0.21)	36.8	(0.78)	37.6	(0.23)	38.8	(0.55)	39.0	(0.60)
Spring 2011	49.8	(0.29)	47.1	(1.51)	50.1	(0.30)	51.0	(0.61)	48.7	(0.76)
First grade, spring 2012	69.5	(0.29)	66.2	(1.66)	70.1	(0.31)	71.1	(0.59)	65.0	(0.99)
Mathematics scale score4
Kindergarten
Fall 2010	30.6	(0.26)	27.4	(0.95)	30.6	(0.28)	34.2	(0.69)	31.1	(0.62)
Spring 2011	43.4	(0.30)	39.9	(1.41)	43.6	(0.32)	46.4	(0.69)	42.5	(0.71)
First grade, spring 2012	62.9	(0.29)	58.0	(1.56)	63.2	(0.31)	66.3	(0.73)	59.5	(0.86)
Science scale score5
Kindergarten, spring 2011	21.1	(0.14)	19.2	(0.58)	21.3	(0.15)	22.7	(0.27)	20.8	(0.39)
First grade, spring 2012	26.7	(0.17)	24.8	(0.78)	26.9	(0.18)	28.5	(0.28)	25.7	(0.49)
Cognitive flexibility score6
Kindergarten
Fall 2010	14.3	(0.07)	13.0	(0.53)	14.3	(0.06)	14.6	(0.17)	13.9	(0.21)
Spring 2011	15.2	(0.07)	14.7	(0.31)	15.2	(0.07)	15.5	(0.10)	14.8	(0.21)
First grade, spring 2012	16.0	(0.05)	16.0	(0.29)	16.1	(0.05)	16.4	(0.11)	15.5	(0.19)
Approaches to learning score7
Kindergarten
Fall 2010	3.0	(0.01)	2.9	(0.07)	3.0	(0.01)	3.0	(0.03)	2.9	(0.05)
Spring 2011	3.1	(0.01)	3.0	(0.08)	3.1	(0.01)	3.2	(0.03)	2.9	(0.05)
First grade, spring 2012	3.1	(0.01)	3.1	(0.11)	3.1	(0.01)	3.1	(0.04)	2.8	(0.04)

1Includes students with missing kindergarten entry status information.

2A child who enrolled in kindergarten for the first time in 2010-11 is classified as an early, on-time, or delayed kindergarten entrant depending on whether the parent reported enrolling the child early, enrolling the child when he or she was old enough, or waiting until the child was older relative to school guidelines about when children can start school based on their birth date. A child is classified as a kindergarten repeater if the parent reported that 2010-11 was the child’s second (or third or more) year of kindergarten.

3Reflects performance on questions measuring basic skills (print familiarity, letter recognition, beginning and ending sounds, rhyming words, and word recognition); vocabulary knowledge; and reading comprehension, including identifying information specifically stated in text (e.g., definitions, facts, and supporting details), making complex inferences from texts, and considering the text objectively and judging its appropriateness and quality. Possible scores for the reading assessment range from 0 to 100.

4Reflects performance on questions on number sense, properties, and operations; measurement; geometry and spatial sense; data analysis, statistics, and probability (measured with a set of simple questions assessing children’s ability to read a graph); and prealgebra skills such as identification of patterns. Possible scores for the mathematics assessment range from 0 to 96.

5Science was not assessed in the fall of kindergarten. Reflects performance on questions on physical sciences, life sciences, environmental sciences, and scientific inquiry. Possible scores for the science assessment range from 0 to 47.

6To measure cognitive flexibility, children were administered the Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) (developed by Philip Zelazo in 2006). Children were asked to sort a series of picture cards into one of two trays according to different rules (e.g., by color, by shape). Possible scores range from 0 to 18.

7The approaches to learning scale is based on teachers' reports on how students rate in seven areas: attentiveness, task persistence, eagerness to learn, learning independence, ability to adapt easily to changes in routine, organization, and ability to follow classroom rules. Possible scores on the scale range from 1 to 4, with higher scores indicating that a child exhibits positive learning behaviors more often.

NOTE: Estimates weighted by W4C4P_20. Estimates pertain to a sample of children who were enrolled in kindergarten in the 2010-11 school year. Estimates differ from previously published figures because reading, mathematics, and science scores were recalibrated to represent the kindergarten through first-grade assessment item pools and because weights were adjusted to account for survey nonresponse at each data collection wave, including the latest round of data collection (spring 2012).

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 (ECLS-K:2011), Kindergarten-First Grade Restricted-Use Data File. (This table was prepared February 2015.)