Introduction

Changes Over Time for the ECLS-K Children

Over the first 4 years of school, young children may encounter different learning experiences. From the start of kindergarten to the end of third grade, many children had changed schools at least one time (table 2).²⁵ For instance, in the spring of 2002, about half of the children remained in the same school they had attended in kindergarten, 39 percent had made one school change, and 10 percent had changed schools two or more times since the start of kindergarten. Some children also changed the type of school they attended. In the spring of 2002, 88 percent of the children were enrolled in public schools and 12 percent attended private schools. Eighty-one percent of the children had attended public schools for the duration of the study, and 9 percent always attended private schools. Ten percent changed the type of school they attended at least once between kindergarten and the end of third grade. In the spring of 2002, 89 percent of first-time kindergartners were in third grade, 10 percent were in second grade, and about 1 percent were enrolled in other grades (e.g., first or fourth grade) (not shown in tables).