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Digest of Education Statistics
2018 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 220.60. Fall 2010 kindergartners' reading, mathematics, science, and approaches to learning scale scores and standard deviations, by kindergarten entry status and time of assessment: Fall 2010 and spring 2011 through spring 2016
[Standard errors appear in parentheses]
Type and time
of assessment
Overall mean
score1
Standard deviation
of the overall
mean score
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 7
Reading scale score3                        
Kindergarten                        
Fall 2010 54.6 (0.24) 11.3 (0.18) 52.1 (1.09) 54.6 (0.25) 55.9 (0.65) 56.4 (0.86)
Spring 2011 69.3 (0.33) 14.4 (0.18) 64.5 (2.13) 69.6 (0.36) 70.5 (0.77) 68.0 (0.90)
First grade, spring 2012 94.9 (0.37) 17.8 (0.14) 87.7 (2.85) 95.7 (0.43) 97.6 (0.90) 89.1 (1.36)
Second grade, spring 2013 112.3 (0.34) 17.0 (0.16) 108.1 (2.22) 113.1 (0.40) 114.8 (0.91) 105.3 (1.52)
Third grade, spring 2014 120.9 (0.31) 15.3 (0.14) 116.4 (1.93) 121.7 (0.35) 123.1 (0.80) 114.4 (1.42)
Fourth grade, spring 2015 129.3 (0.27) 14.6 (0.15) 124.9 (2.02) 130.1 (0.30) 130.8 (0.84) 123.0 (1.42)
Fifth grade, spring 2016 136.3 (0.29) 15.3 (0.14) 132.9 (2.16) 137.1 (0.32) 137.7 (1.01) 129.1 (1.27)
                         
Mathematics scale score4                        
Kindergarten                        
Fall 2010 36.1 (0.28) 11.5 (0.13) 31.5 (1.19) 36.1 (0.30) 40.1 (0.80) 36.6 (0.84)
Spring 2011 50.3 (0.35) 13.3 (0.12) 44.8 (1.98) 50.4 (0.40) 54.0 (1.01) 49.5 (0.87)
First grade, spring 2012 72.8 (0.32) 15.6 (0.14) 64.7 (2.43) 73.2 (0.38) 77.4 (1.07) 69.4 (1.02)
Second grade, spring 2013 90.1 (0.39) 18.0 (0.15) 82.1 (2.58) 90.6 (0.44) 94.0 (1.05) 84.0 (1.33)
Third grade, spring 2014 103.9 (0.38) 17.7 (0.14) 98.6 (2.51) 104.6 (0.40) 107.5 (0.86) 96.5 (1.39)
Fourth grade, spring 2015 112.4 (0.42) 17.7 (0.19) 107.9 (2.42) 113.1 (0.43) 115.2 (0.93) 104.8 (1.44)
Fifth grade, spring 2016 119.4 (0.38) 17.3 (0.18) 116.1 (2.46) 120.3 (0.40) 121.5 (0.93) 110.8 (1.48)
                         
Science scale score5                        
Kindergarten, spring 2011 34.0 (0.18) 7.4 (0.06) 30.3 (0.94) 34.3 (0.20) 36.5 (0.45) 33.1 (0.56)
First grade, spring 2012 43.0 (0.26) 10.3 (0.08) 38.0 (1.43) 43.4 (0.28) 45.9 (0.49) 41.0 (0.79)
Second grade, spring 2013 52.5 (0.27) 11.6 (0.10) 48.2 (1.54) 52.9 (0.30) 55.3 (0.63) 49.7 (0.88)
Third grade, spring 2014 60.0 (0.27) 11.9 (0.10) 55.5 (1.85) 60.5 (0.30) 62.6 (0.58) 56.8 (0.84)
Fourth grade, spring 2015 66.8 (0.29) 11.9 (0.13) 63.1 (1.56) 67.3 (0.31) 68.7 (0.53) 62.9 (0.86)
Fifth grade, spring 2016 73.4 (0.28) 12.7 (0.14) 68.8 (1.91) 74.1 (0.29) 75.1 (0.66) 68.5 (1.04)
                         
Approaches to learning score6                        
Kindergarten                        
Fall 2010 3.0 (0.01) 0.7 (0.01) 2.9 (0.09) 3.0 (0.01) 3.0 (0.03) 2.8 (0.06)
Spring 2011 3.1 (0.01) 0.7 (0.00) 3.0 (0.09) 3.1 (0.02) 3.2 (0.03) 2.9 (0.05)
First grade, spring 2012 3.1 (0.01) 0.7 (0.01) 3.0 (0.12) 3.1 (0.01) 3.1 (0.03) 2.8 (0.04)
Second grade, spring 2013 3.1 (0.01) 0.7 (0.00) 3.0 (0.08) 3.1 (0.01) 3.1 (0.04) 2.8 (0.06)
Third grade, spring 2014 3.1 (0.01) 0.7 (0.01) 3.0 (0.11) 3.1 (0.01) 3.1 (0.04) 2.8 (0.05)
Fourth grade, spring 2015 3.1 (0.01) 0.7 (0.00) 3.1 (0.12) 3.1 (0.01) 3.1 (0.03) 2.8 (0.05)
Fifth grade, spring 2016 3.1 (0.01) 0.7 (0.00) 3.0 (0.11) 3.1 (0.01) 3.2 (0.04) 2.9 (0.03)
1 Includes students with missing kindergarten entry status information.
2 A 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 more) year of kindergarten.
3 Reflects performance on questions measuring basic skills (e.g., 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 167.
4 Reflects performance on questions on number sense, properties, and operations; measurement; geometry and spatial sense; data analysis, statistics, and probability; and patterns, algebra, and functions. Possible scores for the mathematics assessment range from 0 to 159.
5 Reflects performance on questions on physical sciences, life sciences, earth and space sciences, and scientific inquiry. Possible scores for the science assessment range from 0 to 100. Science was not assessed in the fall of kindergarten.
6 The 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 W9C9P_20. Estimates pertain to a sample of children who were enrolled in kindergarten in the 2010-11 school year. The same children were assessed in spring 2012 (when the majority were in first grade), spring 2013 (when the majority were in second grade), spring 2014 (when the majority were in third grade), spring 2015 (when the majority were in fourth grade), and spring 2016 (when the majority were in fifth grade). Estimates differ from previously published figures because reading, mathematics, and science scale scores were recalculated to represent the kindergarten through fifth-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 2016).
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010–11 (ECLS-K:2011), Kindergarten–Fifth Grade Restricted-Use Data File. (This table was prepared March 2019.)

2018 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest