The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K) is an ongoing study that focuses on children's early school experiences beginning with kindergarten and following children through middle school. The ECLS-K provides descriptive information on children's status at entry to school, their transition into school, and their progression through 8th grade. The longitudinal nature of the ECLS-K data enables researchers to study how a wide range of family, school, community, and individual factors are associated with school performance.
WhoThe children in ECLS-K come from both public and private schools and attended both full-day and part-day kindergarten programs. They come from diverse socioeconomic and racial/ethnic backgrounds. Also participating in the study are the children's parents, teachers, and schools. WhatChildren, their families, teachers, and schools provide information on children's cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development. There is also information on children's home environment, home educational activities, school environment, classroom environment, classroom curriculum, and teacher qualifications. WhenThe ECLS-K is a longitudinal study. The same children are followed from kindergarten through the 8th grade. Information is collected in the fall and the spring of kindergarten (1998-99), the fall and spring of 1st grade (1999-2000), the spring of 3rd grade (2002), 5th grade (2004), and 8th (2007) grades. |
WhereThe ECLS-K is a nationally representative sample of kindergartners, their teachers, and schools. Information is collected from children, their families, their teachers, and their schools all across the United States. WhyNo large national study has followed a cohort of children from kindergarten entry to middle school until the ECLS-K. It is designed to provide comprehensive and reliable data that may be used to describe and to understand better children's development and experiences in the elementary and middle school grades; and how their early experiences relate to their later development, learning, and experiences in school. The multifaceted data collected across the years allows researchers and policymakers to study how various student, home, classroom, school, and community factors at various points in the child’s life relate to cognitive and social development. HowTrained evaluators assess children in their schools and collect information from parents over the telephone. Teachers and school administrators are contacted in their school and asked to complete questionnaires. |
