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EARLY CHILDHOOD LONGITUDINAL STUDY-BIRTH COHORT (ECLS-B)
Purpose
The ECLS-B is part of the National Center for Education Statistics’ Early Childhood Longitudinal Study. It provides information about children’s development (cognitive, physical, social and emotional), health, and early care and education across multiple settings. The ECLS-B has both descriptive and analytic goals. The study provides descriptive data on
- children’s health status at birth;
- children’s experiences in the home, non-parental care, and school; and
- children’s development and growth through grade 1.
The ECLS-B addresses four key areas:
- Children’s health status at birth and at regular intervals during early childhood
- Children’s growth and development in critical domains
- Children’s transitions to child care and early childhood education programs, kindergarten, and beyond
- School readiness
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Agencies/Institutions
The ECLS-B is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in collaboration with several health, education and human services agencies, including the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Administration for Children, Youth, and Families (ACYF), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Office of Special Education Programs, the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (HRSA), the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPA), the Office of Indian Education, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Office of Minority Health (OPHS).
Sponsoring institutes from NIH are the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Nursing Research, the National Institute on Aging, the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, the National Center on Minority Health Disparities, and the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research.
Research/Survey Design
The ECLS-B is a longitudinal study of a nationally representative group of children born in calendar year 2001. Approximately 13,500 newborns were chosen through a random sampling of birth certificates. The sample includes children from different racial/ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. Twins and Asian, Pacific-Islander, Chinese, moderately low birth weight (1,500–2,500 grams), and very low birth weight (under 1,500 grams) children are oversampled.
Children are selected at birth and followed longitudinally through the end of grade 1. The first data collection occurs at 9 months of age. Future data collections are planned for when the children reach 24 months and 48 months and when they enter kindergarten and grade 1. Different contexts that may affect learning and development are studied, including homes, communities, schools, classrooms, teacher, health care, and early childhood education programs.
Birth certificates are used to gather information about parents’ backgrounds, the Apgar test score of the child, and other health information. Parent or guardian interviews are conducted at each study point. Children are directly assessed once with an instrument appropriate for their age, the Bayley Short Form – Research Edition, an instrument based on the Bayley Scales for Infant Development (BSID-II) that was designed specifically for the ECLS-B. Child-care providers and preschool teachers are also interviewed. Once schooling begins, school administrators and teachers are interviewed. Fathers complete self-administered surveys addressing the role of the father in the child’s life.
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Date(s)/Periodicity
The ECLS-B began in 2001 and is scheduled to conclude in 2008. The first data collection occurred during the base year (2001–2002) when the children were 9 months of age. Data collection includes an assessment of children, interviews with primary caregivers, a father self-administered questionnaire, and observations of parent-child interaction. Future data collections are planned for when the children reach 24 months (first follow-up in 2003) and 48 months (second follow-up in 2005) and when children enter kindergarten (third follow-up in 2006–2007) and grade 1 (fourth follow-up in 2007–2008). At 24 and 48 months of age, children are assessed, primary caregivers are interviewed, fathers complete a self-administered questionnaire, a parent-child interaction is videotaped, child care providers are interviewed, and some child care settings are observed. In the kindergarten and grade 1 years, children are assessed and parents, teachers, and school administrators are interviewed.
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Population/Sample
The ECLS-B is a nationally representative sample of approximately 13,500 children born in 2001. Children are followed from birth through grade 1. The sample consists of children from different racial/ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. The study also oversamples Asian children, Pacific Islander children, American Indian children, Chinese children, moderately low birth weight children (1,500–2,500 grams), very low birth weight children (under 1,500 grams), and twins. Information about the response rates and other population characteristics will be released with the first data set in fall 2003.
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Content Covered
The ECLS-B used children’s birth certificates to collect information on date of birth, gender, parents’ education, parents’ race and ethnicity, and mother’s marital status. The study also gathers information on the mother’s pregnancy history, prenatal care, medical and other risk factors during this pregnancy, and complications during labor and birth. The children’s health characteristics, such as congenital anomalies and abnormal conditions of the baby and the baby’s Apgar score, are also collected. Parents or guardians are interviewed about children’s early health and development and about their experiences with family members and others. Parents or guardians also provide key information about themselves as caregivers, the home environment, and their neighborhood. Children’s developmental skills in the cognitive, social, emotional, and physical domains are also measured. Interviews with care providers and preschool teachers offer descriptive information about the structure of children’s care arrangements and education programs, the quality of the programs, and the background and experience of the caregivers. School administrators and teachers are interviewed about a school’s physical and organizational characteristics, learning environments, educational philosophies, and programs. Fathers complete questionnaires to determine their role in their child’s development and well-being and their role as a caregiver.
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Availability of Data for Public Use
In fall 2003, the initial release of ECLS-B data will include the 9-month parent interview data, child assessment data, and father questionnaire data. Data on subsequent waves will follow approximately 1 year after data collection. The data, on CD-ROM, will include the raw data files, electronic codebooks (ECBs), user manuals, the survey instruments, and the record layouts.
For more information:
Reference List for Users’ Guide, Codebooks, Methodology Report(s)
The ECLS website is http://nces.ed.gov/ecls/. A number of reports, shorter publications, technical/methodological papers, and working papers are available at http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/getpubcats.asp?sid=024.
Specific reports include the following:
- Education Statistics Quarterly - Spring 2003 Issue NCES number: 2003607. Release date: July 11, 2003
- Young Children’s Access to Computers in the Home and at School in 1999 and 2000 NCES number: 2003036. Release date: March 7, 2003
- Children’s Reading and Mathematics Achievement in Kindergarten and First Grade NCES number: 2002125. Release date: March 7, 2002
- Digest of Education Statistics, 2001 NCES number: 2002130. Release date: March 1, 2002
- The Kindergarten Year NCES number: 2001023. Release date: December 1, 2000
- America’s Kindergartners NCES number: 2000070. Release date: February 17, 2000
Specific shorter publications include the following:
- The Condition of Education 2003 in Brief NCES number: 2003068. Release date: June 17, 2003
- Schools’ Use of Assessments for Kindergarten Entrance and Placement: 1998-99 NCES number: 2003004. Release date: March 24, 2003
- Findings from the Condition of Education 2000: Entering Kindergarten NCES number: 2001035. Release date: January 22, 2001
Specific technical/methodological papers include the following:
- User’s Manual for the ECLS-K Longitudinal Kindergarten-First Grade Public-Use Data Files and Electronic Codebook NCES number: 2002149. Release date: April 30, 2002
- User’s Manual for the ECLS-K First Grade Public-Use Data Files and Electronic Codebook NCES number: 2002135. Release date: February 19, 2002
Specific working papers include the following:
- Early Childhood Longitudinal Study - Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K), Psychometric Report for Kindergarten Through First Grade NCES number: 200205. Release date: September 10, 2002
- Papers From the Early Childhood Longitudinal Studies Program Presented at the 2001 AERA and SRCD Meetings NCES number: 200106. Release date: July 30, 2001
- Measuring Father Involvement in Young Children’s Lives: Recommendations for a Fatherhood Module for the ECLS-B NCES number: 200102. Release date: April 17, 2001
- Measures of Socio-Emotional Development in Middle Childhood NCES number: 200103. Release date: April 17, 2001
- Selected Papers on Education Surveys: Papers Presented at the 1998 and 1999 ASA and 1999 AAPOR Meetings NCES number: 200004. Release date: August 7, 2000
- A Birth Cohort Study: Conceptual and Design Considerations and Rationale NCES number: 199901. Release date: February 16, 1999
- Working Paper: Measuring the Quality of Program Environments in Head Start and Other Early Childhood Programs NCES number: 9736. Release date: November 7, 1997
- Formulating a Design for the ECLS: A Review of Longitudinal Studies NCES number: 9724. Release date: September 11, 1997
- Assessment of Social Competence, Adaptive Behaviors, and Approaches to Learning With Young Children NCES number: 9618. Release date: August 30, 1996
- How Accurate Are Teacher Judgments of Students’ Academic Performance? NCES number: 9608. Release date: April 30, 1996
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