The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), U.S. Department of Education, invites public comments to OMB regarding the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2023-24 (ECLS-K:2024) Kindergarten and First-Grade Field Test Data Collection, National Sampling, and National Recruitment. Comments should be submitted by July 7, 2022.
The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS) program, conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education (ED), draws together information from multiple sources to provide rich, descriptive data on child development, early learning, and school progress. The ECLS program studies deliver national data on children's status at birth and at various points thereafter; children's transitions to nonparental care, early care and education programs, and school; and children's experiences and growth through the elementary grades.
The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2023-24 (ECLS-K:2024) is the fourth cohort in the series of early childhood longitudinal studies. The study will advance research in child development and early learning by providing a detailed and comprehensive source of current information on children's early learning and development, transitions into kindergarten and beyond, and progress through school. The ECLS-K:2024 will provide data about the population of children who will be kindergartners in the 2023-24 school year. Collecting parent data beginning in the fall of kindergarten will enable the study to measure influences on children's development before entry into formal schooling, including children's home environments and access to early care and education. The ECLS-K:2024 will focus on children's early school experiences continuing through the fifth grade, and will include collection of data from parents, teachers, and school administrators, as well as direct child assessments.
The request to conduct a field test of the ECLS-K:2024 kindergarten and first-grade data collection activities to evaluate the design of the national study's kindergarten and first-grade surveys and child assessments, as well as the operational procedures (that is, sampling and recruitment) for the national kindergarten and first-grade data collections in the fall 2023, spring 2024, and spring 2025, was approved on February 15, 2022 (OMB# 1850-0750 v.24). Planned for August-November 2022, the ECLS-K:2024 K-1 field test will be followed by the fall (August-December 2023) and spring (March-July 2024) kindergarten national data collections, and the spring (March-July 2025) first-grade national data collection—all of which will be requested under later clearance submissions.
This request is to update study respondent materials, web and paper surveys, and website designs that will be used in the K-1 field test data collection activities. The revisions in this package were made based on additional review after programming and testing the survey instruments and also incorporate changes based on teacher and parent focus group feedback (OMB# 1850-0803 v.309).
ECLS Program website:
https://nces.ed.gov/ecls/
ECLS-K:2024 submission to OMB:
https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewICR?ref_nbr=202206-1850-002 Click IC List for data collection instruments, View Supporting Statement for technical documentation. Submit comments through this webpage.
FR notice inviting comments to OMB:
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2022-12195
For AEA members wishing to submit comments, "A Primer on How to Respond to Calls for Comment on Federal Data Collections" is available at
https://www.aeaweb.org/content/file?id=5806