Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K). Fifth-Grade Methodology Report. NCES 2006-037

Book excerpt: This methodology report provides technical information about the development, design, and conduct of the fifth-grade data collection of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K). It begins with an overview of the ECLS-K study. Subsequent chapters provide information on the development of the instruments, sample design, data collection methods, data preparation and editing, response rates, and weighting and variance estimation. The ECLS-K focuses on children's early school experiences, beginning with kindergarten. It is a multisource, multimethod study that includes interviews with parents; the collection of data from principals, teachers, and student record abstracts; and direct child assessments. The ECLS-K was developed under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in the Institute of Education Sciences. Westat is conducting this study with assistance provided by Educational Testing Service (ETS) of Princeton, New Jersey. The Survey Research Center and the School of Education at the University of Michigan assisted Westat in conducting the base year and first-grade studies. The ECLS-K follows a nationally representative cohort of children from kindergarten into high school. The base year data were collected in the fall and spring of the 1998-99 school year when the sampled children were in kindergarten. A total of 21,260 kindergartners throughout the nation participated. Appended are: (1) Mover Adjustment Cells; (2) Unknown Eligibility and Nonresponse Adjustment Cells; and (3) Raking Dimensions. (Contains 125 tables and 41 exhibits.).