May 8 -- The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) invites comment to OMB by June 26, 2023 on the proposed Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2023-24 (ECLS-K:2024) Kindergarten and First-Grade Fall 2023 Materials Revision. [Comments due 30 days after submission to OMB on May 25, 2023.]
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, focusing 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 the first three national data collection rounds for the ECLS–K:2024 was approved on April 7, 2023 (OMB# 1850–0750 v.26). The ECLS–K:2024 fall kindergarten data collection will be conducted from August until December 2023, followed by the spring (March–July 2024) kindergarten round, and the spring (March–July 2025) first-grade round. Each of these rounds of data collection will involve advance school contacts, for example to conduct student sampling activities, collect teacher and school information, and locate families whose children may have moved schools. Future OMB packages will be submitted for the third-and fifth-grade field test (to be conducted in March–July 2026), as well as for the national spring (March–July 2027) third-grade round and the spring (March–July 2029) fifth-grade round.
This current revision request (accompanied by 30 days of public comment) is to update study respondent materials, web and paper surveys, and website designs that will be used in the kindergarten and first-grade data collection activities. Many of the revisions in this package were made based on analyses of the fall 2022 field test data (OMB #1850–0750 v.25), which informed changes to the design of the surveys and child assessment. Other changes occurred after further discussion on operational procedures. Revisions to the study instruments (and to some extent, the respondent materials and websites) are largely limited to changes to the fall kindergarten materials; additional revision requests will be submitted to OMB for revisions to the spring kindergarten and spring first-grade materials once additional analyses of the fall 2022 field test data are complete. National data collection work completed to date will also inform these future revisions. The requested changes do not affect the approved total cost to the federal government for conducting this study.
ECLS Program:
https://nces.ed.gov/ecls/
NCES submission to OMB:
https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewICR?ref_nbr=202305-1850-002 Click IC List for information collection instrument, View Supporting Statement for technical documentation. Submit comments through this webpage.
FRN:
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2023-09717
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