[Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), Kindergarten
2007 National Study]{.smallcaps}

[Deliverable \# 3-14]{.smallcaps}

Final IMT/OMB\
Clearance Package

Submitted by

RTI International

3040 Cornwallis Road

Research Triangle Park, NC

May 15, 2007

Revised September 4, 2007

Paperwork Reduction Act Submission Supporting Statement

**Agency:** U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education
Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)

**Title:** Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B),
Kindergarten 2007 National Study

**Instruments NCES is requesting clearance for:**

> Kindergarten Repeater Screener
>
> Parent Interview
>
> Child Direct Assessment
>
> Wraparound Early Care and Education Provider Interview
>
> Teacher Questionnaire

At this time, NCES requests clearance from the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) and the Department of Education's Information Management
Team (IMT) to collect data for the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study,
Birth Cohort (ECLS-B) Kindergarten Data Collection beginning in fall
2007. Clearance has been granted previously in the following years: 1999
(OMB No. 1850-0756) for the first two rounds of data collection for the
ECLS‑B, which were the 9-month field test and national study and
18-month field test; in 2002 for the 2-year national study (OMB No.
1850-0756); in 2004 for the preschool field test and national study (OMB
No. 1850-0756); in 2005 for the combined kindergarten and first grade
field tests (OMB No. 1850-0805), and in 2006 for the 2006 kindergarten
study (OMB No. 1850-0805). This application requests clearance for the
kindergarten 2007 national study.

Contents

**A.** **Justification [1](#__RefHeading___Toc167080177)**

1\. Circumstances Making Collection of Information Necessary
[1](#circumstances-making-collection-of-information-necessary)

1.1 Background [1](#__RefHeading___Toc167080179)

1.2 Issues Addressed by the ECLS-B [3](#__RefHeading___Toc167080180)

1.3 Data Collection to Date [8](#__RefHeading___Toc167080181)

1.4 Overview of Kindergarten 2007 National Data Collection
[8](#__RefHeading___Toc167080182)

1.5 Kindergarten 2007 Data Collection Procedures
[10](#__RefHeading___Toc167080183)

2\. How, by Whom, and for What Purpose Information Is to Be Used
[13](#how-by-whom-and-for-what-purpose-information-is-to-be-used)

2.1 Study Components [14](#__RefHeading___Toc167080185)

2.2 Major Constructs Measured by Each Instrument
[18](#__RefHeading___Toc167080186)

3\. Use of Automated, Electronic, Mechanical, or Other Technological
Collection Techniques
[21](#use-of-automated-electronic-mechanical-or-other-technological-collection-techniques)

4\. Efforts to Identify Duplication
[22](#efforts-to-identify-duplication)

5\. Impact on Small Businesses or Small Entities
[23](#impact-on-small-businesses-or-small-entities)

6\. Consequences of Not Conducting the Data Collection
[24](#consequences-of-not-conducting-the-data-collection)

7\. Special Circumstances [24](#special-circumstances)

8\. Outside Consultation [24](#outside-consultation)

9\. Justification of Compensation [26](#justification-of-compensation)

10\. Assurance of Confidentiality [27](#assurance-of-confidentiality)

11\. Justification for Sensitive Questions
[29](#justification-for-sensitive-questions)

12\. Estimates of Hour Burden [29](#estimates-of-hour-burden)

13\. Estimate for the Total Annual Cost Burden to Respondents or
Record-keepers Resulting from the Collection of Information
[29](#estimate-for-the-total-annual-cost-burden-to-respondents-or-record-keepers-resulting-from-the-collection-of-information)

14\. Estimates of Annualized Costs to Federal Government
[30](#estimates-of-annualized-costs-to-federal-government)

15\. Reasons for Program Change [31](#reasons-for-program-change)

16\. Plans for Tabulation and Publication of Data
[31](#plans-for-tabulation-and-publication-of-data)

17\. Request for Approval to Not Display OMB Approval Expiration Date
[33](#request-for-approval-to-not-display-omb-approval-expiration-date)

18\. Exceptions to the Certification Statement in Item 19 of OMB Form
83-1
[33](#exceptions-to-the-certification-statement-in-item-19-of-omb-form-83-1)

B. Collection of Information Employing Statistical Techniques
[35](#__RefHeading___Toc167080203)

1\. Respondent Universe and Sampling Selection to Be Used
[35](#__RefHeading___Toc167080204)

2\. Procedures for Collection of Information
[35](#__RefHeading___Toc167080205)

2.1 Statistical Methodology for Stratification and Sample Selection
[35](#__RefHeading___Toc167080206)

2.2 Kindergarten 2007 Sampling Procedures
[36](#__RefHeading___Toc167080207)

2.3 Estimation Procedures [37](#__RefHeading___Toc167080208)

2.4 Circumstances Requiring Specialized Sampling Procedures
[40](#__RefHeading___Toc167080209)

3\. Methods Used to Maximize Response Rates
[41](#__RefHeading___Toc167080210)

3.1 Maximizing Screening Response Rates
[41](#__RefHeading___Toc167080211)

3.2 Improving Home Visit Response Rates
[42](#__RefHeading___Toc167080212)

3.3 Improving Wraparound Early Care and Education Provider Response
Rates [45](#__RefHeading___Toc167080213)

3.4 Improving Teacher Response Rates [46](#__RefHeading___Toc167080214)

4\. Pilot Tests [47](#__RefHeading___Toc167080215)

5\. Personnel Involved in the Kindergarten Sample Design and Data
Collection [47](#__RefHeading___Toc167080216)

References [49](#__RefHeading___Toc167080217)

List of Tables

Table Page

Table A-1. Previous waves of ECLS-B data collection
[9](#__RefHeading___Toc167080218)

Table A-2. Components and sources of data collection instruments
[19](#__RefHeading___Toc167080219)

Table A-3. Members (current and former) of the ECLS-B technical review
panel (TRP) [25](#__RefHeading___Toc167080220)

Table A-4. Compensation for participants in the ECLS-B National
Collections [27](#__RefHeading___Toc167080221)

Table A-5. Estimates of time burden [30](#__RefHeading___Toc167080222)

Table B-1. Estimated ECLS-B Kindergarten 2007 sample and number of
children with parent completes by subgroup
[41](#__RefHeading___Toc167080223)

Table B-2. Personnel involved in the ECLS-B Kindergarten 2007 sample
design and data collection [48](#__RefHeading___Toc167080224)

List of Figures

Figure Page

A-1. ECLS-B Conceptual Model [7](#__RefHeading___Toc166569197)

A-2. Flowchart of school and care provider instruments by enrollment and
care characteristics, Kindergarten 2007 national study
[18](#__RefHeading___Toc166569198)

ECLS-B, Kindergarten 2007 National IMT/OMB\
Clearance Package

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc167080177 .anchor}A. Justification

# 1. Circumstances Making Collection of Information Necessary {#circumstances-making-collection-of-information-necessary .ahd12-1}

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc167080179 .anchor}1.1 Background

The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B) is part of
a longitudinal studies program comprising two overlapping cohorts---a
birth cohort and a kindergarten cohort (the Early Childhood Longitudinal
Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998--99, or ECLS-K). Together, these
cohort studies provide information to policymakers, researchers, and
practitioners about children's development and early experiences from
birth through high school. The data also allow researchers to examine
hypotheses regarding factors that may influence children's early
development and their preparation for and later success in school.
Whereas the ECLS-K is currently following a nationally representative
sample of kindergarten children through eighth grade, the ECLS-B is
designed to follow a nationally representative sample of children born
in 2001 from 9 months of age through kindergarten entry. One of the
goals of the ECLS-B program is to statistically compare the performance
of children in the ECLS-B cohort with that of the children in the ECLS-K
cohort. The data obtained during kindergarten are critical to making
this comparison, because kindergarten is the only common year of data
collection across the two cohort studies. This strategy will enable
comprehensive intra-cohort comparisons of children's development from
birth through eighth grade. Moreover, data obtained at school entry are
critical for researchers to be able to examine how early learning
experiences are associated with the development of cognitive, social,
and behavioral skills necessary for success in school.

Data have already been collected from the ECLS-B cohort when the
children were about 9 months, 2 years of age, and 4 years (preschool) of
age. The kindergarten 2006 national data collection round was completed
in late spring 2007. However, due to age eligibility requirements and
other factors, not all children will have entered kindergarten in fall
2006. It is estimated that 25 percent of the ECLS-B sample will not
enroll in kindergarten for the first time until fall 2007. Therefore, an
additional round of data collection is planned for fall 2007, which will
include the estimated 25 percent of the sample not yet enrolled in
kindergarten in fall 2006 and the estimated 5 percent of the sample
first enrolled in kindergarten in fall 2006 who repeat kindergarten in
fall 2007. The purpose of the kindergarten 2007 national data collection
is to ensure that information about kindergarten entry is obtained for
the entire ECLS-B cohort, not just those children who first enrolled in
fall 2006. Further, collection of data from kindergarten repeaters in
fall 2007 will support comparisons with the ECLS-K, which also included
repeaters in the sample.

The ECLS-B represents a collaborative effort by health, education, and
human services agencies. Sponsors include the U.S. Department of
Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for
Education Statistics (NCES); the National Center for Health Statistics
(NCHS) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; the National
Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD); and other
components of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Other sponsors
within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services include the
Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF), the Maternal and
Child Health Bureau (MCHB) of the Health Resources and Services
Administration (HRSA), the Office of the Assistant Secretary for
Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), and the Office of Minority Health. The
Economic Research Service (ERS) and the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS)
of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Office of Special
Education Programs (OSEP), the National Center for Special Education
Research (NCSER), and the Office of Indian Education (OIE) of the U.S.
Department of Education are also participating sponsors for the study.

In conducting the ECLS-B, NCES is complying with the mandate stated in
section 153 of the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (H.R. 3801):

"The Statistics Center shall collect, report, analyze, and disseminate
statistical data related to education in the United States and other
nations, including...collecting data on...the social and economic status
of children, including their academic achievement...access to, and
opportunity for, early childhood education...and conducting longitudinal
and special data collections necessary to report on the condition and
progress of education...."

The federal government has recognized the importance of school readiness
and efforts designed to prepare young children for school entry through
initiatives such as *Good Start, Grow Smart*, and through legislation,
including *No Child Left Behind* and the reauthorization of Head Start.
One of the guiding principles of *No Child Left Behind* is closing the
achievement gap between poor and nonpoor students and between U.S.
students and their international peers. Data from the ECLS-B will be
very useful in identifying the precursors of achievement gaps and
possible mechanisms for reducing the gaps. One of the major goals of the
*Good Start, Grow Smart* initiative is to support early childhood
research and disseminate findings to relevant stakeholders. The ECLS-B
is one of the federally funded research programs that provide this type
of information. Data from the ECLS-B will be used to address the
objectives of the *Early Childhood Educator Professional Development
Program* of OIE. ECLS-B data are also an important resource used within
other federal research initiatives and mandates. Among these are the
NICHD and NIH call for research on health disparities as part of
Institute missions and within specific initiatives (e.g., *Social and
Demographic Studies of Race and Ethnicity in the United States, and
Social and Cultural Dimensions of Health* ); initiatives that examine
the effects of poverty, family structure, and family stability on child
health and development (e.g., the *Science and Ecology of Early
Development \[SEED\]*); recently articulated interests in research on
children born to immigrant parents as well as ongoing interest in the
role of father involvement in child development that are not specified
as independent initiatives; and research on school readiness and early
learning supported by a research program of the same title established
approximately 5 years ago. In addition, there are many questions related
to the Child Care and Development Fund program of the Child Care Bureau
that will be addressed by the ECLS-B data, including the choices of
nonparental care that parents make for their children, the quality of
that care, and how these choices relate to parents' income, work
schedules, and participation in social/subsidy programs.

The ECLS-B represents the first national examination of children, their
families, and the types of early care and educational programs in which
these children participate before and at the time of school entry.
Collection of the kindergarten 2007 wave of the ECLS-B data is needed to
allow researchers and policymakers to gauge the readiness of young
children at school entry, to examine relationships between early
childhood experiences and school readiness, and to understand what needs
to be done to better prepare children for school.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc167080180 .anchor}1.2 Issues Addressed by the
ECLS-B

The ECLS-B addresses four key areas: (1) children's health status
throughout early childhood; (2) children's growth and development in
critical domains; (3) children's transitions to child care, early
childhood education programs, and kindergarten; and (4) school
readiness. The kindergarten 2007 round of the ECLS-B is designed to
investigate these issues at the time that children enter formal school
settings and to examine the factors that determine children's readiness
for school. These data will contribute to the knowledge base detailing
the role of early life experiences, relationships, and early care and
learning environments in children's development and readiness to learn
in school. The data collected at kindergarten 2007 are critical for
understanding which of these early factors and experiences are linked
with successful transition to school. The specific contributions of the
data collected during the kindergarten round are indicated below.

**Children's health status.** It is widely believed that physical and
emotional well-being are related to the development of school readiness
skills (Fast Response Survey System 1993; Lewitt and Baker 1995). The
ECLS-B is interested in children's health at birth and thereafter.
Questions addressed by these data include

-   How are children's early health care and health status, including
    disabilities and injuries, related to their preparedness for formal
    schooling?

-   What groups of children have more developmental difficulties, and
    how does family involvement in early intervention, early childhood
    education programs, and health promotion and prevention programs
    enhance the rates of growth and development of these vulnerable
    children? How do these children fare when they enter formal
    schooling compared to their peers?

**Children's growth and development.** A major goal of the ECLS-B is to
describe children's growth and development in the critical years before
and at the time that they enter school. With a sample representative of
the nation's children born in 2001, it will be possible to examine
differences in children's growth and development by many background
characteristics, including race/ethnicity, socioeconomic background,
gender, and geographic region. In addition, by including data regarding
family structure, marital relationships, parenting behavior and
attitudes, and the home environment, it will be possible to examine the
factors and conditions that best support children's development in the
domains that are critical for school success: language skills, social
and emotional well-being, approaches to learning, and cognition and
general knowledge. Questions addressed by the data include:

-   What are children's competencies in cognitive, socioemotional,
    language, and physical domains when they enter kindergarten?

-   What are the levels and rates of growth in these domains from
    infancy through kindergarten? How do these levels and rates of
    growth vary for different groups of children? What characteristics
    of children, their families, and their early care/education
    experiences are associated with different levels and rates of
    growth?

-   Which groups of children are more likely to demonstrate
    developmental and academic difficulties? Which groups of children
    are more likely to repeat kindergarten?

-   How do the growth and development of children who experience
    difficulties during infancy compare to the growth and development of
    children who do not experience such difficulties during infancy? How
    do family resources, early interventions, early childhood programs,
    health promotion and prevention programs, and school programs
    enhance the rates of growth and development for these vulnerable
    children? In what kinds of educational programs are these children
    enrolled in kindergarten?

**Children's participation in nonparental child care, early education
programs, and school.** The ECLS-B has collected data regarding
children's transitions from exclusive parental care to care by other
people and to group-based early childhood programs, including the timing
of such transitions. Data on the characteristics of early child care
programs and providers are also part of the ECLS-B dataset. Previous
longitudinal studies of children in child care (e.g., the Cost Quality
and Child Outcomes study and the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and
Youth Development) provide evidence that the quantity and quality of
child care arrangements are linked to a variety of child outcomes during
the early school years. However, the findings from these two studies do
not always agree. In particular, the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and
Youth Development (SECCYD) found that the time spent in nonmaternal care
arrangements was linked to problem behaviors in kindergarten even when
maternal sensitivity and family background were taken into account
(NICHD Early Child Care Research Network 2003). In contrast,
Peisner-Feinberg and her colleagues from the Cost, Quality, and Child
Outcomes study (1999) found that high-quality child care was related to
children's language, mathematics, and behavioral competence in the
classroom through the first years of schooling. Results from these two
large studies suggest that there is more to be learned about how
variations in programs---including organization, sponsorship, and
quality---affect children with varying backgrounds and needs with
respect to preparation for school. With a nationally representative
group of children on whom data were gathered at regular intervals, it
will be possible to examine these issues taking into account factors
such as income, race/ethnicity, medical risk, and size of community. It
is expected that these data will enable researchers to describe how the
type, stability, and quality of child care are related to readiness for
school upon kindergarten entry. Moreover, they may provide us with a
better understanding of which children may benefit more from
educational, nonparental care experiences such as Head Start and/or
formal center-based care.

The kinds of questions that will be addressed by the data collected
during the kindergarten round include

-   How do first-time kindergarteners in 2007 differ from their peers
    who had enrolled in kindergarten "on-time" in 2006? Do delayed-entry
    children perform similarly in kindergarten compared to their peers
    who entered kindergarten on time? How do repeaters compare to peers?

-   What differences in transitional experiences do children with
    varying backgrounds experience when entering kindergarten? How are
    these differences related to academic and social success?

-   What is the relationship between child care receipt, auspice, and
    quality and children's academic and social difficulties?

-   How do child care experiences prepare children with disabilities for
    school?

-   How do the characteristics of the child care programs interact with
    the characteristics of children and their families to affect
    children's social and cognitive development?

**School readiness.** School readiness is a multifaceted construct
related to the academic and socio-emotional skills a child has when
entering kindergarten. Traditionally, the concept of readiness
emphasized the acquisition of skills presumed to be necessary to benefit
from formal instruction, such as knowing colors, the alphabet, and
numbers; awareness of print concepts; writing one's name; and using
crayons and scissors. Although these skills underlie much of what is
taught in school and may be thought of as necessary, they are not
sufficient for success in school. It has been recognized that school
readiness is based on more than pre-academic skills. In fact, some
researchers suggest that social and emotional adaptation is as important
to long-term school success as are traditional pre-academic skills
(Boyer 1991; Carnegie Task Force on Meeting the Needs of Young Children
1994; Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation 2002; Ladd 1990; Masten et al.
1995; Raver 2002). Research indicates that parent-child and
teacher-child relationships are critically important in developing these
skills. Moreover, the quality of the child-teacher relationship is
related to academic and social success in elementary school; this is
especially true for children who are otherwise at risk of academic or
social problems in school (Peisner-Feinberg et al. 2001).

It has also been shown that there are achievement gaps as a function of
race/ethnicity, income, and other characteristics as early as school
entry. For instance, both the ECLS-K (Rathbun and West 2004) and the
Prospects study (U.S. Department of Education 1993, cited in Phillips,
Crouse, and Ralph 1998) indicate that racial/ethnic differences appear
to exist in children's basic skills during the first years of school and
that these differences widen as children progress through school.
However, neither of these studies collected data prior to school entry.
Smaller-scale studies suggest that perinatal factors (e.g., prematurity
and low birth weight), parenting behaviors (e.g., nurturance,
discipline, teaching, and language use), and access to quality child
care are among the factors that may contribute to observed differences
in school readiness (Brooks-Gunn and Markman 2004; Magnuson and
Waldfogel 2005; Reichman 2005). The ECLS-B dataset can be used to
describe how these various factors relate to school readiness and gaps
in readiness skills.

The ECLS-B will examine children's preparation for school by describing
a broad spectrum of early home and child care experiences. This rich
data source will provide analysts with information on family
characteristics, such as language spoken in the home, literacy
activities in the home, and maternal education, as well as information
on the children's care arrangements outside the home, such as care
provider resources and daily activities, and amount of time spent in
each type of care setting.

Existing research has already found relationships among competencies in
the preschool years and certain home and care characteristics (National
Research Council and Institute of Medicine 2000). The ECLS-B data will
extend the research community's ability to understand the factors
associated with school success and school failure. The longitudinal
study design will permit a thorough investigation of how the
characteristics, experiences, and environment of children in the
preschool years influence their initial achievement in school. Moreover,
with a nationally representative sample, the ECLS-B kindergarten data
will enable researchers to develop an operational definition of school
readiness based on a cluster of the best functional precursors of school
success. The kinds of questions that the kindergarten data will be able
to address include:

-   What literacy, language, mathematical, social, and motor skills do
    children exhibit when they enter kindergarten, and what variation in
    these skills exists by demographic characteristics such as
    race/ethnicity, socio-economic status, and family structure? How do
    these characteristics differ among children repeating kindergarten,
    those entering on time, and those with delayed entry?

-   What characteristics of children, their families, and their early
    care and educational experiences influence children's readiness for
    school? What characteristics contribute most to the attainment of
    school readiness skills and behaviors?

-   How do schools facilitate the transition into kindergarten? What is
    the relationship of this transition to children's success in school?
    How do parents prepare for this transition?

-   How do the characteristics of parents, families, and early care and
    education arrangements during the preschool years relate to
    differences in skills at kindergarten entry?

The overall conceptual model guiding the ECLS-B is that children's
preparation for school begins at birth and continues until they enter
school for the first time (see Figure A-1). The model is framed by an
ecological view of development (Bronfenbrenner 1986) that posits the
child developing within the context of family, community, schools, and
governmental policies. As depicted in the model, children's school
readiness is a central outcome of interest in the ECLS-B and may be
defined as a set of developmental characteristics and skills that help
kindergartners meet the demands of formal school settings. Child growth
and development, which determine school readiness, are influenced by
multiple factors that are themselves interrelated. Parental, extended
family/household, and community and school/child care characteristics
influence one another and have an impact on the child's health; growth;
and intellectual, language, and socioemotional development.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc166569197 .anchor}Figure A-1. ECLS-B Conceptual
Model

![](media/image1.wmf){width="9.000694444444445in"
height="5.554861111111111in"}

This model was used as a springboard to develop the data collection
strategy and content of the ECLS-B. The broad view of development and
well-being and the different environments in which development and
learning occur are critically important to the ECLS-B design. The
kindergarten round of the ECLS-B is designed specifically to collect
data when children enter formal school settings, assessing children's
socio-emotional, behavioral, cognitive, language, and physical
development upon entry. Data will also be collected on the
characteristics that may affect developmental skills, such as family
organization, parental involvement and attitudes, and classroom and
teacher characteristics. Moreover, these data will be used in
conjunction with the ECLS-B data collected during the first 5 years of
life. The longitudinal study design will permit a thorough investigation
of how the early development, learning experiences, and home environment
influence the children's initial success in school.

The data collected by the ECLS-B and the information disseminated
through reports prepared by the U.S. Department of Education, Institute
of Education Sciences, NCES, and others will inform decisionmakers,
educational practitioners, researchers, and parents about the ways in
which America raises and nurtures its children, how children are
prepared for school, and how early childhood programs and schools affect
the lives of the children who attend them. These data are critical for
parents, practitioners, analysts, and policymakers alike who require the
knowledge base to develop strategies and guidelines to ensure school
success.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc167080181 .anchor}1.3 Data Collection to Date

A three-stage sample design was used to select a nationally
representative sample of approximately 14,000 children born in 2001, of
whom 10,688 participated at 9 months, for the first data collection. The
first stage consisted of a sample of primary sampling units (PSUs); the
PSUs were geographical areas defined by metropolitan statistical areas
(MSAs), counties, or groups of contiguous counties. For the second
stage, some large PSUs were subdivided into smaller units (secondary
sampling units, or SSUs) in an effort to reduce travel costs, and a
sample of SSUs was selected from within the larger PSUs. The third stage
consisted of a sample of children from within the PSUs and SSUs.

The sample includes children from different socioeconomic backgrounds.
Additionally, Chinese, Pacific Islander and Asian (not Chinese)
children, American Indian and Alaska Native children, moderately low
birth weight children (1,500 to 2,500 grams), very low birth weight
children (under 1,500 grams), and twins were oversampled. Prior to the
9-month national data collection, two field tests were conducted.
Although initial plans called for an 18-month national data collection,
only a field test was carried out at 18 months. It was decided to
postpone the first follow-up national data collection until the children
were 2 years of age. A field test for the preschool round was completed
in February 2005, and the preschool national study occurred between fall
2005 and spring 2006. At the same time, a field test was conducted for
the kindergarten 2006 round, which was completed in Spring 2007. Table
A-1 provides information regarding the sample sizes for each of the
components that have been completed.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc167080182 .anchor}1.4 Overview of Kindergarten
2007 National Data Collection

This document requests clearance for the kindergarten 2007 national data
collection wave, scheduled to occur in fall 2007. Children who
participated in the round 5 (Kindergarten 2006) collection but who were
not yet enrolled in kindergarten will be eligible to participate
(approximately 25 percent of the sampled children). Additionally,
children enrolled in kindergarten in fall 2006 repeating kindergarten in
fall 2007 will be included (approximately 5 percent of the full sample
of children).

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc167080218 .anchor}Table A-1. Previous waves of
ECLS-B data collection

  ------------------------------------- ------------- --------- -----------
  Data collection                       Start date of Sample    Completed
                                        collection    size      sample^1^
                                                      fielded   

  First 9-month field test              September     1,517     643
                                        1999                    

  Second 9-month field test             September     979       722
                                        2000                    

                                                                

  18-month field test                   June 2001     807       650

  9-month national study                September     14,197    10,688
                                        2001                    

                                                                

  2-year national study                 January 2003  10,688    9,835

  2-year child care provider interview  March 2003    3,342     3,235

  2-year child care observation         March 2003    1,671     1,410

                                                                

  Preschool field test abbreviated      September     303       250
  parent interview                      2004                    

  Preschool field test child assessment September     1,444     1248
                                        2004                    

  Preschool field test child care       October 2004  192       172
  provider interview                                            

  Preschool field test child care       November 2004 162       107
  observation                                                   

  Preschool national study parent       September     9,902     8,941
  interview                             2005                    

  Preschool national study child        September     9,902     8,754
  assessment                            2005                    

  Preschool national study child care   October 2005  7,278     6,010
  provider interview                                            

  Preschool national study child care   October 2005  4,051     1,779
  observation                                                   

  K06 field test abbreviated parent     September     335       296
  interview                             2005                    

  K06 field test child assessment       September     344       303
                                        2005                    

  K06 field test teacher questionnaire  October 2005  201       154

  K06 national study parent interview   September     7,015     TBD
                                        2006                    

  K06 national study child assessment   September     7,657     TBD
                                        2006                    

  K06 national study wrap around care   October 2006  1,490     TBD
  provider interview                                            

  K06 national study child care         October 2006  1,298     TBD
  provider interview                                            

  K06 national study teacher interview  October 2006  4,801     TBD
  ------------------------------------- ------------- --------- -----------

^1^ Parent interview unless otherwise indicated.

NOTE: "TBD": To be determined once final responses counts have been
tallied.

SOURCES: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education
Statistics, *Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B*),
"9-Month Field Test Report," "Methodology Report for the Nine-Month Data
Collection (Draft)," "User's Manual for the ECLS-B Longitudinal
9-month-2-Year Restricted-Use Data Files and Electronic Codebooks,"
"Design and Operations Report for the 2-Year Collection." RTI,
International, *Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort: The
Preschool Years (ECLS-B, Preschool Year)* "Field Test Report #1: Field
Staff Recruitment and Training," "Field Test Report #2: Adult
Instruments: Parent Interview, ECEP Interview, and Father
Questionnaires," Field Test Report #3: Child Care Observation Study,"
"Field Test Report #4: Field Test Home Data Collection," "Field Test
Report Memo #5: Child Assessment." U.S. Department of Education,
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). *Early Childhood
Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), Methodology Report for the
Preschool Data Collection (2005--06), Volume II: Sampling*.

The ECLS-B Kindergarten 2007 wave will include the following components:
a direct assessment of the child's development, an interview with the
child's primary caregiver, an interview with the child's before- or
after-school nonparental care provider (if any), and a questionnaire to
be completed by the child's teacher.

An interview with the child's parent will be conducted in the home. In
the course of this interview, permission will be obtained to contact the
child's care provider, teacher, and school. The second component of the
home visit is the child assessment. The ECLS-B kindergarten 2006
cognitive assessment will be used again for the kindergarten 2007 round.
The assessment will comprise two major areas of development:
language/literacy and mathematics skills. Fine and gross motor skills
will also be assessed. Components of the assessment were drawn from the
kindergarten-first grade assessment used in the ECLS-K, permitting a
statistical comparison between the two cohorts.

Apart from the home visit portion of the data collection, information
will be collected from care providers and educators. The school data
collection procedures involve informing schools and districts of the
study and collecting teacher reports of students. Care providers will be
interviewed by telephone in instances where a child is in any of a
variety of before- or after-school care settings.

5.  []{#__RefHeading___Toc167080183 .anchor}Kindergarten 2007 Data
    Collection Procedures

**Screener.** Upon OMB approval, RTI will contact parents of children
enrolled in kindergarten during the 2006-2007 school year and who
participated in the kindergarten 2006 wave, to determine eligibility for
the kindergarten 2007 wave. The purpose of this contact will be to
identify children who are repeating kindergarten in the 2007-2008 school
year. These eligible children will then be included in the kindergarten
2007 sample. The initial screening contact will be by priority mail,
with a short screening survey mailed to parents to determine which grade
their child will attend during the upcoming school year (fall 2007).
Responses to this series of questions will determine whether or not the
child is repeating kindergarten. The screening questionnaire will also
thank parents for their participation in the kindergarten 2006 round and
confirm or update contact information to facilitate in-person follow-up
for sample members who are eligible for the kindergarten 2007 wave.
Parents will be asked to complete and return the survey or call a
toll-free number to ask questions and/or complete the screening by
telephone. Because of the importance of assessing eligibility for the
kindergarten 2007 wave in a timely manner, prior to the in-person data
collection wave, a \$5 prepaid cash incentive will be included with the
screening survey mailed to the parents.

Parents who do not respond to the initial mailing will be contacted by
RTI telephone interviewers and administered the screening survey by
telephone. If the child is a kindergarten repeater, the interviewer will
explain that a field interviewer will be contacting them to set up an
appointment for an in-person visit. Telephone interviewers will be given
training to support their sensitivity to the subject of repeating
kindergarten.

For parents who cannot be reached by telephone, a final nonresponse
follow-up mailing will be sent through Federal Express in an effort to
collect the screening information and confirm the contact information
prior to the start of the kindergarten 2007 wave. No additional
incentive will be included in this second mailing.

The screening process may identify situations where only one child in a
sampled twin set is found to be repeating kindergarten in the 2007-2008
school year. The ECLS-B oversampled twin births (15.5 percent of the
full sample at 9-months, unweighted). To be sensitive to those rare
circumstances where only one twin of a given set will repeat
kindergarten in 2007, both twins will be assessed in the kindergarten
2007 wave and interviews with parents, direct child assessments, and
care provider interviews will be conducted. The teacher survey will be
mailed only to the teacher of the twin enrolled in kindergarten in Fall
2007.

Contact information will also be confirmed for parents of sampled
children who are first-time kindergarteners for fall 2007. Letters
requesting this same information will be mailed prior to data collection
and include a toll-free number for parents who have additional
questions.

**Home visit (November 2007--March 2008).** Field interviewers will
visit study participants in their homes. Prior to in-person contact, a
letter re-introducing the parent to the study along with the study
brochure will be mailed to the home. The lead letter will include a
toll-free number so parents can call and ask questions about the study.
The lead letter will also have a place where field interviewers write in
their name. The ECLS-B color brochure will briefly explain the study,
why it is important, and how it will be conducted. It will encourage
parent respondents to participate in the study, information about the
study's sponsors, and project contacts who can provide additional
information. The brochure will also provide a ready reference for
additional details about the study, including answers to commonly asked
questions.

A few days after the lead letter packet has been mailed, field
interviewers will call the parents to introduce themselves, answer any
questions they may have, and make an appointment to conduct the parent
and child interviews. The home visit will consist of an interview with
the child's primary caregiver (usually the mother), a direct cognitive
assessment of the child, and a brief set of assessments of fine and
gross motor skills, followed by physical measurements. Information
regarding the child's school placement will also be collected, as will
permission to contact the child's teacher, and wrap-around care provider
where appropriate. Parents will receive \$30 for participating in the
study; parents of sampled twins will receive \$60.

Field interviewers will attempt to convert soft refusals only; that is,
parents who refuse for one of the following nonhostile reasons---too
busy, no longer interested, repeated broken appointments, repeated
noncontacts, or does not want their child assessed. The field supervisor
will send a letter to the parent to address their concern and then
follow-up by phone before sending the field interviewer for another
in-person attempt.

**Teacher data collection (November 2007--May 2008).** A teacher
self-administered questionnaire (Teacher SAQ) will be mailed to the
child's kindergarten teacher. Because the ECLS-B is a home-based study,
it was anticipated that we would have on average only one child per
school and this assumption is holding true for the kindergarten 2006
round. The time and effort needed to follow the more traditional
hierarchical school recruitment process---seeking formal written consent
first at the state, then district, and finally school level---cannot be
sustained when the effort yields only a single child instead of whole
classrooms of children. However, gaining access to a child's teacher
without working with the school is often difficult. Therefore, we are
using a passive consent process with the schools. An informational
packet about the ECLS-B study will be sent to the administrators of the
identified districts in fall 2007. They will be informed that, if
parental consent to contact the teacher is obtained during the course of
a home visit in the fall, the study plans to mail the teacher a
questionnaire packet regarding the child's behavior and school
performance. The information will clearly state that participation in
the study will not disrupt school activities and will not have any
financial cost to them. This advance notification will allow
administrators to alert ECLS-B project staff if district-level approvals
are required (even with parental consent) prior to contacting the
teacher. In the fall, when the enrollment of a study participant is
confirmed, the district and school will receive another informational
packet one week prior to sending the Teacher SAQ, again giving them time
to alert us of the need for any prior approvals.

Before contact is made with teachers, parents will be asked for their
consent during the home visit to contact their child's teacher. They
will then be asked to sign a consent form allowing teacher contact and,
if they agree, they will be asked to furnish the names of the teacher,
the school, and the principal. Parents will also be asked to sign a
preprinted letter addressed to their child's teacher confirming their
participation in the study and requesting the teacher's participation.
After the home visit, the Teacher SAQ will be mailed to the teacher's
school address along with a copy of the signed consent and parent
letter, an NCES letter endorsing the study, an ECLS-B brochure, a
postage-paid business reply envelope, and a \$10 gift card redeemable at
a national bookstore chain. Seven days after the questionnaire packet is
mailed, a thank you/reminder letter will be sent. If an e-mail address
is available, a thank you/reminder e-mail will be sent as well.

Two weeks after the mailing of the thank you/ reminder letter, a second
questionnaire packet will be sent to those teachers who have not yet
returned the completed questionnaire (it will not include a second gift
card). Seven days after the second packet is mailed, a second thank
you/reminder e-mail will be sent to teachers with known school e-mail
addresses. Two weeks after the second packet is mailed, if the
questionnaire has not yet been returned, a reminder phone call will be
placed to the teacher at the school. Initially, the school office will
be called and the office staff person will be asked when the best time
to reach the teacher would be (e.g., before school, after school, or
during a free period). Five attempts will be made to reach the teacher
"live." If the teacher cannot be reached at these times after four
attempts, on the fifth attempt a single message will be left either in
the individual's school voice mailbox or an office assistant will be
asked to take a brief message that would include a callback number
should the teacher want to follow up. If a questionnaire is not returned
within two weeks of the reminder call or message, one last Teacher SAQ
packet will be sent via express mail delivery service (without further
gift card incentive).

**School-level administrative data will also be collected.** However,
unlike in the ECLS-K study, no separate instrument will be fielded for
this purpose. To reduce respondent burden and study costs, extant
national school databases, i.e., the Common Core of Data (CCD) and the
Private School Universe Survey (PSS), will be used for the
administrative data collection. Contents of the CCD and PSS were
analyzed as part of the ECLS-B K-1 Field Test. These analyses revealed
that the coverage and completion of these databases is sufficient to
supply the administrative variables of interest to the ECLS-B.

**Care provider data collection (November 2007--March 2008).** Care
providers who provide care before and after school to sample children
for at least 5 hours a week on a regular basis will be interviewed via
telephone by field staff. Prior to being contacted, providers will
receive a letter introducing the study, which will include a copy of the
parent's signed consent to contact the provider. This interview will
only be administered with the parent's permission. Permission to conduct
the interview with the child's provider will be elicited from the parent
during the parent interview. If permission is granted, parents will be
asked for contact information for the child's provider, who will then be
asked to participate in the study. Providers in home-based,
center-based, and school-based care settings will be included. Each type
of child care provider will receive \$20 for their participation in the
study.

Field interviewers will attempt to convert soft refusals only; that is,
care providers who refuse for one of the following nonhostile
reasons---too busy, no longer interested, repeated broken appointments,
or repeated noncontacts. The field supervisor will send a letter to the
care provider to address their concern and then follow-up by phone.

# 2. How, by Whom, and for What Purpose Information Is to Be Used {#how-by-whom-and-for-what-purpose-information-is-to-be-used .ahd12-1}

The purpose of the ECLS-B is to provide a comprehensive, reliable
dataset that may be used by NCES and other federal agencies and by other
authorized individuals to describe and understand children's early
development in the context of their family, child care, and early
educational experiences. This is the first study that has followed a
national sample of U.S. children and their families from birth through
kindergarten. As such, the ECLS-B meets a need for better national data
that can be used as the basis for decisions to be made concerning
children's care and education. In particular, by including data
regarding children's early development, family environment, health care,
transitions into nonparental care and early education, it will be
possible to increase our understanding of the dynamics that lead to
differential school success. In doing so, these data will inform
policymakers in their efforts to improve children's health, early care,
and education, which have been linked to subsequent school success.

Because the ECLS-B measures key developmental milestones as they occur
throughout early childhood, the data provide a more accurate picture of
children's skills and experiences than would be possible with a
retrospective data collection. Thus, the ECLS-B data will permit a
sequential examination of early child development and its context.
Moreover, as a longitudinal study with multiple measurements of
developmental achievements, family environment, and child care, the
ECLS-B provides a dataset that will allow the study of growth over time,
as well as those factors that are associated with differences in
children's rates of growth. The ECLS-B will provide the research
community an unequaled set of data for years to come. By design, many of
the questions in the ECLS-B kindergarten parent interview are taken from
the ECLS-K. In addition, there are a number of questions in the
kindergarten child cognitive assessment from the ECLS-K cognitive
assessment. These common questions will permit data from the two cohorts
to be statistically compared. Through this strategy, it will be possible
to use information collected in the two datasets to form a comprehensive
portrait of children's developmental status from birth through eighth
grade.

The ECLS-B also includes a variety of items from other national studies
such as the National Maternal and Infant Health Survey (NMIHS), the
National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), the National Health and
Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), the Early Head Start Research and
Evaluation Project (EHS), the National Household Education Survey
(NHES), and the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development
(SECCYD). The inclusion of these items will permit comparison of the
findings on these different studies on characteristics such as health
status, paternal involvement, and child care. One of the most important
contributions of the ECLS-B is the ability to examine the cognitive,
social, and health outcomes of children from various social groups and
birth histories. American Indian/Alaska Native, Chinese, Pacific
Islander and Asian children were oversampled, as were twins and children
who were low birth weight (1,500 to 2,500 grams) and very low birth
weight (under 1,500 grams). In addition, there are a large number of
African American and Hispanic children in the sample. The racial/ethnic
diversity of the sample will allow for the examination the influence of
cultural variations in family experiences and early education on
developmental outcomes. The inclusion of a large sample of low birth
weight children will enable comparative analyses between children who
are more likely to have developmental delays or disabilities and
children of normal birth weight. Finally, the twin samples will provide
an important database for researchers interested in examining genetic
and environmental influences on cognitive, social, and health
characteristics. Because the twins were part of a randomly sampled
cohort, the information collected about them provides a unique dataset
to examine these issues. In fact, there are few U.S. twin samples as
large as the ECLS-B sample. For more information on how the data will be
used, please refer to section 16, Plans for Tabulation and Publication
of Data.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc167080185 .anchor}2.1 Study Components

The ECLS-B will address the issues and questions presented above by
collecting data across a variety of domains from multiple perspectives.
Below is a description of the instruments that make up the kindergarten
2007 round of the ECLS-B. All instruments are included with this
submission.

**Screening instrument.** The screening instrument will be used to
identify children who are eligible for the kindergarten 2007 wave. The
survey, designed for administration by mail and telephone
(computer-assisted telephone interview, or CATI), will determine which
grade the child will attend during the upcoming school year (fall 2007).
Responses will be used to identify kindergarten repeaters for inclusion
in the 2007 sample. The screener will also include items to confirm the
parent's contact information to facilitate in-person follow-up for
eligible sample members.

**Parent interview.** The parent interview is a computer-assisted
personal interview (CAPI) with the child's parent or legal guardian; in
most cases the interview will be with the mother. It is designed to
provide data on a number of child, parent, and family domains such as
socioeconomic status, family structure, child health and behavior,
family health, and the home environment. Audio computer administered
self-administration (ACASI) is used for questions that ask sensitive
information such about the respondent's feelings of depression.
Administration time for the complete parent instrument, including the
ACASI instrument, is designed to be 45 minutes.

Parents are uniquely able to provide information about their children's
health and development, particularly in regard to characteristics that
are difficult to measure during a home visit and with direct
assessments, such as socioemotional competence, behavior problems, and
school experiences. One of the key goals of the ECLS-B is to measure
transitions in early childhood, including transitions between home care
and care outside the home, and transitions between home or child care
and school. The kindergarten 2007 parent interview emphasizes children's
school experiences, including school characteristics, how well the
child's transition to a formal school setting has gone, and the types of
transitional activities undertaken by schools or parents. This
information will allow researchers to examine factors that may
contribute to more successful transitions and better school performance.
The kindergarten 2007 instrument will continue to collect some
information collected in previous rounds that change over time,
including parent reports of children's prosocial skills, approaches to
learning, and emotional knowledge, as well as their reports of behavior
problems such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and
aggression, all considered to be precursors to school adjustment and
success (Ladd 1990; Masten et al. 1995; Patterson, DeBaryshe, and Ramsey
1989; Shoda, Mischel, and Peake 1990).

Parents also can best report their own attitudes and values,
child-rearing practices, and background characteristics. The constructs
measured in the parent interview are critical for gauging the
development of the children in the study and the context in which the
skills develop. Many of the items have been retained from previous
rounds of the ECLS-B study, although new items have been added to
reflect issues related to delayed-entry and kindergarten-repeater
children. Some portion of the children participating in the kindergarten
2007 round met age eligibility requirements to enroll in kindergarten in
fall 2006, but did not enroll until fall 2007. Others will be repeating
kindergarten in fall 2007. A few items have been added to collect
information on special school readiness activities these children may
have participated in, as well as to measure parent attitudes and
concerns about school readiness. Other items that are no longer
appropriate have been deleted. The current instrument includes 16 major
components.

Section FS of the Parent interview contains items that ask about race
and ethnicity of household members. These items include a category for
refused, which the race/ethnicity guidelines currently under review at
OMB do not allow. For analytical purposes, we would like to continue to
collect this information in the final wave of this 6-year longitudinal
study. We will not be in data collection beyond spring 2008.

**Child direct assessment.** The direct child assessment is the 1-hour
individualized evaluation of children's development that was used in the
kindergarten 2006 national data collection. It will include a cognitive
assessment, an assessment of gross and fine motor abilities, and
measurements of physical growth (i.e., height, weight, middle and upper
arm circumference, and for the very low birth weight sample, head
circumference). The cognitive assessment includes items tapping
language, literacy, and early mathematic skills. It is designed to be
appropriate for measuring skills of kindergarteners and first graders.
Items from the ECLS-K will be included to allow the performance of the
ECLS-B sample to be statistically compared to that of the ECLS-K sample.
In addition to the ECLS-K items, the cognitive battery will include
items from several standardized instruments such as the Peabody Picture
Vocabulary Test, Comprehensive Test of Phonological and Print Processing
(CTOPP), and Test of Early Mathematics Ability-3 (TEMA-3). Several
sections from the preLAS®2000 will be used to assess both the language
skills of the children and their ability to be assessed in English. The
cognitive test will be administered using CAPI technology.

The data obtained from the direct child assessment, measuring children's
attainment of the critical skills that underlie subsequent school
achievement, is one of the most valuable products of this study. The
kindergarten 2007 round will ensure that the ECLS-B dataset includes
data on skills such as emergent literacy and mathematical understanding
at the school entry point for all members of this birth cohort. The data
will allow an examination of the variation in the development of these
skills by early child care characteristics, school enrollment, and by
demographic characteristics such as race/ethnicity, socioeconomic
status, and family structure.

The child cognitive instrument is a two-stage adaptive assessment in
which the first part will be a routing test. There are three different
second-stage test forms appropriate for administration to children of
different developmental levels. Which second-stage test a child receives
will be determined by his or her score on the routing test. As in the
kindergarten 2006 assessment, the two upper-level tests will be taken
from the existing ECLS-K instrument. The lowest level test was developed
using higher level items from the ECLS-B preschool instrument. Stop
rules will limit the burden on individual children. The language and
literacy tests include both scored and practice items. The two-stage
mathematics test includes a routing test and second-stage tests of
scored and practice items. Based on the child's routing test
performance, children who score at or above a pre-determined cut score
will take the more difficult second-stage test. Children who score below
the cut score will take the easier second second-stage test. The cut
scores on the routing test are developed using simulation procedures and
the item response theory (IRT) item parameters from the field test.
Performance of the assessment during the K06 national data collection
will guide any changes in thresholds or cut scores for K07
administration.

Proposed test forms have also undergone a sensitivity review to ensure
that the content and presentation of the test items do not contain any
material that may be inappropriate, offensive, or distressing to any
participant. Item responses were examined as a function of children's
racial/ethnic classification to be sure there is no bias. Items that
exhibited differential performance (often referred to as item DIF)
favoring the majority group (typically the White group) were identified
using statistical procedures such as Mantel-Haenszel and standardized
Primary Item Discrepancy Index (P-DIF) statistical procedures. Few items
were found to exhibit differential test performance in ways not
consistent with other measures of the child's cognitive ability; those
with clear bias were omitted from the test.

Both fine motor tasks (e.g., block building and drawing shapes with a
pencil) and gross motor tasks (e.g., hopping, skipping, jumping, and
throwing a bean bag) will be assessed in the national study. Fine and
gross motor skill development are both important in understanding
developmental and school readiness outcomes in their own right. In
addition, fine motor skills are a proxy for neurological development and
predict later cognitive outcomes. Gross motor skills can be used in
conjunction with other measures to indicate general health and physical
activity. The children's weight, height, and middle-upper arm
circumference also will be obtained. These data will provide continuity
with the physical measurements obtained in previous rounds and will
allow an examination of the development of obesity in children, a
rapidly emerging health concern. Head circumference will continue to be
obtained from very low birth weight children as a proxy indicator of
brain development.

Children's participation in the study will occur only with the full
permission of their parents/guardians. Prior to administering the
cognitive battery, the parent will be queried regarding the child's
capacity to be assessed by asking whether the child demonstrates any
severe developmental problems that would preclude him/her from being
meaningfully tested with a given assessment without extensive
accommodations. If so, the child is not assessed within the particular
domain; however, the child remains eligible to participate in
assessments in other domains not precluded by their special needs as per
parent report. The goal is to maximize inclusion of all children.

**Wraparound early care and education provider interview (WECEP).** The
WECEP interview is a decentralized computer-assisted telephone interview
(CATI) that gathers information about children's experiences in before-
and after-school care settings. One of the chief goals of the ECLS-B is
to obtain information regarding children's total child care and early
education experiences and their association with children's development.
The WECEP will be asked of part-time and full-time kindergartners'
nonparental care providers for those children who are in care 5 or more
hours per week on a regular basis. The WECEP interview includes
constructs that are thought to be important indicators of program
quality and predictors of developmental outcomes and that can be most
reliably reported by child care providers and center-based
administrators. Importantly, the ECLS-B will be the first nationally
representative study that has examined these issues to this degree over
time. The WECEP interview will provide a variety of data on children's
early social and learning experiences outside the home. Topics include
availability of wraparound care, activities offered to children during
the hours they are in care, purpose of the program (e.g., educational,
recreational) if center-based, characteristics of other children in the
care setting, curricula used, caregiver beliefs and attitudes, the
learning environment of the care arrangement, caregiver/teacher
background, and, in the case of center-based arrangements, center
staffing and services.

The WECEP is only conducted with the parent's permission, requested
during the Parent Interview. If permission is granted, contact
information for the provider will be collected. Data collected through
the WECEP complete the picture of the child's educational and
developmental experiences by providing information about how hours
outside of home and school are spent. The WECEP will be conducted with
home-, center-, and school-based providers. The first portion of the
WECEP interview, regarding administrative aspects of the center, will be
only given to directors of center-based programs, including school-based
settings. However, many of the same questions are asked of home-based
care providers. The second portion will be administered to both
center-based and home-based providers. Administration time is designed
to be 10 minutes for the administrator section and 30 minutes for the
caregiver/teacher section.

**Teacher self-administered questionnaire (Teacher SAQ).** One of the
key goals of the ECLS-B is to assess children's readiness for
kindergarten based on their health and earlier home learning
experiences. One of the best sources for assessing a child's school
readiness is the person who observes the child in the school setting,
i.e., the child's teacher. This instrument was used in the kindergarten
2006 national data collection, and contains a number of items used in
the teacher instrument on the ECLS-K. The Teacher SAQ will ask about
classroom activities, subjects taught, behavioral information about the
child, classroom resources, and the teacher's background. The Teacher
SAQ takes an estimated 15 minutes to complete.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc166569198 .anchor}Figure A-2. Flowchart of school
and care provider instruments by enrollment and care characteristics,
Kindergarten 2007 national study

![](media/image2.png){width="2.3625in" height="2.8604166666666666in"}

SOURCE: Ad hoc analyses of unweighted ECLS-B Kindergarten 2006 data.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc167080186 .anchor}2.2 Major Constructs Measured by
Each Instrument

To prepare a dataset that will be useful for researchers and
policymakers alike, the kindergarten 2007 wave of the ECLS-B includes
many of the same questions as were asked in previous waves, as well as
questions from other sources. Table A-2 also provides a summary of the
constructs covered in each instrument described above. Each of the
instruments captures information about key aspects of the model
presented in Figure A-1. The Screener is not included below, because it
does not contain any data of analytic value. Please refer to section 2.1
for information on Screener content.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc167080219 .anchor}Table A-2. Components and
sources of data collection instruments

+-------------+-----------------+-------------------+-----------------+
| Instrument  | Major           | Constructs        | Source other    |
|             | components      |                   | than the\       |
|             |                 |                   | ECLS-B          |
+-------------+-----------------+-------------------+-----------------+
| **Parent    | Family          | Demographics      | Census, ECLS-K  |
| Interview** | Structure       |                   |                 |
+-------------+-----------------+-------------------+-----------------+
|             | School          | Enrollment        | ECLS-K, NHES,   |
|             | Experiences     | Issues, School    | PEELS           |
|             |                 | Type, School      |                 |
|             |                 | Choice, Decision  |                 |
|             |                 | to Delay          |                 |
|             |                 | Kindergarten      |                 |
|             |                 | Entry, Transition |                 |
|             |                 | from Preschool    |                 |
+-------------+-----------------+-------------------+-----------------+
|             | Child           | Developmental     | ECLS-K, FACES,  |
|             | Development,    | Skills and        | NHES            |
|             | Literacy, and   | Behavior Problems |                 |
|             | School          |                   |                 |
|             | Readiness       |                   |                 |
+-------------+-----------------+-------------------+-----------------+
|             | Home            | Cog               | ECLS-K, EHS,    |
|             | Environment     | nitive/Linguistic | FACES, NHES,    |
|             |                 | Stimulation and   | NIES, NSFH      |
|             |                 | Domestic Violence |                 |
+-------------+-----------------+-------------------+-----------------+
|             | Parenting       | Emotional         | ECLS-K, NHES    |
|             | Behavior and    | Nurturing         |                 |
|             | Attitudes       |                   |                 |
+-------------+-----------------+-------------------+-----------------+
|             | Child Care      | Use of Child Care | ECLS-K, NHES    |
|             | Arrangements    |                   |                 |
+-------------+-----------------+-------------------+-----------------+
|             | Child Health    | Child's Eating    | NHES, NHIS,     |
|             |                 | Habits and Health | NIDCD, NIH,     |
|             |                 |                   | NMIHS, OSEP,    |
|             |                 |                   | USDA            |
+-------------+-----------------+-------------------+-----------------+
|             | Family Health   | Parent's Physical | CES, ECLS-K,    |
|             |                 | and Mental Health | FACES, NIH,     |
|             |                 |                   | NMIHS, OSEP     |
+-------------+-----------------+-------------------+-----------------+
|             | Marriages and   | Demographics      | ECLS-K          |
|             | Partner         |                   |                 |
|             | Relationships   |                   |                 |
+-------------+-----------------+-------------------+-----------------+
|             | Neighborhood    | Quality of        | EHS, NECRS,     |
|             | Quality/Safety  | Neighborhood      | SIPP            |
+-------------+-----------------+-------------------+-----------------+
|             | Community and   | Religion and      | ECLS-K, NHES    |
|             | Social Support  | Involvement in    |                 |
|             |                 | the Community;    |                 |
|             |                 | Social Support    |                 |
+-------------+-----------------+-------------------+-----------------+
|             | Respondent      | Demographics      | Census, CPS,    |
|             | Information     |                   | ECLS-K, EHS,    |
|             |                 |                   | NHES            |
+-------------+-----------------+-------------------+-----------------+
|             | Spouse/Partner  | Demographics      | CPS, ECLS-K,    |
|             | Information     |                   | EHS, NHES, NLS  |
+-------------+-----------------+-------------------+-----------------+
|             | Nonresident     | Involvement with  | ECLS-K, EHS,    |
|             | Biological      | Child; Maternal   | FF, NSFH, SIPP  |
|             | Father's        | Relationship;     |                 |
|             | Information     | Child Support     |                 |
+-------------+-----------------+-------------------+-----------------+
|             | Welfare and     | Receipt of        | ECLS-K, FACES,  |
|             | Other Public    | Government        | USDA            |
|             | Assistance      | Benefits          |                 |
+-------------+-----------------+-------------------+-----------------+
|             | Household       | Demographics      | CPS, ECLS-K,    |
|             | Income and      |                   | FACES, NHES,    |
|             | Assets          |                   | PSID            |
+-------------+-----------------+-------------------+-----------------+
|             | Household Food  | Household Food    | USDA            |
|             | Sufficiency     | Sufficiency       |                 |
+-------------+-----------------+-------------------+-----------------+
| **Child     | Language        | English Language  | preLAS®2000     |
| As          |                 | Competence        |                 |
| sessments** |                 |                   | PPVT            |
|             |                 | Receptive         |                 |
|             |                 | Vocabulary        |                 |
+-------------+-----------------+-------------------+-----------------+
|             | Emergent        | Phonological      | CTOPP Elision   |
|             | Literacy        | Awareness         |                 |
|             |                 |                   | CTOPP Sound     |
|             |                 | Letter and        | Blending        |
|             |                 | Letter-Sound      |                 |
|             |                 | Knowledge         | ECLS-K          |
|             |                 |                   |                 |
|             |                 | Print Conventions |                 |
+-------------+-----------------+-------------------+-----------------+

See notes at end of table.

Table A-2. Components and sources of data collection
instruments--Continued

+-------------+-----------------+-----------------+-------------------+
| Instrument  | Major           | Constructs      | Source other      |
|             | components      |                 | than\             |
|             |                 |                 | ECLS-B            |
+-------------+-----------------+-----------------+-------------------+
| **Child     | Early Reading   | Word            | ECLS-K            |
| Ass         |                 | Recognition     |                   |
| essments**- |                 |                 |                   |
| --Continued |                 |                 |                   |
+-------------+-----------------+-----------------+-------------------+
|             | Early           | Number Sense    | ECLS-K, TEMA-3    |
|             | Mathematics     |                 |                   |
+-------------+-----------------+-----------------+-------------------+
|             |                 | Counting        | ECLS-K            |
+-------------+-----------------+-----------------+-------------------+
|             |                 | Operations      |                   |
+-------------+-----------------+-----------------+-------------------+
|             |                 | Geometry        | ECLS-K            |
+-------------+-----------------+-----------------+-------------------+
|             |                 | Patterns        | ECLS-K            |
+-------------+-----------------+-----------------+-------------------+
| *           | Center          | Center          | ECLS-K, FACES     |
| *Wraparound | Information     | Structure and   |                   |
| Early Care  |                 | Organization    |                   |
| and         |                 |                 |                   |
| Education   |                 |                 |                   |
| Provider -- |                 |                 |                   |
| Center      |                 |                 |                   |
| Director**  |                 |                 |                   |
+-------------+-----------------+-----------------+-------------------+
|             | Staffing        | Number and Type |                   |
|             |                 | of Staff        |                   |
+-------------+-----------------+-----------------+-------------------+
|             | Center Services | Services        |                   |
|             |                 | Provided by the |                   |
|             |                 | Center/Program  |                   |
+-------------+-----------------+-----------------+-------------------+
| *           | Care of Focal   | Frequency of    | CCS, ECLS-K,      |
| *Wraparound | Child           | Care, Number of | NHES, NICHD       |
| Early Care  |                 | Caregivers, and |                   |
| and         |                 | Language Used   |                   |
| Education   |                 |                 |                   |
| Provider -- |                 |                 |                   |
| Provider**  |                 |                 |                   |
+-------------+-----------------+-----------------+-------------------+
|             | Other Children  | Caregiver-Child | ECLS-K, NCCS-CR,  |
|             | in Care         | ratio and       | NICHD             |
|             |                 | Language        |                   |
+-------------+-----------------+-----------------+-------------------+
|             | Caregiver       | Caregiver's     | CRPR              |
|             | Beliefs and     | Attitudes About |                   |
|             | Attitudes       | Discipline,     |                   |
|             |                 | Kindergarten    |                   |
|             |                 | Readiness and   |                   |
|             |                 | Transition      |                   |
|             |                 | Activities, and |                   |
|             |                 | Daily Hassles   |                   |
+-------------+-----------------+-----------------+-------------------+
|             | Learning        | Access to       | ECLS-K, EHS       |
|             | Environment     | Developmentally |                   |
|             |                 | Appropriate     |                   |
|             |                 | Materials and   |                   |
|             |                 | Activities      |                   |
+-------------+-----------------+-----------------+-------------------+
|             | Wraparound Care | Center/Program  | PCS               |
|             |                 | C               |                   |
|             |                 | haracteristics, |                   |
|             |                 | Curriculum and  |                   |
|             |                 | Activities      |                   |
+-------------+-----------------+-----------------+-------------------+
|             | Caregiver       | Qualifications  | Census, ECLS-K,   |
|             | Background      | and             | NAEYC-CA, NHES,   |
|             |                 | Demographics    | NICHD             |
+-------------+-----------------+-----------------+-------------------+
|             | Professional    | Employer's      | ECERS             |
|             | Development     | Professional    |                   |
|             |                 | Development     |                   |
|             |                 | Offerings       |                   |
+-------------+-----------------+-----------------+-------------------+
| **Teacher   | Target Child's  | Social and      | ECLS-K, FACES     |
| Ques        | Social          | Behavioral      |                   |
| tionnaire** | Development     | Development     |                   |
+-------------+-----------------+-----------------+-------------------+
|             | Class           | Race/Ethnicity  | ECLS-K            |
|             | Characteristics |                 |                   |
|             |                 | Class Size      |                   |
|             |                 |                 |                   |
|             |                 | Gender          |                   |
|             |                 |                 |                   |
|             |                 | Special Needs   |                   |
+-------------+-----------------+-----------------+-------------------+
|             | Program         | Hours\          | ECLS-K            |
|             | Characteristics | Program Type    |                   |
+-------------+-----------------+-----------------+-------------------+
|             | Class           | Interest        | ECLS-K            |
|             | Activities      | Centers         |                   |
|             |                 |                 |                   |
|             |                 | Time Spent on   |                   |
|             |                 | L               |                   |
|             |                 | essons/Projects |                   |
|             |                 |                 |                   |
|             |                 | Physical        |                   |
|             |                 | Activities      |                   |
|             |                 |                 |                   |
|             |                 | Resources       |                   |
+-------------+-----------------+-----------------+-------------------+

See notes at end of table.

Table A-2. Components and sources of data collection
instruments--Continued

+-------------+-----------------+-----------------+-------------------+
| Instrument  | Major           | Constructs      | Source other      |
|             | components      |                 | than\             |
|             |                 |                 | ECLS-B            |
+-------------+-----------------+-----------------+-------------------+
| **Teacher   | Instructional   | Reading         | ECLS-K            |
| Quest       | Activities/     |                 |                   |
| ionnaire**- | Curricular      | Math            |                   |
| --Continued | Focus           |                 |                   |
|             |                 | Computers       |                   |
|             |                 |                 |                   |
|             |                 | Science         |                   |
|             |                 |                 |                   |
|             |                 | Social Studies  |                   |
+-------------+-----------------+-----------------+-------------------+
|             | Evaluation      | Teacher Rating  | ECLS-K            |
|             |                 | Procedures      |                   |
|             |                 |                 |                   |
|             |                 | National        |                   |
|             |                 | Assessments     |                   |
+-------------+-----------------+-----------------+-------------------+
|             | Kindergarten    | Activities      | ECLS-K            |
|             | Transition      | Offered to Ease |                   |
|             |                 | Child's         |                   |
|             |                 | Transition      |                   |
+-------------+-----------------+-----------------+-------------------+
|             | Attitudes       | Readiness for   | ECLS-K            |
|             |                 | Kindergarten    |                   |
|             |                 |                 |                   |
|             |                 | Teaching        |                   |
+-------------+-----------------+-----------------+-------------------+
|             | Teacher         | Demographics    | ECLS-K            |
|             | Background      |                 |                   |
|             |                 | Teaching        |                   |
|             |                 | Certification   |                   |
|             |                 |                 |                   |
|             |                 | Education/Staff |                   |
|             |                 | Development     |                   |
+-------------+-----------------+-----------------+-------------------+

NOTE: CCS = Comprehensive Child Study; Census = Census Bureau; CES =
Center for Epidemiological Studies; CPS = Current Population Survey;
CRPR = Child-Rearing Practices Report; ECERS = Early Childhood
Environment Rating Scale; ECLS-K = Early Childhood Longitudinal Study,
Kindergarten Class of 1998--99; EHS = Early Head Start; FACES = Family
and Child Experiences Study; FF = Fragile Families; NAEYC = National
Association for the Education of Young Children; NCCS-CR = National
Child Care Study; NECRS NEILS = National Early Intervention Longitudinal
Study; NHES = National Household Education Survey; NHIS = National
Health Interview Survey; NIDCD = National Institute of Deafness and
other Communicative Disorders; NIES = National Indian Education Study;
NIH = National Institutes of Health; NLS= National Longitudinal Survey;
NMIHS = National Maternal and Infant Health Survey; NSFG = National
Survey of Family Growth; NSFH = National Survey of Families and
Households; OSEP = Office of Special Education; PCS = Public Charter
Schools; PEELS = Pre-Elementary Education Longitudinal Study; PPVT =
Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test; CTOPP Elision = Comprehensive Test of
Phonological and Print Processing, Elision; CTOPP Sound Blending =
Comprehensive Test of Phonological and Print Processing, Sound Blending;
preLAS®2000 = Language Assessment Scale -- PreLAS 2000; PSID = Panel
Survey of Income Dynamics; SIPP = Survey of Income and Program
Participation; TEMA-3 = Test of Early Mathematics Ability-3; USDA =
United States Department of Agriculture.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education
Statistics (NCES). *Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort
(ECLS-B), Methodology Report for the Preschool Data Collection
(2005--06), Volume II: Sampling*.

# 3. Use of Automated, Electronic, Mechanical, or Other Technological Collection Techniques {#use-of-automated-electronic-mechanical-or-other-technological-collection-techniques .ahd12-1}

Data collection for the kindergarten wave of the ECLS-B will use a
variety of computer-assisted interviewing (CAI) procedures, such as
computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) and computer-assisted
telephone interviewing (CATI). CAPI will be used for the parent
interview and the child direct assessment. CATI will be used for the
WECEP telephone interview and for the screening of parents who do not
respond to the mailing to identify kindergarten repeaters. Using CAI
technology makes case management, interviewing, and data checking more
efficient and ultimately reduces respondent burden. By allowing data to
be preloaded, CAI technology eliminates the need to ask some questions
and allows respondents to skip out of sections that do not apply. For
instance, the parent interview section on marital adjustment applies
only when the respondent is married or living with a partner; questions
about marital adjustment will appear in the CAPI interview only when
information about marital status gathered during the course of the
interview indicates the questions are applicable. The computer program
has screens that provide relevant prompts to collect certain information
and has help screens that define terms or words. The CAI systems are
particularly useful when questionnaires contain complex skip patterns,
because respondents are automatically routed to the appropriate
questions, reducing error. This feature will not only prove helpful when
using questions with many branches, but will be essential for the child
cognitive assessment, which will include two-stage adaptive tests in
language/literacy and mathematics, consisting of routing tests and
either two or three different-level tests. The computer will score the
routing test to determine what level test should be administered, thus
eliminating the need for interviewers to make this determination
themselves. Finally, the computer control system will also facilitate
the sampling of child care/early education programs and will help keep
track of teacher survey completions.

The teacher self-administered questionnaire will use paper-and-pencil
methods and will be processed using Teleform scanning technology.

# 4. Efforts to Identify Duplication {#efforts-to-identify-duplication .ahd12-1}

Previous OMB submissions for the ECLS-B have indicated that the study
was designed to supplement the ECLS-K by providing a downward age
extension to the national cohort of school-age children. In other words,
these two studies share content domains, but are not redundant. Rather,
by collecting data from children from birth through approximately 6
years of age, the ECLS-B will provide information covering the critical
early years of development that will elucidate our understanding of
predictors and precursors of school readiness. By using many of the same
constructs, questions, and cognitive items, it will be possible to
statistically compare the two cohorts, providing a portrait of children
extending from birth through eighth grade. For instance, questions
regarding the home environment appear in the 2-year, preschool, and
kindergarten ECLS-B parent questionnaires as well as in the kindergarten
and first-grade ECLS-K parent questionnaires. Similarly, there are
questions on the kindergarten parent questionnaire concerning the
parent's involvement with the child's program/school that are similar to
those found on the ECLS-K. Although there are a few differences at the
item level between the ECLS-K and the ECLS-B, in each case the
constructs include questions concerning activities and materials
provided to the child that stimulate cognitive development. The overlap
in content is also found on the child cognitive assessment, in which a
significant portion of the cognitive assessment items were taken from
the ECLS-K. This overlap will enable an examination of the long-term
impact of early learning experiences on initial school readiness, and
subsequently by comparison, on academic and social outcomes for children
during the elementary grades, which is not possible using only the
ECLS-K data.

In addition, as was also indicated in the previous OMB submissions, NCES
designed the study in consultation with other federal agencies. For
instance, agencies as diverse as the National Center for Health
Statistics (NCHS), the National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development (NICHD), the Administration on Children, Youth and Families
(ACYF), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Office of
Special Education Programs (OSEP), National Center for Special Education
Research (NCSER) of the U.S. Department of Education are also
participating as sponsors for the study and have contributed to the
funding, staff support, and questionnaire design content. Through their
collaboration, duplication is avoided because these agencies will obtain
data in which they are interested through the ECLS-B data collection and
will not have to conduct similar studies. For instance, NICHD provided
the content regarding health with input from other agencies.

As previous OMB submissions indicated, other national studies of child
development have been conducted that address some of the same questions
as the ECLS-B, but none meets all of the following criteria: being
representative of the nation's population of young children, being
prospective and longitudinal, and including direct child assessment. For
instance, the National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES),
sponsored by NCES, includes a random sample of U.S. households in which
parents are queried about their children's educational experiences,
including school readiness and early childhood program participation.
While many of the same constructs are included in the ECLS-B and the
NHES, and the ECLS-B has used items from the NHES, the NHES does not
directly assess children. NICHD is sponsoring the Study of Early Child
Care and Youth Development, a longitudinal study of 1,200 infants born
in hospitals in 10 heterogeneous sites across the country. Children and
their mothers have been seen in their homes and in a laboratory at
regular intervals during infancy and preschool, observations of child
care have been made, and the children are currently being followed at
school age. Although this is a very valuable dataset that is publicly
available for use, it has limitations in terms of providing national
estimates because the sample was not randomly selected and disadvantaged
groups are systematically excluded from the sample (i.e., low birth
weight, special needs, and mothers who are English Language Learners).
Likewise, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has sponsored the National
Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) and the National Longitudinal Survey
of Youth--Child Supplement, which examined the development of children
born to female participants in the NLSY-79. These data have been used by
many researchers and policy analysts, but the children are not
nationally representative and the data are not longitudinal. The ACYF
has sponsored the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Study (FACES),
which is concerned with children's learning experiences in Head Start
and includes individual assessments of children, interviews with their
parents, and observations of their classroom. Although FACES is
longitudinal, with one of the two cohorts being followed into first
grade, the youngest children were 3 years old at the time of enrollment
in the study, limiting what can be said about early development and
experiences during the first 3 years of life. Moreover, the sample is
only nationally representative of Head Start children and their
families.

Finally, the ECLS-B has sought comparability with data from different
surveys so that results can be shared and compared. Although data from
these large-scale studies of children can and will be used as comparison
groups for the ECLS-B, they do not offer the same breadth, depth, and
representativeness as the ECLS-B data. To facilitate such comparisons,
the ECLS-B has included many of the same constructs and questions as
these studies, as was indicated in table A-2. To be able to address
issues of national importance, such as the relationship between early
child care experiences and school readiness for all children (including
those with delayed kindergarten entry), the ECLS-B dataset is needed and
the kindergarten 2007 wave represents a critical piece of this set.

# 5. Impact on Small Businesses or Small Entities  {#impact-on-small-businesses-or-small-entities .ahd12-1}

For those children who are in before- or after-school care, some of the
child care providers contacted will be private child care organizations
or family child care providers, both of which are unlikely to have the
resources or extra staff available both to cover their child care
responsibilities and to respond to interview requests. To reduce the
burden on child care providers, RTI field data collectors will schedule
interviews with them at times that are most convenient given their work
schedules, including during evening hours or on weekends. In addition,
use of procedures such as CATI will make the data collection a more
efficient process.

# 6. Consequences of Not Conducting the Data Collection {#consequences-of-not-conducting-the-data-collection .ahd12-1}

The ECLS-B has been designed as a longitudinal study, with multiple
measures of the same constructs over time. The Kindergarten 2007 round
is the last planned data collection point for this birth cohort. The
data collected in the kindergarten 2007 round will provide the final
link between the data collected in the four prior rounds of the ECLS-B
with some of the most important outcomes being studied by this research
effort, namely school readiness skills. The kindergarten year is also
the only year in which the ECLS-B and ECLS-K studies overlap, which
means these data are needed to allow analysts to analyze development
from birth through eighth grade.

Without kindergarten entry data for [all]{.underline} cohort members,
the ECLS-B dataset would be limited with respect to the kinds of
analyses that are possible. The ECLS-B kindergarten data collection is
specifically designed to examine the transitions children make to formal
education in kindergarten. The measures of child development, family
practices, and before- and after-school care collected during the
kindergarten 2007 round will provide an understanding of the role that
parents/family and first teachers play in preparing children with
delayed entry or kindergarten repeaters for school. The ECLS-K included
a nationally-representative sample of kindergarteners, including
on-time, delayed entry, and kindergarten repeater children. Collecting
information on the school experiences of the delayed entry and
kindergarten repeater children in the ECLS-B is therefore critical to
make comparisons across the ECLS cohorts and thereby expand the utility
of both projects. In short, collection of these data is critical for
policymakers to know what needs to be done to better prepare this
nation's kindergarten children for school entry.

# 7. Special Circumstances {#special-circumstances .ahd12-1}

There are no special circumstances related to this data collection.

# 8. Outside Consultation {#outside-consultation .ahd12-1}

As indicated in the response to question 4, the ECLS-B represents a
collaborative effort by health, education, and human services agencies.
Sponsors include the U.S. Institute of Education Sciences, National
Center for Education Statistics (NCES); the National Center for Health
Statistics (NCHS) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; the
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD); the
Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research (OBSSR); the National
Institute for Deafness and Communication Disorders (NIDCD), and other
components of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Other sponsors
within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services include the
Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF); the Maternal and
Child Health Bureau (MCHB) of the Health Resources and Services
Administration (HRSA); the Office of the Assistant Secretary for
Planning and Evaluation (ASPE); and the Office of Minority Health. The
Economic Research Service (ERS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA), the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), the National
Center for Special Education Research (NCSER) and the Office of Indian
Education (OIE) of the U.S. Department of Education are also
participating sponsors for the study. Individuals from these agencies
participated in meetings to solicit their input into decisions regarding
sampling, instrument development, and timing of the data collections.
For the kindergarten wave, representatives of several of these agencies
contributed or reviewed questionnaire items. Interagency agreements
exist between NCES and the following other federal agencies: NICHD;
OBSSR, NIDCD, NCHS; ACYF; USDA; OSEP; NCSER; OIE; MCHB; and ASPE.

In addition, a technical review panel (TRP) took place in March 2007,
wherein co-sponsors and national experts met and provided review for and
comment on the study design and instruments. Ten TRP meetings have been
held between 1998 and 2007. Table A-3 presents current and former
members of the TRP along with their areas of expertise.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc167080220 .anchor}Table A-3. Members (both current
and former) of the ECLS-B technical review panel (TRP)

  --------------- --------------------------- ---------------------------
  TRP member name Affiliation                 Area of expertise

  Martha          Quality Counts              Quality of child care
  Abbott-Shim                                 

  Emily Arcia     Miami Beach, FL             Latino family issues,
                                              attention deficit
                                              hyperactivity disorder
                                              (ADHD)

  Kathryn Barnard University of Washington    Early parent-infant
  (former member) School of Nursing           relationships and effects
                                              on development

  Susan Bredekamp Child Development           School readiness, policy
                  Associates Council for      issues
                  Early Childhood Recognition 

  Martha J. Cox   Department of Psychology    Infant-parent relationships
                  University of North         and children's security of
                  Carolina at Chapel Hill     attachment
                  Frank Porter Graham Child   
                  Development Center          

  Susan Fowler    University of Illinois at   Children's language
                  Urbana-Champaign College of acquisition and use through
                  Education                   testing and observation

  Thomas Jordan\  Chesterfield, MO            Longitudinal studies of
  (former member)                             children

  Milt Kotelchuck Department of Maternal and  Pediatrics and child health
                  Child Health Boston         policy
                  University School of Public 
                  Health                      

  Kristin Moore\  Child Trends                Father involvement
  (former member)                             

  Barbara         Harvard Graduate School of  Conversation and language
  Alexander Pan   Education                   between parents and
                                              children

  Elizabeth       Department of Policy        Economics of the family
  Peters          Analysis and Management     including child support,
                                              child care, marriage, and
                                              divorce

  Suzanne         University of Maryland      Child development among
  Randolph        Department of Family        African-American families,
                  Studies                     parent-child interaction

  Aline Sayer     Amherst, MA                 Multilevel modeling, growth
                                              curve analysis

  Heidi           National Academy of         Early Childhood Math and
  Schweingruber   Sciences                    Science

  Susan Speiker   University of Washington    Special education, policy
                                              and programs

  Brian Vaughn\   Human Development and       Attachment research, social
  (former member) Family Studies Auburn       and personality development
                  University                  during infancy and
                                              childhood, and development
                                              of social competence

  Barbara Wasik   The Johns Hopkins           Direct assessment and
                  University                  testing of children's
                                              language

  Barry Zuckerman Boston University School of Pediatrics and child health
                  Medicine Department of      policy
                  Pediatrics                  
  --------------- --------------------------- ---------------------------

Finally, a number of consultants to the study are providing their
expertise regarding assessment and psychometrics. Dr. Philip Dale
provided design expertise regarding the language development items to be
included in the Parent Interview. Dr. Sally Atkins-Burnett worked
directly with RTI in assembling the cognitive portion of the child
assessment. Dr. Donald Rock advised RTI and its subcontractors regarding
the procedures to be used to develop the adaptive assessments to be
administered to the children.

# 9. Justification of Compensation {#justification-of-compensation .ahd12-1}

Each of the respondents will receive modest compensation for their time.
Payments to respondents are primarily to help compensate them for the
time associated with their participation in the study, because their
participation is voluntary. The schedule of compensation is indicated in
Table A-4 below. The amounts are modest given the time required of the
participants. Just one incentive is paid for WECEP interviews, even
though there may be two respondents in center-based cases: the program
administrator and the teacher. In these cases, compensation is mailed to
the program administrator.

A \$5 prepaid incentive will be included with the screening survey when
it is mailed to parents of children enrolled in kindergarten in 2006 to
determine eligibility for the kindergarten 2007 wave. The purpose of the
prepaid incentive is dual-fold. First, the incentive will maximize
response to the survey mailing, either through return of the completed
screener or calls to the toll-free number, thereby reducing the amount
of nonresponse prompting that will be required by telephone
interviewers. Prompt response to the screening request is essential in
augmenting the kindergarten 2007 sample with children who are repeating
kindergarten prior to the in-person data collection effort. The
incentive will also thank parents for the time spent completing the
survey. Survey research literature has consistently shown that providing
a small, prepaid incentive increases response rates in the range of 10
percent to 30 percent (Dillman 2000; James and Bolstein 1990, 1992;
Church 1993). The prepaid incentive creates trust and a sense of
goodwill towards the sponsor and the questionnaire in the mind of the
respondent. The respondent then feels a sense of obligation to complete
and return the questionnaire (Dillman 2000).

Two studies show that offering up-front incentives reduce the cost of
completing interviews relative to an increase in respondent incentive
(Duffer et al. 1994; Warriner et al. 1996). Thus, implementing an
incentive plan is a cost-effective way to collect data, and could, over
the course of data collection, actually reduce costs and burden to
respondents by reducing the need for additional calls to potential
respondents. Based on our experience with panel maintenance activities
in the kindergarten 2006 wave, we estimate a 30 percent return rate for
completed screeners without the prepaid incentive. The inclusion of the
\$5 incentive is expected to yield an increase of approximately 15
percent in the response to the initial screener mailing, resulting in a
significant reduction in the number of nonresponse prompting calls
required by telephone interviewers.

Parents who are screened by telephone as part of the nonresponse
prompting effort but who report they did not receive the initial mailing
containing the incentive will be mailed the \$5. There will be no
further incentive included in the second mailing of the screener.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc167080221 .anchor}Table A-4. Compensation for
participants in the ECLS-B National Collections

  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Study component  Compensation                                           
                   in                                                     
  ---------------- -------------- --------- -------------- -------------- --------------
                   9-month round  2-year    Preschool      Kindergarten   Kindergarten
                                  round     round          round 2006     round 2007

  Screening        †              †         †              †              \$5
  interview                                                               

  Parent interview \$50           \$30      \$30           \$30           \$30

  Child assessment Book and bib   Book      Play-Doh and   Book           Book
                                            ancillary                     
                                            materials                     

  Resident father  \$0            \$0       \$0            †              †

  Nonresident      \$20           \$20      †              †              †
  father                                                                  

  ECEP             †              \$20      \$20           \$20           †

  WECEP            †              †         †              \$20           \$20

  Teacher          †              †         †              \$10^1^        \$10^1^
  questionnaire                                                           
  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

† Not applicable: the component was not administered in that round.

^1^ Teachers receive a \$10 gift card redeemable at a national bookstore
chain. All other dollar amounts listed are cash incentives.

NOTE: ECEP = early care and education provider. WECEP = Wraparound Early
Care and Education Provider.

NOTE: The father incentive was given as part of the parent incentive in
the 9-month round. Subsequent experiments determined this not to be
effective, and the parent incentive was reduced in the following rounds.

NOTE: Parents received the amount indicated per sampled child, so
parents of twins in the K07 round would receive \$60.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education
Statistics (NCES). *Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort
(ECLS-B), Methodology Report for the Preschool Data Collection
(2005--06), Volume II: Sampling*.

# 10. Assurance of Confidentiality {#assurance-of-confidentiality .ahd12-1}

All data collection activities will be conducted in full compliance with
U.S. Department of Education regulations to maintain the confidentiality
of data obtained on private persons and to protect the rights and
welfare of human research subjects. Respondents will receive information
about confidentiality protections during the informed consent procedure.
Respondents will be informed that all of the information they provide
will be kept strictly confidential and that the results of the study
will be presented only in aggregate form. All field data collectors will
be knowledgeable about confidentiality procedures and will be prepared
to describe them in full detail, if necessary, or to answer any related
questions raised by respondents. The following procedures are routinely
employed by RTI to carry out confidentiality assurances:

-   All project employees sign a confidentiality pledge and a notarized
    affidavit of nondisclosure that emphasizes the importance of
    confidentiality and describes their obligations.

-   Access to the file linking respondents' sample identification
    numbers and item-level data with their contact information is
    limited to project staff members who have signed confidentiality
    agreements. Access is regulated by the role and responsibilities of
    the project staff working on ECLS-B, including password control.

-   Hardcopy documents are stored in locked files and cabinets.
    Discarded material is shredded.

-   Computer files are protected with passwords and access is limited to
    specific users.

-   Coding of data will be conducted in RTI's controlled access
    facility. Only authorized staff will have access to coding materials
    on the production floor or in the coding room.

During the preschool round, the ECLS-B deployed additional protocols to
strengthen data security and handling procedures in the field and at
RTI. These protocols addressed the safeguarding of physical materials
the field, security of electronic data and shipping materials within the
field and to and from RTI. Additionally, RTI implemented a data security
and confidentiality training program for all project staff and field
staff. These updated study protocols and training programs were used for
the kindergarten 2006 round and, along with further improvements
available through enhanced technology, will also be implemented for the
kindergarten 2007 round.

The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) Research Ethics Review
Board (ERB) will review the data collection protocol and the procedures
used to ensure confidentiality. The NCHS ERB is responsible for ensuring
all human subject protections are upheld. The ERB provides IRB oversight
on this study because the study cohort was selected from birth
certificates. These certificates were provided to NCHS from the states
as part of the National Vital Health Statistics System, and the ERB has
maintained its oversight. The informed consent procedure will include an
explanation of the goals of the research program and how confidentiality
is assured. Field data collectors will have responsibility for obtaining
informed consent, as follows:

-   Verbal informed consent from parents for their interview;

-   Permission from parents for their child's assessment;

-   Permission from parents to contact the before- or after-school care
    and education provider and administrator;

-   Permission from parents to contact their child's teacher and school
    administrator;

-   Verbal informed consent from child care providers and early
    education teachers for the WECEP interview; and

-   Unsigned informed consent from teachers (consent statements will be
    printed on the front cover of the mail survey).

NCES will comply with the Privacy Act of 1974 \[5 USC 552a\], Privacy
Act Regulations \[34 CFR Part 5b\], Education Sciences Reform Act of
2002 (ESRA 2002), Computer Security Act of 1987, USA Patriot Act of
2001, E-Government Act of 2002 \[Title V, Subtitle A, CIP 2002\], NCES
*Restricted Use Data Procedures Manual*, and the NCES *Standards and
Policies*. NCES will also comply with the Department of Education
regulations for the Protection of Human Subjects (34 CFR Part 97)
including Subpart D of this regulation, Additional Protections for
Children who are Subjects of Research. RTI and all its subcontractors
are required to comply with the applicable provisions of the
legislation, regulations, and guidelines and to undertake all necessary
steps to protect survey respondents and to guard against invasions of
privacy.

All contractor staff members working on the ECLS-B project or having
access to the data (including monitoring of interviews and assessments)
are required to sign the NCES Affidavit of Nondisclosure, in addition to
the RTI Confidentiality Pledge. Notarized affidavits are kept on file at
RTI, and documentation is submitted to NCES on a regular basis. All
contractor staff members working on the ECLS-B are also required to
comply with security clearance procedures as required by ACS directive
OM:5-101. After data collection, confidentiality is fully protected
through the use of password-protected data files, and access to all
physical written or electronic media containing individually
identifiable data is strictly controlled.

RTI will prepare and deliver a restricted-use data file to NCES.
Restricted-use data files may contain individually identifiable
information, and are lent only to qualified organizations in the United
States, using a strict licensing process. RTI will conduct a thorough
disclosure risk analysis using the data included on the restricted-use
file. If this analysis identifies respondents with high disclosure risk
because the file contains data that could potentially be used to
identify them, their data will be suppressed or masked using any of a
variety of approaches. Swapping, using NCES-provided software, will be
one of the methods used to mask the data. The NCES Disclosure Review
Board will review and approve the approach used with the ECLS-B data. We
expect that the procedures used for the kindergarten 2007 data file will
be similar to those used for the 9-month, 2-year, preschool, and
kindergarten 2006 files.

# 11. Justification for Sensitive Questions {#justification-for-sensitive-questions .ahd12-1}

Most of the data collection instruments for this study do not contain
sensitive questions. However, there are a few exceptions in the parent
interview. These are items that concern parental depression and
relationship with spouse. Responses to these items are collected by
means of ACASI, or audio-computer assisted self-interview technology.
This allows respondents to enter their own responses directly into the
interviewer's laptop, so that no one sees this information. These items
provide information regarding the child's living situation and thus are
contextual data of importance to the study. Parents will be advised
during the informed consent process of the voluntary nature of their
participation and their right to refuse to answer any question. They
will also be assured that the responses will be held in the strictest
confidence, with no names attached to any data. In addition, the primary
caregiver/parent will also have the opportunity to consent separately
for the child care and teacher components of the data collection. That
is, we will not conduct these additional parts of the ECLS-B
kindergarten data collection without the explicit informed consent of
the primary caregiver/parent.

# 12. Estimates of Hour Burden {#estimates-of-hour-burden .ahd12-1}

Table A-5 provides the estimate of time burden.

# 13. Estimate for the Total Annual Cost Burden to Respondents or Record­-keepers Resulting from the Collection of Information {#estimate-for-the-total-annual-cost-burden-to-respondents-or-record-keepers-resulting-from-the-collection-of-information .ahd12-1}

There are no costs to individual respondents other than their time to
participate in the study. Nor are there any recordkeeping requirements
associated with the ECLS-B.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc167080222 .anchor}Table A-5. Estimates of time
burden

+-------------------------------+------------+-------------+----------+
| Instrument                    | National   |             |          |
|                               | study      |             |          |
+===============================+============+=============+==========+
|                               | Expected   | Average     | Total    |
|                               | number of  | burden      | burden   |
|                               | r          | hou         | hours    |
|                               | espondents | rs/response |          |
+-------------------------------+------------+-------------+----------+
| > Total                       | 8,787      | 0.29        | 2,499    |
+-------------------------------+------------+-------------+----------+
|                               | []{.mark}  | []{.mark}   | [        |
|                               |            |             | ]{.mark} |
+-------------------------------+------------+-------------+----------+
| Sample screener               | 4,722      | 0.08        | 378      |
+-------------------------------+------------+-------------+----------+
| Parent interview              | 1,824      | 0.80        | 1,459    |
+-------------------------------+------------+-------------+----------+
| Wraparound early care and     | 287        | 0.50        | 144      |
| education provider telephone  |            |             |          |
| interview---Home-based        |            |             |          |
| provider                      |            |             |          |
+-------------------------------+------------+-------------+----------+
| Wraparound early care and     | 172        | 0.17        | 29       |
| education provider            |            |             |          |
| interview---Center/program    |            |             |          |
| director                      |            |             |          |
+-------------------------------+------------+-------------+----------+
| Wraparound early care and     | 172        | 0.50        | 86       |
| education provider            |            |             |          |
| interview---Center/provider   |            |             |          |
+-------------------------------+------------+-------------+----------+
| Teacher self-administered     | 1,610      | 0.25        | 403      |
| questionnaire                 |            |             |          |
+-------------------------------+------------+-------------+----------+

NOTE: Numbers represent respondents and burden for the kindergarten 2007
data collection only.

NOTE: Total burden hours reported is the sum of the burden hours for
each instrument, not the product of total expected respondents by
average burden hours. Burden hours associated with the child assessment
are not included.

NOTE: The child sample includes children who were respondents to the
kindergarten 2006 wave who had not begun kindergarten at the time of the
2006 parent interview (expected to be 25% of the kindergarten 2006
respondents), as well as respondents to the kindergarten wave who are
repeating kindergarten in 2007 (expected to be 5% of the kindergarten
2006 respondents). About 20% of the ECLS-B sampled children are twins,
and after applying these rates the responding child sample will include
approximately 55 children who are twins and repeating kindergarten in
2007. It is possible that a very small percentage of these 55 children
will be members of a twin pair where one child repeats kindergarten and
the other does not. However, it is expected that this will occur very
rarely and have minimal impact on burden. In this situation, both
children will be included in the kindergarten 2007 sample and direct
child assessments and the WECEP interview conducted for both twins. Only
teachers of the twin in kindergarten will be asked to complete the
teacher SAQ.

NOTE: The Wraparound early care and education provider (WECEP) telephone
interview---center/program director and center/provider instruments
usually have separate respondents. However, there will be approximately
11 percent (n = 19) of respondents who participate in both the
administrator and provider portions of the Wraparound early care and
education provider interview. Therefore, 19 of the 172 center/provider
respondents will be the same people who responded to the administrator
portion. These respondents will have average burden hours/response of
0.67 (0.17 plus 0.50), and total burden hours of 13.

# 14. Estimates of Annualized Costs to Federal Government {#estimates-of-annualized-costs-to-federal-government .ahd12-1}

NCES issued a call for a capability statement from institutions holding
a Multiple Award Task Order (MATO) with the U.S. Department of Education
to select a contractor for the K-1 wave of the ECLS-B.[^1] RTI was
awarded a 5-year task-order contract that is being funded incrementally.
The 5-year award is \$16,532,258 (including base fee). Approximately 94
percent (\$15,531,655) of the level of effort of this award is directly
related to the collection, analysis, and reporting of the data described
herein. Of this, an estimated \$2,873,847 is associated with the
Kindergarten 2007 round of data collection covered by this package. [^2]
The average annual cost over three years will be \$957,949 per year. The
estimated annual cost by fiscal year related to data collection,
analysis, and reporting is as follows.

FY2007 \$ 2,011,693

FY2008 \$ 574,769

FY2009 \$ 287,385

These costs include personnel, benefits, travel, overhead, supplies, and
indirect costs. The estimate is based on expected time to produce, train
personnel, and administer the instruments and to analyze and report the
data. These time estimates are based on RTI's previous experience
managing data collection efforts of this type.

# 15. Reasons for Program Change {#reasons-for-program-change .ahd12-1}

There is a program change of -11,362 burden hours. The reduction in
burden hours is due to the fact that the Kindergarten 2006 national data
collection round has been completed as of spring 2007. The burden hours
associated with this collection are due to this additional (smaller)
data collection composed of a group of kindergarten repeaters as well as
those children who were not in kindergarten in the fall of 2006 due to
age requirements.

# 16. Plans for Tabulation and Publication of Data {#plans-for-tabulation-and-publication-of-data .ahd12-1}

Three reports are planned for the kindergarten wave of the ECLS-B. Each
of these reports will be completed by late 2008. However, given the
wealth of data generated, over time there will be numerous other
publications and presentations developed using these data.

The first report, a First Look, will be used to release the survey data.
This report will provide descriptive information about children born in
the United States in 2001 when they have reached kindergarten age. It
will present information on certain child and family characteristics, on
children's mental and physical skills, on children's experiences in
child care.

The second report will be a Survey Analysis Report. It will address
NCES/ED policy needs and will be sensitive to evolving issues in early
childhood education. The report will target audiences among the
education community, including early childhood practitioners,
researchers, and policymakers. This report will be used to adjudicate
the data files and stimulate interest in use of the data. The Survey
Analysis Report will consist of 50 to 75 pages, organized in the
following eight sections:

-   A short introduction with a brief review of relevant literature,
    including the literature on early childhood development; specific
    studies that provide a context for understanding preschool-age
    children, families, father involvement, and child care provider
    influence on children's growth and development; and studies on
    preparation for home-to-school transition.

-   A brief description of the study design, goals, research questions,
    scope, and aims of each study component and specific information to
    assist readers in gaining a clear understanding of the study
    population and research approaches.

-   Findings, including salient results to answer the research
    questions; characteristics of children achieving developmental
    milestones by age, sex, ethnicity, and region reported;
    characteristics of households, including parent (mother/father)
    involvement in children's learning experiences and variations in
    children's out-of-home care arrangements; and relationship between
    early learning experiences and developmental milestones at over
    time.

-   Summary of salient findings and conclusions with implications for
    the early childhood community, researchers, practitioners, and
    policymakers.

-   Tables and standard errors, description of the approach, guidance
    for application, and use of tables and weights.

-   Figures from table data.

-   A methodology section that describes in greater detail the study
    design and methods, including the characteristics of the sample used
    in the analysis, operational definitions of the variables found in
    the report, and tests of significance used.

-   An acknowledgments section.

The third major report to be prepared using data from the ECLS-B will be
a Methodology Report. Prepared for a variety of audiences, the
Methodology Report will contain three volumes: operations and sampling
reports for NCES internal use and available to users upon request, and a
psychometric report. The psychometric volume will be publicly available
for analysts. This report will document the entire ECLS-B Kindergarten
data collection process, including the design of assessment instruments;
the development of assessment procedures; instrumentation; psychometric
characteristics of the ECLS-B Kindergarten cognitive, indirect, and
psychomotor battery; item nonresponse rates, unit nonresponse rates, and
nonresponse bias; imputation analysis; and item scaling.

The psychometric portion of the report will be patterned after the
presentation of technical materials and report format presented in the
psychometric reports prepared for the 9-month, the 2-year, preschool,
and kindergarten 2006 data collections. It will provide psychometric
characteristics of the assessment battery and will include tables,
charts, and figures to clarify the content. In addition, it will discuss
comparing assessment scores to benchmark data or norms and issues
concerning weighting and data imputation. With a focus on the technical
quality of the study, this report will detail study procedures and
properties of assessment instruments, including the design and
procedures used in all study components. All relevant features of the
study, in addition to any special problems encountered, will be
explained in appropriate sections. The report will contain text, tables,
and figures in accordance with previously approved table shells and
outlines. It will also contain all required sections (table of contents,
list of figures, and list of tables), description of the appropriate
ECLS-B component data and methodology, performance of the kindergarten
assessment battery, and any supporting technical tables necessary.

In addition to the reports described above, NCES will prepare
descriptive reports from time to time regarding the issues described in
section A, item 1 (Circumstances Making Collection of Information
Necessary, subhead Issues Addressed by the ECLS-B). Furthermore, one of
the major aims of the ECLS program is to provide researchers with data
they can use to answer questions regarding child development, family
characteristics and influences, child care, and educational attainment.
We expect that there will be a host of reports and presentations that
will utilize the datasets resulting from this data collection effort.

# 17. Request for Approval to Not Display OMB Approval Expiration Date {#request-for-approval-to-not-display-omb-approval-expiration-date .ahd12-1}

The present submission does not request such approval. The expiration
date will be displayed along with the OMB approval number.

# 18. Exceptions to the Certification Statement in Item 19 of OMB Form 83-1 {#exceptions-to-the-certification-statement-in-item-19-of-omb-form-83-1 .ahd12-1}

No exceptions to the certification statement are requested or required.

[^1]: The first-grade round of data collection has subsequently been
    eliminated. However, kindergarten data will also be collected in
    fall 2007 for those children not yet enrolled in kindergarten in
    fall 2006, and for kindergarten repeaters.

[^2]: An additional \$598,495 associated with the kindergarten repeater
    portion of the data collection has been approved by technical
    project management and is pending award. The majority of those funds
    will be spent in FY2008.