Early Childhood Longitudinal Study
                          Birth Cohort
                                
                         Work Statement
                                
                                
                                
                                
                          May 27, 1997

I.  INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
     A.  Purpose and Nature of the Procurement . . . . . . . . .4
     B.  Background. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
          B.1   Enabling Legislation . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
          B.2   Early Childhood Longitudinal Studies Program . .5
          B.3   The Need for National Data on Early Childhood  .5
     C.  Key Study Areas and Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
     D.  NCES Study Design Activities. . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
          D.1   Past Activities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
          D.2   Current and Planned Activities . . . . . . . . 12

II.  BIRTH COHORT STUDY DESIGN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
     A.  Target Population . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
     B.  Holistic Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
     C.  Study Components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
     D.  Data Collection Schedule. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
     E.  Measuring Children's Growth and Development . . . . . 17
     G.  Sampling Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
     H.  Methodological Inquiries and Data Quality . . . . . . 22
     I.   Optional Special Studies and Supplements . . . . . . 22
     J.   NCES/ED Standards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
     K.  Coordination with ECLS Kindergarten Cohort Study. . . 23

III.  SCOPE OF WORK. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
     A.  Overview of Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
     B.  Core Tasks to Be Performed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
          Task 1.  Project Planning and General Management . . 25
          Task 2.  Technical Review Panel. . . . . . . . . . . 28
          Task 3.  Develop Survey Instruments and Procedures . 30
          Task 4.  Design and Select Sample. . . . . . . . . . 34
          Task 5.  Study Design Report . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
          Task 6.  IMT/OMB Clearance . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
          Task 7.  Develop CATI/CAPI System. . . . . . . . . . 36
          Task 8.  Field Test of Survey Instruments and Procedures38
          Task 9.  Hiring and Training CATI/CAPI Interviewers. 39
          Task 10.  Data Collection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
          Task  11.  Data File Preparation and Documentation . 43
          Task 12.  Data Analysis and Reporting. . . . . . . . 47
          Task 13. Methodology Report. . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
     C.  Optional Special Studies and Supplements. . . . . . . 50
          C.1  Oversample of American Indian Children. . . . . 50
          C.2  Children with Disabilities. . . . . . . . . . . 50
          C.3  Food and Consumer Service . . . . . . . . . . . 51
          C.4  Home Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
          C.5  Father Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

                                             June 30, 1997

                         I.  INTRODUCTION


A.  Purpose and Nature of the Procurement

     The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) of the United States Department of
Education (ED) requires a contract to 1) design a national longitudinal study of children born
January December, 1999 and 2) to conduct the base year, first and second followup waves of
this study.  The birth cohort study is part of a two cohort Early Childhood Longitudinal Study
(ECLS) program being developed by NCES.  The design and conduct of the second cohort
study a kindergarten cohort is being developed and fielded separately and is not part of this
RFP. 

     The contractor for the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort Study (ECLS-B) will select a nationally representative sample of children at or shortly after birth and follow
these children for about a six year period, or through the end of first grade.  The ECLS-B
contractor will collect data that will be used by researchers to study a variety of questions
relating to children and their families as they move from infancy to school and to inform policy
regarding the care and education of the Nation's children.

     This procurement involves 1) developing the overall design for the sample, data
collection methodologies, and procedures for the ECLS-B; 2) developing and field testing the
instruments and procedures that will be used during the base year, first and second followup
waves; 3) conducting the base-year study, and the first and second followup waves of the study;
and 4) processing the data and preparing it for public release.  The period of performance for the
contract shall be 60 months.

     This procurement also contains several optional special studies and supplements.  These
optional studies and supplements will be exercised at the discretion of the government. All
optional special studies and supplements shall be completed within the 60 month period of
performance.

B.  Background

B.1   Enabling Legislation

     The ECLS is being undertaken in compliance with the mandate stated in section 404 of
the National Education Statistics Act of 1994 (20 U.S.C. 9003): 

     "The duties of the Center are to collect, and analyze and disseminate statistics and other
     information related to education in the United States and in other nations, including
     ...conducting longitudinal studies, as well as regular and special surveys and data
     collections, necessary to report on the condition and progress of education..."


B.2  Early Childhood Longitudinal Studies Program

     The ECLS program is intended to provide information that will serve to inform policy
regarding children, their families, schools, and early care and education.  The data collected by
program and the information that is disseminated through reports prepared by NCES/ED and
others will inform decision makers, educational practitioners, researchers, and parents about the
ways in which children are prepared for school and how schools and early childhood programs
affect the lives of the children who attend them.  The central goal of the ECLS program is to
provide a comprehensive and reliable set of data that may be used to describe and to better
understand children's preparation for school; key transitions during the early and middle
childhood years; children's experience in early care and education programs,
kindergarten, and the primary and elementary grades; and how their early experiences,
both school/program and family, relate to their likelihood of succeeding in school.

     The ECLS program has adopted a framework which recognizes the importance of factors
that capture the child's health status, social/emotional and intellectual development, and
incorporates factors from the child's family, community, and school/program environments.  The
design of the program is based on the assumption that children's preparation for school begins at 
birth and continues up to the point where they enter school for the first time.    Children's life
experiences contribute not only to this important transition but to other critical transitions before
and after children enter school.

     The ECLS program is comprised of two cohorts a birth cohort and a kindergarten cohort. 
Together, these cohorts will provide the range and breadth of data required to more fully describe
children's early learning and education experience.  The birth cohort study is being designed to
study children's early learning and development from birth through first grade.  It will focus on
those characteristics of children, their families, and out-of-home experiences that influence
children's first experiences with the demands of formal school, i.e., kindergarten and first grade. 
The kindergarten cohort measures aspects of children's development and their environments
(home and school) as they enter school for the first time and examines how these influence their
academic achievement and experiences through fifth grade.
 
B.3   The Need for National Data on Early Childhood 

     Education is receiving much public attention today.  Parents, educators, and policymakers
are being asked to reconsider the ways in which children are being educated in our nation's
schools and to develop more effective approaches to education.  Much of this attention on
education is being focused on children's preparation for school and the early school years.  

     A number of factors have contributed to the amount of attention being given to children's
experience prior to school entry, their first encounters with formal schooling, and their
experience during the early grades.  These include:  increased public awareness of the
importance of children's early experiences, reinforced by the National Education Goal on school
readiness; the changing nature of both children's preschool and early school experience; and
more calls for schools to be more responsive to the backgrounds and experiences of the children
they serve.   

     Increased public awareness of early childhood issues has been accompanied by strong
calls for greater, better, and more detailed data both at the national and state levels.  Many
researchers and policy makers have pointed out that adequate information is not available on
which to base many of the complex decisions the Nation faces concerning the care and education
of our children.  What information is available is often fragmented, difficult to access, and of
unknown reliability.  More and better data are needed to study children's life and education
experiences. 

     There is currently no study that follows a national sample of children from birth through
the early formative years, and to school.  Few existing data bases permit the study of children's
early learning experiences, their transition into school and their early school experience by race-ethnicity, gender, region, etc. Most research on children's early development and education has
been conducted on small, often nonrepresentative samples of specific groups of children (e.g.,
disadvantaged inner city black children).  There are some notable exceptions, but most of these
do not use national samples.  

     The National Institute for Child Health and Human Develop is sponsoring a longitudinal
study of 1,200 infants sampled from hospitals in 10 heterogeneous sites across the country. 
Children were visited and observed in their homes at 1, 6, 15, and 36 months and in child care
settings at 6, 15, 24, and 36 months.  The study also includes observations of the children and
their mothers in a laboratory setting at 15, 24, and 36 months.

     The National Center for Health Statistics conducted a follow-back survey for a national
sample of 11,000 mothers with live births in 1988.  The children were between 2  and 3 years
old at the time of the follow-back data collection.  The study collected a wide range of data on
children's health and development, child care, child safety, maternal health, maternal depression,
medical care, accidents, hospitalizations, etc.

     The Bureau of Labor Statistics sponsored the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth -
Child Supplement.  Interviews were conducted  regarding the children born to female
participants in the NLSY who were 14-21 years of age in 1979.  Individual child assessments
were administered in the child's home and assessments of the child's home environment were
obtained through questionnaire and observational methods.

     The Early Head Start Child Care Study sponsored by the Administration on Children,
Youth, and Families is studying more than 3,000 children and families in 17 communities in 15
states.  Child and family assessments are being administered at 14, 24, and 36 months . 
Observations of child care settings and interviews with child care providers occur at the same
three points in time.

     Another study approached children's transition from school from a different perspective. 
The National Transition Study sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education used a national
sample of public schools to examine activities initiated by schools and preschool programs to
ease children's transition between programs from the school/program point of view.  No data
were collected on or from the children who experience these transitions, and the study was not
able to examine the impact of these transition activities on child outcomes.  However, it does
provide useful and important information about how schools view this critical transition and the
programs they offer children and their families.


C.  Key Study Areas and Questions

     There is a vast array of issues and research questions pertaining to children's early care
and education that could be studied with a national birth cohort sample;  however, certain areas
and questions have been identified as central to the study. The three key areas to be addressed by
the ECLS are 1) school readiness;  2) children's transitions to nonparental care and education
programs, kindergarten, and first grade; 3) the relationships between children's early care and
education experiences and their growth and development in critical domains.  Each of these areas
and questions are described in more detail in the following sections.
 
School Readiness

     Some children seem to adjust to their first encounter with formal school and are able to
have a positive school experience while other children experience problems.  For most children,
the first formal school experience is kindergarten.  However, the nature of this kindergarten
experience is quite variable and the demands it places on the child differ across programs.
 
     The ECLS-B will examine children's preparation for formal schooling by studying
different characteristics of children, their families, out-of-home care and educational experiences
during the years prior to school that influence children's developmental status (social and
emotional, cognitive and language, and physical) at school entry and whether or not they have a
positive experience in kindergarten and first grade.  The study is particularly interested in the role
that parents/family play in helping prepare children for formal school and in the effects of
children's participation in early care and education arrangements.  Because the way in which
children adjust to school and their early school success is influenced by the schools they attend,
the proposed study will pay particular attention to how schools and kindergarten programs
respond to the diverse backgrounds and experiences that children bring with them as they enter
school for the first time.  At a minimum, the contractor shall address the following questions
with its ECLS-B design:  

         What background and cumulative experience do children bring to school?  What
          is the background and experience of children who exhibit varying levels of
          competence in the different developmental domains that define school readiness
          (e.g., social skills, literacy and numeracy, fine and gross motor development)?  

         What actions do parents take to prepare their children for school?  What is the
          socioeconomic and cultural variation in these actions?  What is the relationship
          between parent behaviors and children's readiness for school?  Which behaviors
          seem to make a difference and which seem less important?

         What is the relationship between parents' attitudes and beliefs about their
          children's abilities and their children's development?  What is the relationship
          between parent beliefs about children in general and the way they learn and their
          own children's cognitive and social competence?

         To what extent do different early individual and family health/medical histories
          relate to children's readiness for school?
               
         Are those characteristics of children's early childhood care/education programs
          that are traditionally used to define "high quality" programs related to the different
          dimensions of school readiness?  Are these relationships the same for groups of
          children defined by such characteristics as race-ethnicity, socioeconomic status
          (SES), and family composition.

         Do children with different backgrounds and experiences enter schools that are
          responsive to their experiences?  What role do schools and preschools play in
          easing the transition into kindergarten?  What is the relationship between the
          actions that schools and preschools take and a child's early experience with
          school?

Transitions to out-of-home programs and school

     Children and adults are continually making transitions from one status to another.  Of
particular interest to the proposed program is the transition that occurs as young children go from
being cared for exclusively by their parents to the care of other persons.  For some children, this
transition may occur shortly after birth, while for others, their first significant experience with
adults other than their parents in a regular care and educational setting may be when they enter
school for the first time.  Other transitions of particular interest are the transition to a group-based early childhood program and from preschool to school.  Specific questions to be addressed
include:

         When do children first make the transition from the exclusive care of their parents
          to the care of another person?  What are the characteristics of this care?  What
          factors do parents consider when deciding to have part of their child's care be
          provided by someone other than them?

         What affect, if any, does the timing of this transition have on children and their
          families?  Do children who receive regular care from a nonparent have more
          difficulties than children who are cared for only by their parents?  Do the
          problems children experience vary by the type of care children receive or
          important characteristics of this care?

         How continuous is the supplemental care and education children receive from
          persons other than their parents? How often do children change care settings? 
          How consistent are the characteristics of the different settings?

         What problems do children and their families experience as a result of their child
          care arrangements?  Are these problems sporadic or continuous?  What
          characteristics of children's child care arrangements are related to these problems?

         At what point do parents decide to place their preschool-age child in an early
          childhood program?  What factors do parents consider in making this decision and
          in evaluating alternative programs?

         What is the nature and level of children's participation in early childhood
          programs?  What are the characteristics of the programs that children attend?

         What are the transition patterns of children as they move from preschool (or no
          school) to kindergarten?  For example, what percentage of children go from full-time private nursery school programs to part-day public kindergarten programs? 
          What percentage of children go from a high quality and developmentally
          appropriate preschool program to a kindergarten program that emphasizes
          academic achievement?

         How much movement occurs across (e.g., private to public) and within sectors
          during and between preschool, kindergarten and first grade? 

         How do those children and families who change sectors compare with those who
          remain in the same sector?

         Do children who make these changes experience any particular types of
          problems?  How long do these problems persist?

Children's Growth and Development

     The ECLS-B is especially interested in children's development during the critical years
before school.  A major goal of the study is to monitor children's growth and development
during these years.  The proposed study seeks to understand better children's social and
emotional, cognitive and language, and physical development as it relates to important influences
in their lives.  

     It is also generally acknowledged that the early experiences of children born in the 1990s
are different from those of children born in previous decades.  Increasing numbers of young
children have mothers in the labor force, live in poverty, live in single-parent households, have
limited proficiency in English, have poor nutrition and receive inadequate health care.  These and
other changes have contributed to the erosion of the economic and social capital available to
children through their families and communities.

     In addition, large numbers of young children experience out-of-home care/education
before they reach the age of compulsory school attendance, kindergarten attendance is nearly
universal and the majority of primary school children have had at least one organized group
experience (i.e., daycare center and/or nursery school) prior to starting first grade (West et al.,
1992). For most children, then, first grade no longer represents their first encounter with school
or with an organized group led by an unrelated adult.  However, the quality of these experiences
is not the same for all children and the impact quality has on children's development and
adjustment to school needs further study.

     In a recent review of the research literature on effects of child care on children's well-being, Love, Schochet, and Meckstroth conclude that: 1) there is a positive relationship between
the quality of children's child care arrangements and their well-being, 2) classroom dynamics are
more important than structure, 3) more research is needed to understand the combined and
unique effects of quality and an array of family variables, and 4) the relationship between quality
and child outcomes needs to be studied with designs that measure child outcomes before and
after their participation in a care/education setting.  Many of the studies that have looked at child
care and child well-being have measured the two at a single point in time.

     Some of the specific questions the contractor shall address in the ECLS-B are:


         What are the levels and rates of cognitive growth (cognitive, social, and physical)
          over time for different groups of children?  What characteristics of children, their
          families, and their nonparental care providers are associated with different levels
          and rates of growth? 

         Which groups of children seem to have more developmental difficulties and
          which groups seem to have fewer of these difficulties and more accomplishments? 
          What is the outlook for those children who have early difficulties as they enter
          school for the first time?  Are there strategies that help children with a history of
          developmental difficulties to succeed in kindergarten and first grade?

         Do children who change child care settings and early education programs many
          times experience any adverse effects not found among children who attend the
          same setting/arrangement for a continuous period?

         What are the characteristics of the early childhood programs attended by children
          who exhibit different levels and rates of cognitive growth?  How do they interact
          with characteristics of children and their families to affect children's social and
          cognitive development?

         What effects does participation in different types of early care and education
          programs/arrangements have on children? Are the outcomes of participation the
          same for different groups of children defined by race-ethnicity, SES, and other
          characteristics of children and their families?

D.  NCES Study Design Activities

D.1  Past Activities

     Before deciding to launch this major new initiative, NCES initiated a series of activities
directed toward first determining the need for a new longitudinal study of the education of young
children and second identifying possible design parameters for such a study.  Between the fall of
1989 and the spring of 1991 NCES commissioned a number of papers from experts in the fields
of child development, early childhood education, elementary education, child assessment,
sampling, and research design.  These papers addressed a number of substantive and
methodological issues associated with the design and conduct of a national longitudinal study of
young children.  The authors of these papers also attended meetings to discuss these issues
further.

D.2   Current and Planned Activities

     NCES/ED has several ECLS-B design activities that are either already underway or
planned.   These activities are directed towards the design and implementation of the proposed
study and are intended to help facilitate decisions about the ECLS-B design and to keep the
project on schedule.

     NCES/ED is developing a content outline for the ECLS-B parent component.   It is also
identifying a set of questionnaire items for inclusion in the first three waves of data collection
when the focus is on infants and toddlers.  A copy of the draft content outline is available
through the National Education Data Resource Center (NEDRC) .

     NCES/ED has identified and evaluated certain aspects of the different sampling
approaches that are available for the ECLS-B. These include 1) a household sample, 2) a birth
certificate sample, and 3) a hospital sample.  Draft materials from this activity are available
through the National Education Data Resource Center.

     NCES intends to collaborate with other parts of the U.S. Department of Education (e.g.,
Office of Special Education Programs) and with other agencies to the greatest extent possible. 
NCES staff will continue to work with representatives of relevant ED program offices and other
Federal agencies both to keep them up-to-date on the progress of the ECLS-B and to solicit their
participation in the study.


                  II.  BIRTH COHORT STUDY DESIGN

     While many decisions about the design of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth
Cohort (ECLS-B) are yet to be made, NCES/ED has decided on a number of key features of the
study.  The contractor shall develop and implement a study design that incorporates these key
features.  

A.  Target Population

     The target population of the ECLS-B shall be children born in the United States during
calendar year 1999.  The contractor shall design a sample that can be used to support estimates
of key characteristics of this population.

     One of the benefits arising from a national longitudinal study of children is that it can
provide nationally representative data on a wide range of early learning experiences and
environments.  Data on the experiences and environments of children from different groups in
the population defined by race-ethnicity, socioeconomic status (SES), and other characteristics
(e.g., working status of the mother, family structure) can also be collected, leading to
comparative analyses within and across these different population groups. 

B.  Holistic Approach

     It is imperative that the different contexts in which learning occurs be examined in detail
in order to improve our understanding of why some children adjust easily to school and appear to
make critical transitions without much difficulty while others experience varying degrees of
difficulty.   It is also important to examine children's development across a number of critical
cognitive and noncognitive domains.

     The contractor shall design the ECLS-B to capture data about the child's home,
community, and child care and early childhood program environments. The ECLS-B contractor
shall design the study to capture data about children's physical, social, emotional, language and
cognitive development.  

C.  Study Components

     The emphasis that NCES/ED is placing on the whole child and the different environments
in which learning occurs is critically important for the design of the ECLS-B.  The contractor
shall use children's parents as primary reporters throughout the life of the study.  At varying
points in the life of the study, the contractor shall gather data directly from children, their child
care and early education providers, and during later waves from their schools and teachers.    

     Parents/Guardians

     The parents/guardians of children selected for participation in the ECLS-B will be the
primary respondents over the life of the study.  Due to the young age of the children who will be
participating in the ECLS-B, parents/guardians will act as proxy respondents for their children. 
Furthermore, they are an important source of information on themselves and on their children's
early development, home environment, and neighborhood.  

     Because the ECLS-B will rely on parents for so much data, the contractor shall conduct
parent/guardian interviews at each wave of data collection.  The parent/guardian to be
interviewed shall be the individual who is the most knowledgeable about the sampled child's
care and education.  In most cases, this individual will be the child's mother.

     The participation of children in the ECLS-B and the level and quality of data that are
collected about these children will depend on the cooperation and participation of the children's
parents/guardians.  Therefore, the initial interview with parents/guardians will be conducted in
person.  Later interviews may be conducted in person or by telephone.  The contractor shall
develop and implement a plan for collecting data from parents/guardians.  The contractor's plan
shall identify and justify the interviewing mode in terms of  the data collection and analytic goals
of the study and the need to control data collection costs.

     The contractor shall cover several important topical areas during the parent/guardian
interviews.  The frequency at which information on characteristics in each area shall be collected
depends on the stability of the characteristics.  In other words, some items may only need to be
asked during the initial parent/guardian interview while others need to be asked during each
interview or on some periodic basis.  The content to be covered in the parent/guardian interviews
in the first three waves of the study includes the following:

     Family Structure
     Immigration Status
     Primary Language(s) Spoken and English Proficiency
     Child Care
     Child's Health and Well-Being
     Family Health Care and Nutritional Practices
     Child's Temperament, Language, and Cognitive Development
     Parental Values, Beliefs, and Expectations 
     Home Environment, Activities, and Cognitive Stimulation
     Socioemotional Behaviors
     Neighborhood
     Parent Education
     Parent Employment
     Parent Income and Assets
     Welfare and Other Public Transfers
     Discipline, Warmth, and Emotional Support 
     Parent's Psychological Well-Being and Health
     Social Support Networks
     Critical Family Processes
     
     Child.  A challenge facing the ECLS-B is when and how to involve children directly in
the study.  Decisions about the amount, level, and type of data to be collected from children must
take into account the ages of the children at the time of scheduled data collection.  All
instruments and procedures used to gather information directly from children must be appropriate
to their age-level.  Special care must be taken to limit any negative impacts associated with their
participation.   

     Beginning at age 2  - 3, children will be asked to participate directly  in activities
designed to measure important domains of cognitive and noncognitive development.  Repeated
measures for many of these characteristics will occur over the course of the study period so that
change in these characteristics may be measured and related to important characteristics of
children's home and out-of-home environments and child characteristics.  

     The contractor shall develop and implement a plan for involving children directly in the
ECLS-B.  The contractor shall administer a direct measure of children's development only once
during the first three waves of the ECLS-B.  Indirect measures of children's development shall
be a part of each data collection wave.

     Child Care Providers and Teachers.

     An estimated 45 percent of children under age 1 receive some type of care and education
on a regular basis from someone other than their parents/guardians. By age 4, an estimated 78
percent of children who are not yet attending kindergarten will receive supplemental care and
education on a regular basis.  Before age 2, a majority of this care and education is provided in a
home setting and at age 2 supplemental care and education is evenly distributed between home
and center-based programs.  Starting with 3-year-olds, most supplemental care and education is
usually  provided through center-based programs.

     Because having data on children's care and education programs is central to answering
many of the questions of major importance to the ECLS-B, the contractor shall capture a variety
of data on children's child care arrangements and education programs.  Some of these data can be
collected from parents/guardians; however, much of the data that are needed to describe the
structure and quality of children's arrangements and programs and the background and
experience of the providers cannot be reported validly by parents/guardians.  Therefore, the
contractor shall collect certain of these data from the individuals and organizations who are
providing care and educational services to children.   Contacting children's care and education
providers also opens up other data collection opportunities (e.g., using the child's provider as a
source of information about the child's development).

     The contractor shall develop and implement a plan for collecting data on children's child
care and education arrangements. When developing its plan, the contractor shall carefully
evaluate the need for such data, the quality of the data that can be provided by different sources
(e.g., family day care providers, child care center directors), any baises associated with
differential rates of nonresponse for these different sources, and the cost of collecting data from
these different sources.  The contractor shall collect data on children's child care and education
arrangements from providers no more than twice during the first three waves of the ECLS-B. 
For children participating in multiple arrangements, the contractor shall develop a plan for
choosing one of each child's arrangements and for collecting data from this arrangement.  

     School and Teachers.  During later waves of data collection, information about the
schools attended by children participating in the ECLS-B will be needed in order to address
critical research questions.  School administrators will be asked to provide information on the
physical and organizational characteristics of their schools, and on the schools' learning
environment, educational philosophy and programs. 

     As the ECLS-B children enter kindergarten and first grade, their kindergarten and first
grade teachers become valuable sources for information on children's most immediate school
learning environment, i.e., the classroom.  Teachers also represent a source of information on the
children's development, both cognitive and social. 

     Although the contractor is not responsible for these later waves of data collection, the
contractor shall take into account the need to collect these data later in the life of the study when
developing the design of the study and the sampling plan.  

D.  Data Collection Schedule

     Because the first data collection point will be used to get baseline data on children at the
point they enter the study and because much of the data collected will pertain to prenatal care, the
child's birth, and the care of the mother and child during the first few months of life, it shall be
collected within six months of the child's birth. Later waves of data collection shall be conducted
annually.

     The exact timing of base-year data collection and that of later waves of the ECLS-B may
be affected by other design decisions (e.g., choice of a sampling frame) and the analytic goals of
the study (e.g., tying the data collection schedule to critical developmental milestones). Various
operational considerations may also come into play, such as the merits of spreading data
collection out over the year versus collecting data over shorter periods of time (e.g., quarterly,
semi-annually). 

     The contractor shall develop a schedule for collecting data and implement this schedule.
When designing the annual waves of data collection for the ECLS-B, the contractor shall
evaluate the intensity of data collection against 1) the needs of the study and 2) the need to
manage respondent burden.  The contractor's schedule shall clearly indicate when data will be
collected for each of the study components (parents/guardians, child, and child care and
education providers).

E.  Measuring Children's Growth and Development

     An essential component of the ECLS-B is the collection of data which describes the
development of young children.  At a minimum, the data related to children's developmental
status at a given time and across time must take into account children's health, physical abilities,
social and emotional development, and cognitive and language abilities.  As with the ECLS-K
assessment battery, the ECLS-B assessment battery will need to be a multiple-variable battery
that will enable researchers to describe children's developmental status at given points in time
and over time.

     Although children's behavior and personality characteristics have been shown to become
globally stable over time, at the younger ages (i.e., infancy to 3 years), children's day-to-day or
hour-to-hour behaviors can be highly variable.  In the early years, rapid changes occur in all areas
of development, and these changes do not occur at the same time in all areas.  Environmental
factors such as the physical and social surroundings also influence behaviors by either facilitating
or discouraging performance. 

     Measurement Domains.   The primary purpose of the ECLS-B battery is to obtain
accurate measures of the status of children in the following dimensions of development: social
and emotional development, physical development, and cognitive and language development.
Current developmental theory supports a model that suggests that children's development in the
physical, social and emotional, and cognitive domains is interrelated and mediated by social and
environmental contexts.

     Social and emotional development Social and emotional development are intricately
related and mutually reinforcing.  Social functioning refers to the interpersonal relationships and
behaviors that a child initiates with others.  Emotional functioning refers to the child's feelings
about himself or herself and others.  Research suggests that from infancy, individuals are
constitutionally predisposed to vary widely along such dimensions as affect, attention, and motor
activity; collectively called temperament.  Children's levels of independence, activity, attention,
and distractibility have been found to be associated with children's adjustment to kindergarten. 
Social skills and behaviors have also been found to lead to positive adjustment to school. The
social and emotional development domain covers the social, emotional, and feelings aspects of
behavior children's social skills, self concepts, attitudes, likes, and such. 

     Child health and physical development Children's health, physical growth, and motor
development are integral parts of well-being.  A healthy child is not simply one who is growing
well and is free of disease, but is an individual who demonstrates appropriate physical
competencies for his or her age and the capacity to engage successfully in age-appropriate
activities. Children's height and weight are two examples of measures that are used as indicators
of adequate nutrition, sufficient nurturing, and the absence of significant chronic illnesses.  In
addition, attributes that mediate the level and quality of individual performance include stamina,
energy, strength, and physical flexibility.

     Visual and auditory functioning are also important aspects of children's physical health. 
Visual and auditory impairments in infancy and early childhood can adversely affect the
development of social and emotional, cognitive/language, and physical competencies.  Examples
of measures of children's visual and auditory functioning include visual and auditory acuity
measurements.

      Motor development has long been considered an important part of child development
and is a recognized means for measuring the overall rate and level of development of the children
during the early months and years of life. Motor development may be defined as the gradual
acquisition of control and/or use of the large and small muscles of the body.  The development of
neuromuscular coordination will be used by the individual throughout life to deal with a variety
of social, emotional, mental, and recreational dimensions of living.  Motor skills can be divided
into gross and fine motor skills.  Examples of gross motor development skills during the early
stages of life include rolling over, crawling, sitting up, and walking up stairs.  Skills such as
grasping a cup or toy, stringing beads, building blocks, and using writing implements to make
scribbles are examples of fine motor skills.

     Cognitive development The cognitive domain of development represents children's
knowledge base and language.  The knowledge subdomain can be further subdivided into how
much children know that is related to a topic or experience and their abilities and skills in
performing mental operations such as comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and
evaluation.  Knowledge concepts related to school outcomes include awareness of time, spatial
relationships, vocabulary, roles people play in society, and logical thinking skills.

     Language development The age range of birth to 6 years represents one of the most
critical age ranges for the development of language skills.  Language provides a critical function
for interacting between the physical and social environments.  As children progress through the
early years, language plays an increasingly important role for accessing the many social
encounters in the home, neighborhood, playground, and school.  Children's use of language to
communicate is essential to understanding children's cognitive development and social
adaptation.

     Measurement Issues.  While the design and selection of a nationally representative birth
cohort sample presents many challenges, perhaps the greatest challenge facing the ECLS-B is the
ability to measure the central constructs that are so important to understanding children's early
learning and development.  A variety of instruments will be needed to reliably and validly
measure specific constructs.  

     Obtaining quality measures of children's developmental growth, family, and nonparent
care and education environments is critical for the proposed study.  Instruments that accurately
tap the different dimensions of children's development are critical.  Any direct assessment of
young children must be carefully planned, tested, and well executed.  Existing measures shall be
scrutinized to determine their psychometric properties and any new measures shall be tested and
refined.  It is vital that all measures of children's developmental domains and children's home and
family be sensitive to the cultural diversity that exists among children's families.

     Valid and reliable measures of children's development.  The general purpose of the
assessment of children in the ECLS-B is to document children's growth and development (i.e.,
the extent of children's accomplishments in those critical developmental and behavioral domains
that are believed to be most essential for school performance) before school entry, at school
entry, during kindergarten, and at the end of first grade.  The accuracy and usefulness of the
information derived from measures of these characteristics depend on instrument reliability and
validity.  The battery of instruments selected to measure all major developmental areas such as
cognition, language, motor development, and socio-emotional development must meet strict
psychometric rules for standardization, reliability, and validity.  Individual instruments shall be
sufficiently reliable to support change measurement and must be capable of measuring  across a
broad range of abilities/skills.  Minimizing the possibility of "floor and ceiling effects is critical
in selecting or designing measurement instruments.  Furthermore, all tests, procedures, and
processes must be culturally, linguistically, and developmentally sensitive.  

     Measurement approaches.  Measures of children's developmental status can be collected
in several ways: directly from the child or indirectly from others familiar with the child. 
Measurements may include objective performance tests, questionnaires/rating scales, and
behavioral observations.  While each of these measurement formats provide information about
the child, each also poses numerous issues related to instrument variances that need to be
considered in designing the methods for collecting data related to children's development or
growth in each of the domains.


G.  Sampling Issues

     The contractor shall design and select a nationally representative sample of children to
participate in the ECLS-B. The contractor shall 1) identify and/or develop a sampling frame; 2)
design the sample to meet certain precision requirements set by NCES/ED; 3) oversample
specific groups of minority children; 4) develop an approach that minimizes attrition and the
effects of residential mobility; and 5) develop a sample and data collection approach that
minimizes the effects of age on important child characteristics and attributes.  Each of these
contractor responsibilities and sample design considerations is discussed in more detail in the
following sections.

     Sampling frame

     There are several frames that could be used to select a nationally representative sample of
children born at specific times. These include 1) a household frame, 2) a vital records/birth
records frame, and 3) a hospital frame. Each has advantages and disadvantages. For example,
vital records/birth records provide a very complete sampling frame for cohort members born in
the United States.  In addition, minimal effort is needed to screen eligible sample units,
especially when compared with a household frame. Disadvantages associated with the use of a
vital records/birth records frame are: 1) more effort is required to locate sample units because of
the time lag between the birth of the child and when the records are available for use as a
sampling frame; and 2) the complexity of frame preparation as a result of differences in the birth
record systems used in different states.

     The contractor shall weigh the advantages and disadvantages of the different frames and
select and/or develop a sampling frame that is cost effective and will satisfy the needs of the
study.  

     Precision requirements  

     The contractor shall use the following precision requirements to guide the development of
the ECLS-B sample.  

         The sample size for ECLS-B should be able to produce level estimates for which
          the standard error is no larger than 20 percent of a proportion and 2.5 percent of a
          mean in each wave of data collection. Also,  for a two-tailed test of significance at
          the .05 level with power equal to .80, the sample should be able to detect a 20
          percent change in proportions and a 5 percent change in means for all waves. 

         These requirements should be applied not only to the entire sample but to
          important subgroups. These include children defined by race-ethnicity (Hispanic,
          non-Hispanic black, Asian and Pacific Islander and non-Hispanic white),
          socioeconomic status (low, middle and high), family type (two-parent and single-parent),  mother's employment status (full-time, part-time, not in the labor force),
          birth weight (less than or equal 5.5 lbs and over 5.5 lbs), Census region, and
          urbanicity. NCES is also interested in estimating characteristics of children with
          different child care and education program experiences (e.g., in-home versus
          center-based care).

          For the purposes of deriving preliminary sample sizes, the contractor shall
          assume a mean of 50 with a standard deviation of 15, a proportion of .30, and a
          correlation of .60 between two consecutive waves. The contractor shall assume a
          design effect of 2.5 when deriving ECLS-B sample sizes.

     Oversampling of minority children

     In order to detect differences or changes for certain racial-ethnic minorities (e.g., blacks,
Hispanics, Asians and Pacific Islanders) at the level of precision set for this study, it may be
necessary for the contractor to oversample some of these groups. Even if sufficient numbers of
these children are expected to be selected into the sample using equal probability methods,
differential rates of attrition may result in the contractor having to oversample one or more of
these groups.

     Sample attrition and mobility 

     The contractor shall carefully examine attrition when designing the ECLS-B sample. A
moderate level of attrition for each single wave may become a severe problem when summed
over the life of the study. 

     In addition, when designing the ECLS-B sample, the contractor shall evaluate the impact
of residential mobility on the sample and the cost of study over time.  The Bureau of the Census
reports (see Census Report P20-481) that between March 1992 and March 1993,  22 percent of
children from 1 to 4 years old had moved.  According to data from the 1993 National Household
Education Survey, an estimated 25.7 percent of 5-year-olds enrolled in kindergarten or a higher
grade had moved 3 or more times between their birth and fifth birthday. Another 14.4 percent of
these children had moved twice and 26.3 percent had moved once. Only 33.7 percent of these
children had never moved. Thus, young children not only move in large proportions, they also
move frequently. 

     Mobility rates may change over time. In addition, they differ by socioeconomic,
geographic, and demographic characteristics such as family income, locality, and race-ethnicity.
To ensure that a sufficient number of children in important policy-relevant subgroups (e.g.,
racial-ethnic minorities, disadvantaged children) will be maintained in all waves of the study,  the 
contractor shall take these factors into account when devising its sampling plans for the base year
and followup waves.

     Elapsed time between sample selection and data collection

     As mentioned earlier, the target population of the ECLS-B is all children born in the
United Stated from January December, 1999. If all children are selected at the same time as most
surveys do, there is an age difference of 12 months between the oldest and the youngest children
in the sample. The impact of this age difference on many of  the attributes likely to be measured
in the ECLS-B may be substantial. For example, the physical development of a child at 3 months
will be significantly different from that of a child at 12 months.  One way of minimizing the
potential impact of this age difference is to select children for the base-year sample at several
points in time instead of selecting all children at once. For example, children might be selected at
4 different points in time. One-fourth of the base-year sample would be selected in the first
quarter of 1999.  All children born between January 1st and March 31st would be eligible for this
selection. In the second quarter of 1999, one-fourth of the sample would be selected from those
children born between April 1st and June 30th.  The sample selection would continue in the same
fashion until the last fourth of the base-year sample is selected.  If the elapsed time between
sample selection and data collection is approximately equal for all children, then the age
difference can be reduced to 3 months instead of 12 months. There are other ways of reducing
the age difference, and the contractor shall explore these when devising its sampling plan for the
ECLS-B.



H.  Methodological Inquiries and Data Quality

     The contractor shall give considerable attention to identifying potential sources of error,
quantifying this error, and designing techniques to either reduce the error or minimize its impact
on study estimates.  The contractor shall carry out a variety of activities that are directed toward
improving the quality of the survey data.  The methods and procedures used by the contractor
during the conduct of the study shall undergo continued evaluation. NCES/ED hopes to be able
to set aside funds for the contractor to conduct experiments and studies designed to enhance
knowledge of the effects of different design features on the quality of the data.  NCES/ED is
interested in studies that measure the validity and reliability of the data collected from parents
concerning their children's educational experiences and learning environments.  It is also
especially interested in studies that assess the validity and reliability of data that are used to
describe children's status on different developmental dimensions.  During the design and conduct
of the ECLS-B, the contractor shall work to reduce nonsampling errors as well as to reduce errors
introduced through the sample selection process.

I.  Optional Special Studies and Supplements

     NCES/ED will support the development and implementation of a core study design that
will achieve the goals of the program and provide the data required to answer the major research
and policy questions guiding the study.  NCES/ED plans to explore other ways of enriching the
study.  The study may be expanded in scope or enriched through a variety of special studies and
supplements.  Some of these may be supported by NCES/ED depending on the availability of
funds, while others may be sponsored by other Federal agencies and private foundations.

     NCES/ED is considering expanding the ECLS design in several ways, including:  1)
oversampling specific populations of children, 2) adding questions to one or more questionnaires
in order to explore more fully an area of interest, 3) using supplemental instruments that will be
administered to one or more groups of respondents, and 4) expanding the range of persons who
will report on the early care and experiences of children in the study.  The special studies and
supplements that NCES/ED is considering at this time are described in the Scope of Work.  The
final decision as to whether or not to incorporate one or all of these studies and supplements will
depend on the availability of funds.  

J.  NCES/ED Standards

     NCES/ED has developed and implemented a set of standards that set guidelines to insure
the quality of NCES/ED's work.  The contractor shall adhere to these standards during the design
and conduct of the ECLS-B.  A copy of the NCES/ED publication NCES Statistical Standards and Policies (U. S. Department of Education, June 1992) can be obtained by calling the
Statistical Standards and Methodology Division of the National Center for Education Statistics at
(202) 219-1643. 

K.  Coordination with ECLS Kindergarten Cohort Study 

     Some of the issues of interest to the ECLS program span the two cohorts, birth cohort and
kindergarten cohort.  For example, a question of interest to many is how children's experiences
in nonparental care and education programs during the years prior to school affect their later
school achievement.  Also, how does the literacy environment of the home during the early
formative years influence children's reading in the primary and elementary grades.  

     It is not clear exactly how, and if, the design of the ECLS-B sample should be changed in
order to facilitate the analysis of research questions spanning the two cohorts.  For example,
should the ECLS-B and ECLS-K samples use the same Primary Sampling Units (PSUs)?  The
contractor shall consider these and other questions when designing the ECLS-B sample.  If
necessary, the contractor shall design the ECLS-B sample in such a way as to increase
NCES/ED's ability to address questions that span the preschool and early school years. 
However, the contractor shall not make changes that might limit the ability of the ECLS-B to
address issues surrounding the birth through first grade period.

     NCES/ED is finalizing the design of the kindergarten cohort of the ECLS.  A large field
test is being conducted in 1996-97 and the base-year data collection is scheduled for fall of the
1998-99 school year.  The contractor shall examine carefully the design of the ECLS-K and the
possible impact of that activity on the design of the ECLS-B. 
                       III.  SCOPE OF WORK


A.  Overview of Tasks

     This Scope of Work is written in two sections (Core Tasks and Optional Special Studies
and Supplements).  The first section describes the core tasks that are required to prepare for and
conduct the first three waves of the ECLS-B (base-year and the first and second followup
waves). The contractor shall perform a series of tasks that will lead to 1) the final design and
selection of a national sample of children born between January  and December, 1999; 2) the
collection of data from the parents of these children at three times; and 3) the processing of data
collected at each of these three times and the preparation of public release data files. The second
section describes a set of optional special studies and supplements.

B.  Core Tasks to Be Performed

     The core tasks represent activities that are required to prepare for and implement the first
three waves of the ECLS-B.  A few of these tasks will be performed only once (e.g., task 1 and
3), while most will be repeated for each of the data collections.  While the outcome of some tasks
will be the same each time they are performed, the level of effort required to accomplish these
outcomes will not necessarily be the same.  For example, task 10 requires that the contractor
design and produce a set of training materials, design training sessions, and train staff for each
wave of data collection.  However, much of the material that the contractor develops for base-year training, and many of the activities planned for the training sessions, can be used and
modified for later rounds of data collection.         

Task 1.  Project Planning and General Management

     1.1 Project Initiation and Planning.  The contractor shall work closely with the COTR and
other NCES/ED staff to develop and conduct the first three waves of the ECLS-Bl.  The
contractor shall keep the project on schedule and within budget.

     Upon award of the contract, NCES/ED will provide the contractor with copies of all final
design reports and instruments developed for the ECLS-K.  It will also provide the contractor
with final copies of all papers and documents pertaining to the design and conduct of a birth
cohort prepared in advance of contract award.

     Within two weeks of contract award, the contractor shall meet with NCES/ED to review
the contract's tasks and to discuss issues related to the conduct of the study.  The meeting shall
be held in Washington, D.C. at the offices of NCES/ED.  The contractor shall provide NCES/ED
with an agenda and any background material at least five working days in advance of the
meeting. The contractor shall come prepared to identify any areas of concern and to suggest ways
of responding to these concerns.  The contractor shall also be prepared at this meeting to
recommend members for the ECLS-B Technical Review Panel  (see task 2).

     

     1.2  General Project Management and Monthly Progress Reports.  Under this task, the
contractor shall perform its general project management functions.  A routine aspect of this
management shall be the development and submission of regular monthly project reports.  

     1.3  Other Meetings with NCES/ED.  Key contractor staff shall travel to Washington, DC
for meetings with the COTR throughout the contract period.  The contractor shall participate in
the development of the goals and agenda for each meeting.  The contractor shall provide a final
agenda at least five working days in advance of the meeting. The contractor shall be responsible
for distributing the agenda and other meeting materials, if any, to about 12 meeting attendees. 
Materials to be distributed shall be approved, in advance, by the COTR.   All materials shall be
distributed at least five working days prior to each meeting.
 
     1.4  Briefings and Descriptive Materials.  From time to time throughout the course of the
project, NCES/ED shall provide interested individuals and agencies with information about the
nature, findings, and progress of the ECLS-B.  The contractor shall support these activities by
developing up to three sets of materials that describe different components of the ECLS-B (e.g.,
ECLS-B assessment battery and ECLS-B field test).  These materials will be used by NCES/ED.
Each set of materials shall be no more than 10 typewritten pages of text (double-spaced) with
accompanying graphs and/or tables suitable for display (such as transparencies or slides).  Within
two weeks of a request, a set of materials shall be submitted to NCES/ED for review and
comment.  The contractor shall make necessary revisions to the materials based on this review
and resubmit the materials within one week of receipt of comments. 

     The contractor shall also be prepared to give up to ten briefings and/or demonstrations
about the ECLS-B over the life of the contract.  The COTR will notify the contractor at least two
weeks in advance of each briefing or demonstration.  Examples of the kinds of meetings at which
the contractor might be asked to discuss the ECLS-B and to present preliminary findings from
the field test and main study are the annual meetings of the American Educational Research
Association and NCES' Summer Data Conference.  They might also include briefings with other
federal agencies and with the Office of Management and Budget.

     1.5  Project Brochure.  The contractor shall assist NCES/ED in developing two brochures
describing the ECLS-B.  Each brochure shall describe the general goals of the ECLS-B and the
larger ECLS program.  It shall identify the types of data that are being collected and the project
development and data collection schedule. These brochures are used to describe the ECLS-B to
individuals and organizations requesting information about the study and are included as part of
the information packets used to secure the cooperation of study participants.  A draft of the first
brochure shall be submitted within 12 weeks of contract award.  A draft of the second brochure
shall be submitted 12 weeks prior to the start of base-year data collection. The content of the
second brochure shall reflect any changes made as a result of the ECLS-B field test.  NCES/ED
shall review the drafts and provide comments and suggestions within two weeks. NCES/ED shall
provide the contractor with an electronic version of the ECLS-B logo, which the contractor shall
use on the cover of the brochure. The contractor shall revise the materials based on NCES/ED
suggestions and submit camera-ready, color-separated copy of the materials no later than two
weeks following receipt of NCES/ED s comments.  An electronic version of each brochure s text
and graphics should be delivered with the camera-ready copy; the electronic version should be in
a Web-compatible format in accordance with existing NCES guidelines.   

     1.6  Project Bibliography.  Throughout the course of the contract, the contractor shall
maintain a bibliography of reports and articles which cite any of the ECLS (both birth and
kindergarten components) surveys.  A draft of the first bibliography shall be submitted to
NCES/ED for review no later than 52 weeks following contract award.  NCES/ED will review
the draft and provide comments within two weeks of receipt.  The contractor shall revise the
bibliography and submit one camera-ready and ten stapled copies within two weeks of receipt of
NCES/ED comments.  This bibliography shall be updated on an annual basis thereafter to
include citations of  reports or articles which cite the ECLS.

           1.7 Electronic formats of transmittals and study products.  The contractor shall transmit all
correspondence directly to the COTR via cc:Mail or another mutually agreed-upon
communications package.  NCES/ED currently uses Word, WordPerfect, PowerPoint, and Excel
as its primary software packages for communicating documents, charts, and tables.  NCES/ED
uses the Department of Education s cc:Mail software as its communications package.  All
deliverables are to be in a format that is compatable with these packages. 

         1.8 Confidentiality procedures.  In order to ensure the anonymity of individual respondents,
the contractor must comply with Section 408 of the National Education Statistics Act of 1994,
P.L. 103-382 (20 U.S.C. 9007).  A copy of the Act is attached.  The Act authorizes fines or
imprisonment for disclosure of individually identifiable information for any purpose other than
statistical purposes.  

     Under no circumstances may the contractor release personally identifiable information. 
Information which identifies persons must be maintained in files which are physically separate
from other research data and which are accessible only to sworn agency and contractor
personnel.

     Individual identifiers used during the course of the project shall be associated with data
only for purposes of data gathering, matching new data with old, establishing sample
composition, authenticating data collections, editing data based on callbacks, or obtaining
missing information.

     The contractor shall enforce strict procedures for ensuring confidentiality.  These
procedures shall apply to all phases of the project.

     Any employee needing access to confidential information shall first swear to an Affidavit
of Nondisclosure.  The contractor shall execute these Affidavits of Nondisclosure and the
originals shall be transmitted to the COTR.  As part of the transmission, the contractor shall
indicate the position in the organization of the person signing the Affidavit of Nondisclosure and
the person s functional relationship to this project.  As new persons are assigned to the project,
an Affidavit of Nondisclosure shall be executed for them on the first working day of assignment
to the project.  Throughout the life of the contract, the Affidavits of Nondisclosure for
interviewers and other short-term personnel shall be submitted on a schedule designated by the
COTR or at a minimum of three times a year.   A copy of the Affidavit is attached.  

     All respondents shall be informed of the following: NCES  enabling legislation; the
purposes for which the information is needed; uses that may be made of the data; and the
methods of reporting the data so that an individual s responses are not revealed. 

     The contractor shall maintain security on the complete set (and deliverable backups) of
all master data files and documentation.  The contractor shall present a detailed security plan that
expands upon what was presented in its proposal to the COTR for approval 8 weeks after the
award of the contract.

Task 2.  Technical Review Panel and Outside Review

     2.1  Role of the technical review panel.  Studies of this scope, complexity, and
importance require input from a number of individuals and organizations in order to address the
data needs of  policy makers and of those performing policy studies and educational research. 
The contractor shall form and work with a Technical Review Panel (TRP).  The contractor shall
ensure that the TRP provides the contractor with review and comment on such matters as
technical design and implementation, administrative practices, policy and research topics that are
appropriate for the ECLS and other technical and policy matters that arise from time to time. 
The contractor shall ensure that the TRP plays  an active role in the study by reviewing and
commenting on overall research priorities, identifying policy and research questions, providing
input about questionnaire and assessment instrument content, proposing analytical models and
methods, reviewing work plans and their implementation, and reviewing and suggesting
modifications to draft reports. 

     The contractor shall not ask the TRP to function as a consensus group.  Instead, the
contractor shall ask that the individuals on the panel review and respond to matters concerning
the design of the ECLS-B and to offer their individual opinions and evaluations on such matters. 
It is the responsibility of the contractor to compile and weigh these different opinions and
recommendations, and to provide a recommended course of action to NCES/ED.  

     2.2  Contractor's responsibilities.  The contractor's responsibilities related to the TRP
shall include, but not necessarily be limited to, the following:

          1.   Identify and recruit up to 10 non-government members for the TRP.
               Members shall be national authorities in those substantive and
               methodological areas critical to the design and implementation of the
               ECLS-B.  Within two weeks of contract award, the contractor shall
               identify, in writing, individuals with the needed expertise for possible
               membership on the TRP.  The contractor shall identify the institutional
               affiliation of each nominee and provide a short biographical sketch
               highlighting expertise and prior work related to the ECLS.  Following
               NCES/ED review of the list of individuals nominated for membership,
               which shall take no more than four weeks, the contractor shall contact
               each individual to solicit and finalize his/her participation.

          2.   Inform the TRP of the progress of the study.  In addition to the regular
               meetings, the contractor shall summarize the progress of the study for the
               panelists at least on a semi-annual basis.

          3.   Prepare all materials and correspondence required for TRP consideration
               and review.  After NCES/ED review and approval, the contractor shall
               share materials with the TRP for review and comment.

          4.   Schedule the meetings with panel members.  The first panel meeting shall
               occur within 16 weeks of contract award.  All meetings with the exception
               of the first shall be scheduled at least 36 weeks in advance.   The
               contractor shall hold all meetings in Washington, D.C. unless otherwise
               approved by the COTR.  The contractor shall convene the TRP an average
               of two times per year for the life of the contract.

          5.   Arrange for TRP meetings (e.g., meeting space and accommodations) and
               pay all associated expenses.  Non-government panelists shall be paid an
               honorarium plus per diem and travel expenses.   Government participants
               and guests at the TRP meetings will usually include 4-6 staff from
               NCES/ED and 1-2 staff from each of the government agencies sponsoring
               components of the ECLS-B.   

          6.   The contractor shall prepare and submit an agenda for each meeting to
               NCES/ED at least 4 weeks in advance.  The contractor shall deliver the 
               agenda and any other materials that will be used by panel members for
               discussion at the meetings to panel members at least 1 week prior to the
               meeting.

          7.   Prepare minutes of the meetings.  The contractor shall tape record the
               meetings and submit a written summary to NCES/ED within two weeks of
               each meeting.  The minutes shall include a summary of the discussions
               (There is no requirement for a verbatim transcript) and activities that took
               place during the meeting, highlighting major issues that were raised and
               decisions made.  The minutes shall identify actions (long-term and
               immediate) the contractor will take to respond to issues that were raised
               and not resolved during these meetings.  The minutes of the meeting shall
               be distributed to panel members and invited guests within three weeks of
               each meeting after NCES/ED review.

            8. Arrange and pay for specific work products not tied to a meeting.  For
               example, TRP members might be asked to review and comment on a
               particular draft paper.  Again, non-government panelists shall be paid an
               honorarium.

            9. Supply NCES/ED with copies of all correspondence and other materials
               exchanged with panelists.

     2.3 Other outside review.  In addition to the contractor's TRP, other review panels may be
required from time to time.  For example, the ECLS-K has used groups of subject area specialists
to review the specifications of the ECLS-K assessment framework and drafts of the assessment
battery.  It has also convened groups to consider different approaches for collecting data on and
about special populations (e.g., children with disabilities and language minority children).  If
such panels of consultants are used, the contractor shall have the same responsibilities for these
panels as are outlined for the contractor's TRP (see 2.2 above).  The contractor shall assume that
three such groups will be convened over the life of the contract for a one-day meeting in
Washington, D.C.  Each group will be comprised of up to 8 non-federal members.

Task 3.  Develop Survey Instruments and Procedures  

     A draft content outline for the first three waves of data collection has been developed and
is available through NEDRC.  Immediately upon award of the contract, NCES/ED will give the
contractor a copy of the final content outline and a set of  recommended items for the parent
interview developed from this content outline. Even though a set of recommended items will be
available at the time of contract award, the contractor will need to do  additional work to develop
and produce the parent interview instrument and other data collection instruments and procedures
for use in the ECLS-B.  The contractor shall implement an approach to developing these
instruments and procedures that follows the steps outlined in the following subtasks.

     3.1  Identify key questions and variables.  As needed, and with the knowledge of the 
COTR, the contractor shall consult with the staff of NCES, the various offices in the U.S.
Department of Education, other Federal agencies (including OMB), education policy groups, and
members of the ECLS TRPs for input on the key research and policy questions that should be
addressed by the ECLS-B and on what variables to include.  The contractor shall provide short 1-2 page written summaries of all such consultations within one week of each consultation.

     3.2  Prepare Content Outline Matrix.  Within 16 weeks of contract award, the contractor
shall prepare and submit a draft final content outline for the ECLS-B.  This outline should update
and revise the outline provided to the contractor at the beginning of the contract.  The content
outline shall list the recommended constructs and variables for inclusion along with a brief
rationale for each.  The constructs and variables shall be organized by the research and policy
issues they address.  This information shall be submitted using a matrix format.  The matrix shall
identify the source(s) of data for each variable.  The draft final content outline shall reflect the
outcomes of project activities and revise as necessary the content outline contained in the
contractor's proposal.

     Following NCES/ED review of the draft final content outline, the contractor shall submit
a revised outline which incorporates suggestions made by NCES/ED.  With the approval of the
COTR, the contractor shall provide members of the Technical Review Panel with a copy of the
content outline for review and comment. All comments from the TRP members shall be
summarized by the contractor and presented to the COTR prior to the submission of the final
content outline or no later than 18 weeks after contract award.

     3.3  Develop Study Instruments and Procedures.  The contractor shall develop and revise
the study instruments and procedures needed to address the research and policy issues being
addressed by the ECLS-B.  In designing the study instruments, the contractor shall take into
account the comments and suggestions made by TRP members and NCES/ED regarding the
content outline.  Where the ECLS-B consists of topical components and variables being used in
the ECLS-K or where questions are being asked that build upon the data collection efforts of
other agencies, special consideration shall be given to maintaining the comparability of items
across time and/or across studies.

     Draft copies of all study instruments shall be submitted to NCES/ED for review and
comment no later than 30 weeks following award of the contract.  NCES/ED will provide
comments on the draft instruments within two weeks.  Within one week of receipt of NCES/ED's
review comments, the contractor shall revise the instruments incorporating the comments and
suggestions of NCES/ED and submit a second draft of the instruments.

     The contractor shall produce the ECLS-B parent/guardian instruments in both English
and Spanish.  In addition, the contractor shall develop approaches for increasing the participation
of respondents from other language minority backgrounds.

     The contractor shall reproduce or acquire all the materials and program all the systems
necessary to support the collection of data for the ECLS-B.  The contractor shall reproduce or
arrange for the reproduction of all questionnaires.  A sufficient number of copies of each form
shall be reproduced to meet the needs of the study, plus a 10 percent overage.  The contractor
must be familiar with the requirements of the Government Printing Office for such
reproductions;  all reproductions shall be done in accordance with government printing
regulations.

     3.4  Conduct Cognitive Laboratory Research.   Most of the data items that will be used in
the ECLS-B will have been used in previous studies and many will have been subjected to
cognitive laboratory research.  However, some of the items will be new or modified from their
original version.  As such, the contractor shall design and conduct limited cognitive laboratory
research on certain items or sets of items.  This research shall be directed toward an
understanding of the extent to which the questionnaire items are understood by respondents and
how the questionnaire flow might be improved.  This research shall seek to identify any areas of
ambiguity and confusion.

     Prior to conducting any cognitive laboratory research, the contractor shall develop and
submit a memorandum that outlines its plan for the conduct of such research.  This plan shall be
submitted to NCES/ED no later than 16 weeks after contract award. This plan shall describe the
contractor's general approach to this work and identify the specific methods and procedures that
shall be used.  Justification shall be provided for the selection of certain methods over others
relative to the objectives of the research.  The plan shall also describe how the outcomes of the
cognitive laboratory research will be used to improve the overall quality of the ECLS-B
instruments and procedures.  The contractor shall allow two weeks for NCES/ED review of the
plan.  Implementation of the plan shall be contingent upon NCES/ED approval.

     The contractor shall submit a draft Cognitive Research Report to NCES/ED within two
weeks of completing the research outlined in the approved cognitive research plan.  This short
report shall summarize the cognitive research conducted for the ECLS-B and changes that are
recommended to study instruments and procedures as a result of this work.  The contractor shall
allow two weeks for NCES/ED review of the draft report.  The report shall be revised in response
to NCES/ED's comments and the final report submitted one week later.

     3.5  Develop birth cohort assessment battery.  Developing an assessment battery for the
ECLS-B is extremely important to the success of the study.  The assessment battery for the
ECLS-B shall include all instruments designed to collect indicators of children's status within a
number of critical dimensions associated with school performance. The dimensions include 1)
physical development, 2) social and emotional development and 3) cognitive and language
development.  The contractor shall develop this battery following the steps outlined below.

     The contractor shall conduct a review of the relevant research in the field, review and
evaluate existing assessment instruments, and review relevant materials from the NCES/ED
development activities for the ECLS-K. The contractor shall engage in discussions with child
development specialists, education content area researchers, related professionals, and the ECLS-B TRP.  All instruments used in the ECLS-B shall meet psychometric standards (e.g., validity
and reliability) at the highest level.  

     Identify key elements of each assessment domain.  The contractor shall 1) develop an
inventory of the variables for each of the key assessment domains, 2) select those elements that
are closely related to the study issues and have been shown to be related to children's later school
performance, and 3) describe their relationship to the types of school outcomes identified in the
ECLS-K.

     Operationalize elements in each domain.  The contractor shall define each of the
identified key elements and its relationship to each of the essential dimensions of learning and
development.  Both conceptual and operational definitions shall be provided. 

     Identify data source for each element.  Information for each element may be obtained
from a variety of sources.  The sources may include children, their parents, and when they enter
school, their teachers.  The contractor shall identify the appropriate source(s) for information
pertaining to each element and the best method(s) or procedure(s) for obtaining the information.

     All methods and procedures advanced for collecting information directly from children
shall be appropriate for their age.  Special care shall be taken to limit any negative impact of
children's participation.

     Review instruments from other studies.  The contractor shall review the designs and
instruments of relevant studies and data collection programs that collect data on the types of
issues and populations of particular interest to the ECLS-B.  After the review, the contractor shall
recommend those instruments and/or elements of instruments that are most appropriate for use in
the ECLS-B.  The contractor shall include empirical evidence establishing the importance and
relevance of the instruments/items for the ECLS-B. 

     Conduct small-scale pretest.  To determine the feasibility and appropriateness of methods
and procedures proposed by the contractor, the contractor shall conduct small-scale tests.  All
such tests shall be separate from and precede the full-scale field test.  Such early testing may
include cognitive laboratory work.

     Assessment Plan.  The contractor shall prepare and submit to NCES/ED a report that
summarizes its plans for the design and conduct of the assessment.  At a minimum, the plan
shall: 1) identify the key assessment domains and the critical elements within each domain to be
collected; 2) describe the methods and procedures that will be used to conduct the assessment
and  identify the sources of data for each domain/element; 3) include copies of any
questionnaires and assessment instruments; 4) describe in detail any procedure that involves the
direct assessment of young children and steps that will be taken to minimize the impact of
children's direct participation; and 5) describe procedures for analyzing the data.  A draft copy of
this plan shall be submitted to NCES/ED within 32 weeks of contract award.  NCES/ED will
provide comments on the draft plan within two weeks.  The contractor shall revise the plan based
on the comments and suggestions of NCES/ED and submit a revised draft of the plan.  The plan
shall be reviewed by members of the ECLS TRP and other experts in child development and
assessment.  The contractor shall notify the COTR prior to sending the plan out for review.  A
final version of this plan shall be appended to the Study Design Report (see Task 5).

     Assessment reproduction and materials.

       The contractor shall be responsible for reproducing all printed materials associated with
the ECLS-B assessment battery (both the direct and indirect instruments).  A sufficient number
of copies shall be reproduced to meet the needs of each round of data collection, plus a 10
percent overage. 

     The contractor shall be responsible for acquiring all materials and supplying all
equipment needed to administer the ECLS-B assessment battery.  The contractor shall protect the
security of the cognitive assessment battery by restricting the number of copies published to the
number needed to conduct the study and maintaining a record of the location of each copy of the
assessment battery instruments.  A copy of this record shall be made available to the COTR upon
request.  Under no circumstances shall copies of the assessment battery instruments be
distributed or loaned out without the permission of the COTR.  The contractor shall
employ strict procedures for ensuring that all project staff adhere to this requirement.

     The contractor shall protect the proprietary rights of all copyrighted assessment
instruments used in the ECLS-B assessment battery.  The contractor shall provide proper notice
of copyright. Individual ECLS assessment battery data and individual item data shall not be
released without the permission of NCES/ED. 

     The contractor shall negotiate and pay all royalties associated with the use of copyrighted
material.  The contractor shall secure the written permission of the copyright holder to change or
modify individual items that are part of a copyrighted instrument if such changes are a part of the
contractor's approach to assessing children in the ECLS-B.

     The contractor shall provide NCES/ED with a copy of each agreement between the
contractor and a copyright holder prior to it being finalized.

Task 4.  Design and Select Sample

     The contractor shall design and select a sample of children that meets NCES/ED's
precision requirements and other study requirements (see section G, Birth Cohort Study Design). 
The contractor's plan for selecting this sample shall be submitted to NCES/ED for review and
approval prior to its implementation.  A revised version of the plan included in the contractor's
technical proposal shall be submitted to NCES/ED within 36 weeks of contract award. 
Following NCES/ED review, the contractor shall make any necessary revisions to the plan and
submit the revised plan to NCES/ED for review.  The revised plan shall be submitted within one
week of receipt of NCES/ED's comments on the draft plan. The revised plan is expected to be the
final sample design.  

     The contractor shall select the sample following the specifications and procedures
contained in its approved sample design.  Three weeks prior to the sample being drawn, the
contractor shall provide NCES/ED with the computer specifications that will be used to select
the sample along with copies of other written materials (e.g., instructions, specifications) that
document the derivation, justification, and implementation of the operations that lead to the
selection of the sample, including 1) selection of PSUs; 2) sample allocation; and 3)
stratification.

Task 5.  Study Design Report

     The contractor shall prepare a Study Design Report.  This report shall be in large part a
compilation of the materials prepared under Tasks 3 and 4.  At a minimum, it shall contain an
introduction to the study with a comprehensive statement of its intended purpose and overall
design.  The report shall include a description of the methods and procedures that will be used to
collect data from parents/guardians and other study respondents.  The report shall outline how
the data collected through the ECLS-B may be used to address key research and policy questions. 
A copy of the 1) content outline, 2) sample design plan, and 3) assessment plan shall be included
as appendices.  The contractor shall also append copies of all instruments with the exception of
those found in the ECLS-B assessment battery.  The contractor shall prepare the Study Design
Report as a loose-leaf binder.

     The contractor shall submit an outline of the Study Design Report to NCES/ED for
approval no later than 15 weeks after contract award.  Once the outline of the report is approved
by NCES/ED and no later than 40 weeks after contract award, the contractor shall submit a draft
of the Study Design Report to NCES/ED.  Within two weeks of receipt of the draft report,
NCES/ED will provide the contractor with comments on the draft document.  The contractor
shall revise the Study Design Report incorporating NCES/ED's comments and suggestions.  The
revised draft Study Design Report shall be submitted to NCES/ED within one week of receipt of
NCES/ED's review comments on the draft report. The contractor shall provide the COTR and
members of the ECLS-B TRP with copies of the draft report for their review and comment.  The
contractor shall request that the members of the TRP provide written comments and be prepared
to discuss the ECLS design at a TRP meeting.

     With NCES/ED approval, the contractor shall modify the draft Survey Design Report
(and the ECLS-B design) based on the suggestions of the TRP members. The contractor shall
continually update the Survey Design Report based on the outcomes of the field test.

Task 6.  IMT/OMB Clearance

     The contractor shall prepare a forms clearance package for obtaining both IMT
(Information Management Team of the Department of Education) and OMB approval of the
ECLS-B field test and the first three waves of data collection.  A draft package shall be submitted
to NCES/ED not less than 180 working days prior to the start of the base-year field test data
collection.  In preparing the clearance package, the contractor shall follow instructions for
completing Standard Form 83-I and writing the supporting statement required for Paperwork
Reduction Act submissions.  The contractor shall expect that several iterations of the forms
clearance documents will be required before a final draft will be ready for submission to
IMT/OMB..  When preparing the package, the contractor shall draw heavily on the material
found in the draft Study Design Report.

     Following NCES/ED review of the draft package, the contractor shall revise the package
incorporating NCES/ED's comments and suggestions and resubmit the package.  Following this
review, the contractor shall revise the package and submit it for final NCES/ED approval. 
Following approval, the contractor shall provide NCES/ED with 10 copies of the Clearance
Package.  The contractor shall submit these copies no later than 150 days prior to the start of the
base-year field test data collection.  NCES/ED will submit the package to IMT/OMB.

Task 7.  Develop CATI/CAPI System

     The contractor shall use CATI/CAPI technologies to collect data from study participants
when the contractor's approach involves interviewing respondents.  To the greatest extent
possible, the contractor shall design the CATI/CAPI system in such a way as to minimize
disruptions to the system when requests for changes are made.

     7.1  Specification of Range and Logic Checks.  The contractor shall prepare
specifications for every questionnaire item response that detail the allowable range of response
and of internal consistency checks between sets of related items.  For example, if the age of the
respondent is collected in the demographic items, then other items relating to the person s age
should be consistent with the reported age.  All year fields shall be formatted as a four digit year,
so as to be compatible with dates in the year 2000 and after.  The contractor shall develop range
codes that distinguish between "Not applicable" (i.e., valid skips) and item nonresponse.     

     The contractor shall develop procedures for insuring the overall quality of the data
collected in the ECLS-B.  Most of the data editing associated with the conduct of the ECLS-B
shall take place during the interview session via edits contained in the CATI/CAPI system. 
However, even with elaborate edit specifications for the study instruments, it is assumed that
errors in the data still may occur.  As a consequence, the contractor shall implement manual
editing procedures.  Procedures shall be developed and in place for resolving unanticipated
problems. 

     At a minimum, editing during the conduct of the interview shall include range checks
(both hard and soft) and consistency checks.  Inappropriate characters (such as words in a
numeric field) should be prevented from being entered by the interviewer. Procedures shall be
established that permit interviewers to respond appropriately to participants who provide out-of-range or inconsistent information.  In developing these procedures, the contractor shall weigh the
needs for accurate information and limited interviewer interference against the need for
completing the interview as efficiently as possible.

     For each instrument, the contractor shall prepare CATI/CAPI edit specifications.  (Post-CATI/CAPI edit specifications are covered in Task 11.1, below.)  These specifications shall be
submitted to NCES/ED for review and comment no later than six weeks prior to the start of data
collection.  NCES/ED will provide comments within two weeks, and CATI/CAPI edit
specifications revised in response to NCES/ED review shall be submitted two weeks later.
Revised CATI/CAPI specifications are expected to be the final version; the draft submitted
should be considered as a final version with only minor modifications to be incorporated.

     Open-ended items (such as an occupation or care provider name) shall be coded and
edited either online (with screens that provide precoded response categories) or handled in post-interview manual edits.  The online capability is most desirable but would need to work
seamlessly with the rest of the CATI/CAPI software.  The contractor shall develop an approach
for handling such open-ended items.

     7.2  Programming of Study Instruments.  Programming the study instruments into the
CATI/CAPI system is one of the key activities of the project.  For the instrument to capture the
data reported by respondents accurately, the CATI/CAPI system shall be able to appropriately
handle all contingencies associated with the conduct of the interview.  Each response shall lead
to the next appropriate point in the instrument and each response provided by the participants
shall be accounted for.  

     The contractor shall develop the procedures and materials necessary to insure that all
program specifications are correct and complete.  At a minimum, this shall include the creation
of flowcharts and hard-copy screens and the development and use of project staff and
programmer review procedures for these materials.

     7.3  Testing the CATI/CAPI System.  Prior to the conduct of the field test (see Task 8),
the contractor shall test all features of the CATI/CAPI system, including those features of the
system associated with sampling, scheduling, interview management (e.g., skip patterns), data
entry and editing, and case control.  Testing of the system shall involve the review of project
staff at all levels of the project (e.g., project management, staff with substantive expertise
pertaining to the collection, telephone operations staff, and programmers).  It shall also involve
the use of interview scenarios so that the system can be tested under simulated interview
conditions. Every branch of the interview skip patterns shall be tested, and corrected if necessary,
prior to field use, to be sure that all contingencies have been foreseen.

     7.4  CATI/CAPI Screens.  The contractor shall also prepare hard-copy versions of the
CATI/CAPI monitor screens for each of the instruments. At a minimum, these screens shall
include: 

         1.    the item number and text;

         2.    all displays that are to appear in the body of an item (e.g., names, wording
          alternatives, responses to previously asked items);

         3.    all information that is being provided to the interviewers to assist them in
          conducting the interview accurately and smoothly (e.g., respondent's or subject's
          name, age, and sex, and the type of early childhood program being discussed);

         4.    information that identifies the next item to be asked for each response; and

         5.    the response range specifications.

The contractor shall provide copies of the CATI/CAPI English and Spanish screens six weeks
prior to the field test.  NCES/ED shall provide comments on these materials within two weeks of
receipt.  Revised screens shall be delivered one week after receipt of NCES/ED comments. 

     7.5  Delivery of Testable CATI/CAPI Instruments.  The COTR shall have a minimum of
5 days to test the CATI/CAPI system. The contractor shall make the CATI/CAPI system
available to the COTR for testing at NCES.  A testable CATI/CAPI is one in which all screens
are ready to be tested. It shall be possible for the COTR or other assigned project staff to go
through a variety of simulated interviews, testing out the responses to various scenarios and types
of respondents. It is not necessary for the CATI/CAPI system to be complete in all details, but
the screen routing program shall be considered final. The COTR shall notify the contractor
promptly of all questions or problems with the CATI/CAPI programming. The contractor shall
remedy all problems reported during the testing phase.  CATI/CAPI instruments shall be made
available to the COTR no later than two weeks prior to the Field Test to allow time for
reprogramming as necessary.

Task 8.  Field Test of Survey Instruments and Procedures

     8.1 Submit Field Test Plan.  The contractor shall design a field test for the ECLS-B.  The
contractor shall use the field test to "shake out" the CATI/CAPI system, to evaluate items in the
ECLS-B instruments and to evaluate other methods and procedures planned for the main study.
Many of the items that will be in the ECLS-B instruments have been fielded before.  Therefore,
the contractor shall design and implement a field test that concentrates on new items or items that
have been adapted from studies designed for different purposes from the ECLS-B.  The
contractor shall submit a short description of its plans for conducting a field test of the ECLS-B
instruments and procedures no later than 24 weeks after contract award.  This plan shall update,
if necessary, the plans outlined in its technical proposal. 

     Once the contractor has completed its cognitive laboratory work and the data collection
instruments are complete and approved (by NCES/ED and OMB), the contractor shall conduct a
field test of the instruments and the CATI/CAPI system.  The contractor shall allow enough time
between the completion of this field test and the commencement of interviewer training (Task
10) to permit an analysis of the field test and to allow for any proposed changes to the data
collection instruments and procedures to be evaluated and made.  Recommended changes to the
data collection instruments shall be submitted to NCES/ED for approval and to OMB through the
COTR.

     8.2  Conduct Field Test.  The contractor shall conduct a field test of each ECLS
instrument prior to its full-scale implementation.  All sampling and data collection procedures
scheduled for the full-scale study (see Draft Survey Design Report under Task 5) shall be used to
the extent feasible during the conduct of the field test; however, purposive sampling may be
substituted in order to guarantee a sufficient number of respondents for specific populations.  

     The field test shall be used to test the entire CATI/CAPI system, including scheduling
and interview progress reporting functions.  It shall also be used to test the wording and flow of
the questionnaire items including appropriate skip patterns.

     The contractor shall review, analyze and document the responses of field test sample
members.  The contractor shall pay special attention to skip pattern errors, consistency and other
edit checks, the variability of responses to questions, and the sensitivity of items.

     8.3  Report on Field Test.  The contractor shall prepare a short summary of the field test
for review by NCES/ED and, at NCES/ED's request, by members of the ECLS-B TRP.  Any
problems encountered during the conduct of the field test and the contractor's recommendations
for overcoming these problems shall be documented and reported.  This short summary report
shall be submitted no later than three weeks after completing field test data collection.

     8.4  Submit Design/Instrument Changes in IMT/OMB Memo.  Based upon field test
results, modifications may be called for in the data collection procedures and instruments. 
Following NCES/ED approval of any revisions to the survey instruments and procedures, the
contractor shall submit these changes to IMT/OMB through NCES/ED.  Notification of these
changes shall be made in the form of a memorandum from NCES/ED to IMT/OMB.  A draft of
the memorandum shall be prepared by the contractor and submitted to the COTR at the same
time it submits the field test report.  The contractor shall modify the memorandum based on the
comments of NCES/ED staff and submit a final memorandum to NCES/ED within one week of
receipt of NCES/ED comments.

Task 9.  Hiring and Training CATI/CAPI Interviewers

      The success of the ECLS-B will be due in large part to the skills and dedication of the
contractor's CATI/CAPI interviewers.  It is critical that all persons assigned to these positions
have the necessary verbal,  interpersonal and typing skills required for successful CATI/CAPI
interviewing.  These skills are developed through a combination of prior experiences working on
other projects and training.

     9.1  Develop Interviewer Training Materials.  In order to ensure that the interviewers
assigned to the ECLS-B have the skill levels necessary to perform successfully the demanding
tasks associated with the conduct of the study, the contractor shall design and implement an
interviewer training program. Prior to developing any training materials and not later than 12
weeks prior to the start of data collection, the contractor shall submit an outline of its interviewer
training program to NCES/ED for review.  This outline shall include: 

     1) a training program agenda that identifies the format of the session (lecture, interactive,
     role-playing, etc.), the topics to be covered (e.g., study background, overview of
     instruments, survey topical component), and the length of time the session is scheduled to
     run; 

     2) an outline of the study materials that interviewers will be provided;  

     3) a preliminary training program schedule that identifies when and where each group of
     interviewers will be trained; and,

     4) the contractor's plan for evaluating the training program and the performance of
     individual trainees during and after training.  

     Following NCES/ED review and approval of the interviewer training program outline,
the contractor shall develop and submit draft copies of all training materials to NCES/ED for
review at least five (5) weeks prior to the start of the first interviewer training session and six (6)
weeks prior to the start of data collection.  The contractor shall make revisions as necessary
based on NCES/ED's  review of the materials and submit 10 copies of the final training materials
to the COTR at least five (5) working days prior to their being distributed to CATI interviewer
trainees.

     The contractor shall monitor all data collection activities to assure consistent high quality
data throughout the collection period.  Therefore, as a part of the training plan, the contractor
shall include awareness of interviewer responsibilities under the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C.
552a), the Privacy Act Regulations (34 CFR Part 5b), and the National Center for Education
Statistics Act of 1994 (P.L. 103-382, Section 9007). The contractor shall also follow NCES
Standards and Policies and design methods of review and checking which will take place during
and after training to assure that only high quality personnel are retained and utilized.  In addition
to supervisory monitoring, the contractor shall include plans that address issues of quality control
such as tracking interviewer performance, maintenance of standards, identification of poor
performance, and procedures for correcting such performance.

     9.2  Recruitment of Interviewers.  The contractor shall recruit and hire all interviewers
needed to complete the data collection within the time constraints imposed by the project
schedule. Whenever possible, the contractor shall recruit interviewers with prior CATI/CAPI
interviewing experience.

     Because the ECLS-B most likely will oversample Hispanic children  and other language
minority children, the contractor shall have staff who are qualified to conduct the interviews in
languages other than English.  At a minimum, the contractor shall have staff who can conduct the
interviews in Spanish, and a sufficient number of such staff to conduct the interviews within the
contractor's data collection schedule.

     Confidentiality requirements in NCES contracts mandate that interviewers complete a
sworn Affidavit of Nondisclosure.  These affidavits shall be signed in the presence of a public
notary and must be dated the first day the interviewer is on the payroll.  (This requirement
applies to all project staff having access to the data.)  

     9.3  Interviewer Training Sessions.  The contractor shall have responsibility for the
conduct of the training sessions.  All sessions shall take place at the contractors' facilities or
facilities arranged for by the contractor.  The contractor shall be responsible for assuring that all
interviewers assigned to the project successfully complete the training program as specified in
the training plan. The contractor shall have responsibility for the production of all interviewer
training materials and shall have sufficient materials available for all staff trained during the
conduct of the project.

     The contractor shall provide standardized training to all staff who will be working with a
particular instrument.  Due to the large numbers of individuals that will need to be trained,
training may take place at different times and at different sites.  The contractor shall develop
materials and use technologies, as needed, to insure that all staff receive the same training in their
respective assignments.  

     Interviewer training shall occur at least one week prior to the start of data collection.

Task 10.  Data Collection

     The contractor shall collect all base year, first, and second followup data according to the
plans contained in its technical proposal and the Study Design Report.  All interviewing
associated with the ECLS-B, unless otherwise approved by NCES/ED, shall be done using a
CATI/CAPI methodology.  All CATI interviewing shall be conducted at the contractor's
facilities.  CATI/CAPI interviewing shall be under the supervision of the contractor's staff.  

     10.1  Data Collection Schedule.  The contractor shall develop and adhere to a data
collection schedule that achieves the goals of the study and minimizes the effect of children's age
on data that are captured at each wave of the study.  

     Interviews with children's parents shall be scheduled so as to maximize the number of
completed interviews and minimize the number of non-productive interviewer hours charged to
the project.  At least 14 attempts over a two-week period shall be made to contact and conduct an
interview with the parent of each sampled child.  These attempts shall be scheduled so that they
cover different days of the week and hours of the day. 

     10.2  Quality Control Procedures.  The contractor shall develop and implement a set of
quality control procedures that will assure the collection of high quality data throughout the data
collection period.  Project supervisory staff shall closely monitor interviewer activities in order to
ensure that all data collection procedures are followed and that all standards are adhered to. 
Problems that are identified shall be addressed immediately and consistently.  Statistics on
interviewer response rates should be maintained and checked regularly to pinpoint response rate
problems.

     Because of the number of staff who will be assigned to the ECLS-B data collection
activities (both supervisory and interviewer staff), it is important that any decisions that are made
about the conduct of the survey be disseminated immediately and clearly to all staff involved in
the project.  The contractor shall have procedures in place from the beginning of staff training
until the end of data collection to assure that all parties involved with the collection of data use
the same solutions to and interpretations of problems that arise during the course of the study.

     10.3  Progress Reports.  Throughout the data collection period, the contractor shall
provide the COTR with weekly progress reports. The contractor shall have a receipt control
system at its facilities. The contractor's CATI/CAPI system (receipt control system) shall be
designed in such a way as to be able to produce computer-generated reports that show the
progress that is being made during the interview phase of the project.  These reports shall contain
detailed information on the initial and final status of all interviews.  At a minimum, they shall
include information on the total number of interviews to be completed, the number of cases for
which contact has been attempted and established, the number of cases for which interviews have
been completed or refusals have occured, the number of cases by reason for all types of
noninterviews, the number of missed scheduled interviews,  the number of interviewer hours
(aggregated), the number of cases referred to refusal conversion, and the number of initial
refusals that were completed during refusal conversion.  Where appropriate this information shall
be reported separately by key characteristics of sampled cases (e.g., race-ethnicity, region, urban-rural).  The contractor shall report estimated response rates as well as completion rates for all
cases to the COTR on a weekly basis.  

     In addition to the computer-generated reports described above, these weekly reports shall
identify any problems encountered and either describe how these problems were resolved or
recommend alternative ways of resolving these problems.  The report shall include a short
summary certifying that progress is at or above target levels for data collection, or explaining
why sufficient progress is not being made and the steps that are being taken to rectify this. These
weekly progress reports are in addition to the monthly reporting requirements described in
Section III (Study Requirements, A. Reporting).

     Any problems encountered that either have consequences for the project's budget or time
schedule shall be brought to the attention of the COTR in these weekly progress summaries.
     
     10.4  Nonresponse Follow-up and Refusal Conversion.  The ECLS-B will encounter
initial refusals and other types of nonresponse.  The potential for nonresponse and its effects on
study estimates shall be given special consideration in the contractors' design of the ECLS-B.  In
addition, the contractor shall develop and implement a set of procedures for converting initial
nonrespondents to completed interviews in order to meet NCES response rate standards.   

     10.5   Tracking sample
  
     One of the challenges facing the ECLS-B is limiting the adverse effects of sample
mobility.  To help maintain a high response rate, the contractor shall develop methods and
procedures for collecting locating information on each child/parent sample member.  The
contractor shall create and maintain a tracking system data base.  At a minimum, the data base
system shall include the following: 1) child/case identification number, 2) parent(s) names, 3)
home address and telephone number, and 4) names, addresses, and phone numbers of two other
individuals who would always know the whereabouts of the child.  

     The contractor shall also have a set of proven procedures for locating sample members
who change addresses between data collections. The contractor shall locate all child/parent
sample members who change addresses between data collections using these procedures and the
tracking system data base.
  
     The contractor shall submit its final specifications for the tracking system to the NCES
COTR within 24 weeks of the contract's start date.   These specifications shall update and revise
those found in the contractor's technical proposal.

Task  11.  Data File Preparation and Documentation

     Much of the data collected during the conduct of the ECLS-B will be entered directly into
a computer file through the CATI/CAPI system.  Nevertheless, additional steps will be necessary
to prepare these data and others collected through other means for public release and analysis. 
The contractor shall take the necessary steps to convert the raw data to a more useable form.
The contractor shall develop and implement a set of quality control procedures that assures high
quality data conversion and accuracy.

     11.1  Data Coding and Editing.  Although most data edits shall occur online as responses
are entered during CATI/CAPI interviews (see task 7), the contractor shall perform additional
data editing and coding at the conclusion of the data collection period.  These editing and coding
activities shall involve both computer-assisted (e.g., CADE) and manual activities.  

     Respondent data records shall be reviewed by contractor staff for completeness and for
any other problems (e.g., inappropriate skips, out-of-range values, input errors) that may have
occurred during the conduct of the interview.  Problem records shall be identified and appropriate
corrective actions taken.

     The contractor shall submit a plan for post-CATI/CAPI editing to NCES/ED by the start
of data collection.  NCES/ED will review the plan and provide comments and suggestions within
two weeks of receipt.  The contractor shall revise its post-CATI/CAPI editing plan based on
NCES/ED's comments and submit a revised plan. 

     The contractor shall maintain for NCES/ED inspection the records and results of the data
editing and corrective actions.  These records shall be delivered to NCES/ED on request.  A
status report of the data editing and corrective actions shall be delivered to NCES/ED four weeks
after the end of data collection.  This status report shall include cumulative summary statistics by
instrument on the number of problems detected for the various types of items and the status and
method of corrective actions taken.

     The contractor shall submit specifications for the coding of open-ended items by the start
of data collection. Coding specifications shall be reviewed by NCES/ED and comments from
NCES/ED provided within two weeks of receipt.  The contractor shall revise the specifications
based on NCES/ED's comments and submit the final coding specifications to NCES/ED one
week later. 

     The contractor shall code responses to all open-ended questions according to the
approved coding specifications.

     Data collected through methods other than CATI/CAPI (e.g., self-administered
questionnaires) shall be edited and coded by the contractor.  The methods and procedures the
contractor uses to edit and code data collected through these other means shall be consistent, and
of similar quality, to those used for CATI/CAPI interviews.

     11.2  Data Conversion.  The contractor shall design, establish, and carry out the
procedures necessary to convert the data in the CATI/CAPI (and CADE) system to CD-ROM
with electronic codebooks.  The data set on the CD-ROM shall be made available in three
formats: 1)ASCII format; 2)SAS/PC; 3)SPSS/PC. ASCII-readable input files shall be used by the
contractor to create Electronic Codebooks (ECBs) for the separate files. 

     The contractor shall submit a plan to the COTR that describes the proposed structure and
specifications for these data files.  This plan shall be submitted by the start of base year data
collection.  NCES/ED will review the plan and provide comments within two weeks.  A revised
plan shall be submitted two weeks after the receipt of NCES/ED's review comments.  The plan
shall not be implemented without the approval of NCES/ED.

     11.3  Creation of Composite and Classification Variables.  The contractor shall propose
and create a limited number of composite (e.g., SES using income measures, parent's education
and occupation) and classification variables (e.g., race/ethnicity, highest level of parent
education, family/household composition, count of adults in household, etc.) for use by analysts. 
A plan for the creation of composite and classification variables shall be submitted by the start of
base year data collection.  NCES/ED shall review the plan and provide comments and
suggestions within two weeks.  A revised plan incorporating the changes requested by NCES/ED
shall be submitted within one week of receipt of NCES/ED's comments.  Once approved, these
variables shall be amended to the public use data files and their definitions included in the
ECLS-B data file user's manual. 

     11.4  Item Nonresponse.  The contractor shall consider the impact of item nonresponse on
study estimates and analyze the level of item nonresponse for individual items and assess the
merits of imputing for missing item data.  When considering whether or not to impute for
missing data, the contractor shall weigh the advantages and disadvantages of including the
imputed values on the public release files (with appropriate documentation and flags).  These
analyses shall be performed and the findings reported to NCES/ED prior to the production of the
final data files.

     The findings of the contractor's analysis of item nonresponse shall be reported to the
COTR and included in the methodology report (see Task 13).  Recommendations regarding the
imputation for missing data on the public release files shall be submitted to NCES/ED. These
recommendations shall not be implemented without prior approval of the COTR. 

     11.5  Sample Weights.  The contractor shall develop sample weights to apply to the data. 
The weights shall incorporate an adjustment for differential questionnaire response rates for
individuals in different "weighting classes."  Weighting classes and adjustment procedures shall
be consistent with NCES Standards.

     The contractor shall document the procedures planned for use in developing the weights
and submit these plans to NCES/ED by the start of base year data collection.  Two weeks shall
be allowed for NCES/ED review.  The contractor shall have one week to make any revisions
resulting from NCES/ED's  review and submit a revised plan. 

     11.6 Public Release Files and User's Manuals.  The contractor shall prepare data files and
documentation following NCES standards.  The contractor shall submit preliminary or draft
copies of the following computer-related products 12 weeks after the end of data collection:

     1.   ECLS-B restricted-use files on CD-ROM in ASCII, SAS/PC, and SPSS/PC
          formats, with Electronic Codebook. 

     2.   ECLS-B public-use files on CD-ROM, in ASCII, SAS/PC, and SPSS/PC formats,
          with Electronic Codebook.

     3.   User's manual (patterned after those developed for NELS:88 and NHES:95) for
          each of the files.  The User's Manuals will also include a codebook print file
          containing well-documented, weighted and unweighted frequency tables for all
          variables contained in the master files.

     4.    READ.ME files that will be included on the CD-ROM that will provide
          guidelines for accessing the data files and describing the data files contained on
          the CD-ROM.

      The construction of these files and the associated documentation shall be modeled after
those in NELS:88 second follow up and the 1995 National Household Education Survey.

       For NCES/ED review, the contractor shall provide separate ASCII data files with SPSS
for Window code on CD-ROMs.  All preliminary files and all documentation (including linking
IDs) needed to access and read the data stored in each file shall be delivered within 16 weeks of
the end of data collection activities.  NCES/ED review of data files and User's Manuals will be
completed four (4) weeks after receipt of the draft/preliminary deliverables.  The contractor shall
have two (2) weeks to submit revised copies of the tapes and manuals following NCES/ED
review.  NCES/ED's comments and suggestions shall be taken into consideration when
developing these final products.

     Following NCES/ED approval, 20 copies of the User's Manuals shall be sent to
NCES/ED along with the final public use data files.  At the same time, the contractor shall
deliver two masters of a CD containing the ASCII data files, SAS/PC and SPSS/PC data files,
and the ECB.  

     11.7  Restricted-use Data Files and User's Manuals.  Following the same steps presented
in Task 11.6 above, the contractor shall produce data files that contain restricted-use data.  These
data files will contain all the variables that reside on the public-use files plus variables with
potential identifiers of respondents (e.g., State codes, Census zipcode data, etc.).  These files will
be distributed by the government through NCES site-license agreements.

     11.8  Disclosure Review Board.  NCES Standards for release of public-use data require
that the data ready for release be submitted to the Disclosure Review Board (DRB). This process
usually entails having the dataset tested out and ready to certify as "clean," meaning that all of
the procedures in NCES Statistical Standard for Machine-Readable Products (IV-06-92) are
followed, and that data suppression or conversion has been performed on individually-identifiable data (NCES Statistical Standard for Maintaining Confidentiality, IV-01-92). There
should be a data release product, usually a Statistics in Brief (see task 12), and a User s Manual
to submit to the DRB at the same time.

     The contractor shall conduct a thorough confidentiality analysis of the ECLS-B data
when preparing the public use files.  This analysis shall ensure that the confidentiality provisions
contained in PL 100-297 are fully complied with. To protect the privacy of respondents as
required by PL 100-297, respondents with high disclosure-risk will be identified.  Data that can
potentially be used to identify these respondents will be masked.

     Disclosure-risk can be increased as more information is collected during future rounds of
ECLS-B and as this information is added to the data records of the sample members. The
contractor shall consider this type of disclosure risk when planning and conducting
confidentiality analysis for the ECLS-B.

     11.9  Maintenance of Necessary Data Files.  The contractor shall maintain complete data
files for all waves and components of the ECLS and all supplemental files created and obtained
in support of this study.  Maintenance of data files means keeping data file documentation
available for reproduction on request from data users on a cost-reimbursable basis and keeping a
machine-readable copy of each data file so that copies can be supplied to NCES/ED on request. 

     Certain data files that shall be maintained may not be made available to the public
because of privacy considerations.  In these cases, file maintenance means that the data files shall
be kept intact, in a form that can be updated or copied.  Data files shall not be allowed to expire,
to be released, to be overwritten, or otherwise destroyed.  These files shall be maintained with a
software system capable of easily interlinking them for analytic (or other) purposes while, at the
same time, preserving the necessary confidentiality requirements of the study.

Task 12.  Data Analysis and Reporting

     12.1 Descriptive Reports.  The contractor shall analyze the ECLS-B data and prepare two
Statistics in Brief publications.  The first Statistics in Brief serves two purposes:

     1)  To adjudicate the public release data files (see task 11), and
     2)  To stimulate interest in the ECLS-B data.

The second Statistics in Brief will serve to futher stimulate interest in the ECLS-B. 

     A Statistics in Brief report is anywhere from 12-20 pages in length and shall contain the
following information:

     1)   A short introduction with a brief review of relevant literature;
     2)   A brief description of the ECLS-B; 
     3)   Findings;
     4)   Summary and conclusions;
     5)   A number of major tables, with standard errors;
     6)   Figures from table data (optional);
     7)   A short methodology section that describes 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; and     
     8)   An acknowledgments section.

     The contractor shall use as a model appropriate extant NCES/ED publications. The exact
format will be determined by the COTR and all reports prepared by the contractor shall follow
NCES publication standards.
     
     The contractor shall submit an outline for the Statistics in Brief reports to NCES/ED 8
weeks before the end of data collection.  NCES/ED will take two weeks for review, and the
contractor shall submit the revised outline, incorporating NCES/ED review comments, one week
later.  Once the outline is approved by NCES/ED, the contractor shall begin preparation of the
reports.  NCES/ED expects that several iterations will be required for each report.  The first draft
of the first-release report shall be due 20 weeks after the end of data collection.  NCES/ED shall
require a minimum of two weeks for the review of at least one of the iterations.  In addition to
hardcopy, the briefs shall be submitted on floppy diskette using Microsoft Word 7.0 or above. 
The contractor and NCES/ED will jointly author the report.  No information in a report shall be
released prior to NCES/ED approval of the report.

     All differences cited in the text of the report shall be supported by an appropriate
statistical test (e.g., Bonferroni-adjusted t-test, chi square, etc.).  Standard errors of the estimates
presented in the brief shall be reported in the technical appendix.
     
     Statistics in Briefs and most other published products (Working Papers are an exception)
go through a peer review process termed "adjudication." This process involves internal review
within NCES, and requires that the publication be sent out to other parts of the Department of
Education and to several academic or government reviewers who are chosen for their expertise in
the subject area. Two weeks should be allowed for circulation of the report to be adjudicated. An
adjudication meeting is scheduled at the end of the review period, and all members convene or
send in their comments and all comments are discussed. Comments are accepted, modified, or
rejected, by consensus, and the contractor must incorporate the comments and write up a
memorandum to the Adjudicator detailing the changes within two weeks following the meeting.
At that point, once all parties have given their approval, the contractor shall prepare a camera-ready copy and electronic file copy within two weeks.

     12.2  Standard Error Calculations.  The contractor shall develop and implement
procedures (see NCES Statistical Standards) to enable users of the ECLS-B to estimate the
sampling errors of study estimates.  The contractor shall calculate estimates of design effects for
a minimum of thirty variables for the total sample and for various subgroups of selected
respondent characteristics  (e.g., sex, race/ethnicity, SES, and at least two other variables
recommended by the contractor).  Means and standard deviations of the design effect
distributions shall be calculated.  The same set of procedures shall be followed for each public
release tape developed under this contract. 

     The data files created by the contractor for each ECLS-B component shall contain the
elements necessary to support the calculation of standard errors for complex designs using one of
three possible methods--balanced repeated replication (BRR), jackknife repeated replication
(JRR), or Taylor series procedures (TSP).  If the contractor uses a software package to calculate
these standard errors other than those available to NCES/ED, it shall make this package available
to NCES/ED.  

     If BRR or JRR is used, the contractor shall provide replicate codes that indicate the
computing strata and the half-sample to which each sample unit belongs and the contractor shall
provide, for each sample unit, the replicate weights for all replicates that were formed in order to
calculate variances.  If TSP is used, the contractor shall provide the stratum code and PSU code
that identifies each sample unit.

     Regardless of the method used, the contractor shall describe in detail the method used to
calculate the standard errors in the User's Manual.  This description shall instruct users how to
use the data elements and the associated software to calculate sample variances for the ECLS-B. 
A short example of the method and the use of the available software shall be provided in the
manual.
     
     The contractor shall submit to NCES/ED its plan for 1) computing standard errors, 2)
analyzing patterns of nonresponse and 3) estimating nonresponse bias for key items in each study
instrument by the start of base year data collection.  The plan will be reviewed within two weeks
by NCES/ED, and the contractor shall submit a revised plan within one week of receipt of
comments.  The contractor shall include results of these analyses in the User's Manual (see task
11) and in the Methodology Report (see task 13).   

Task 13. Methodology Report

     The contractor shall submit a methodology report that documents the entire ECLS-B
project including:  a description of the sample design, weighting, and imputation scheme (sample
design report); item nonresponse rates, unit nonresponse rates, and bias analysis (nonresponse
and bias report); instrument development and CATI specifications (CATI methodology report);
and data collection procedures (field report).  This report shall be submitted 24 weeks after the
end of base year data collection.

     This report shall describe the study design and all procedures used to conduct the ECLS-B.  The contractor shall describe special features of the study in detail and any problems
encountered either during the design or implementation of the study identified.  Changes that
were made to the design and/or procedures in response to unanticipated problems shall be
documented.  The Methodology Report shall include major findings pertaining to the methods
used and/or experimented with during the conduct of the study and discuss their implications for
future surveys.

     After a two week NCES/ED review, the contractor shall revise the report based on the
comments and suggestions of NCES/ED staff.  The revised methodology report shall be
submitted to NCES/ED within two weeks of receipt of NCES/ED review comments.   Once
NCES/ED has approved the final report, the contractor shall submit 20 copies of the report to
NCES/ED.  In addition to hardcopies, each final methodology report shall be delivered on floppy
diskette.  The electronic version of the report shall be delivered to NCES/ED in Word version 7.0
or later. The contractor and NCES/ED will jointly author the report.  No information contained in
a report shall be released prior to NCES/ED approval of the report. The COTR may request that
the methodological reports also be prepared in Web-readable format.

     The contractor shall update this report after each subsequent round of data collection. 
The contractor shall submit modifications and changes to the report based on the first and second
followup experience.  These modifications and changes shall be submitted within 24 weeks of
completing each round of data collection.  The schedule for NCES/ED's review will be the same
as for the base-year methodology report. 

C.  Optional Special Studies and Supplements

     In addition to the core tasks (tasks 1 through 13), this procurement includes five optional
special studies and supplements.  The requirements for each are described below.

C.1  Oversample of American Indian Children  

     During the study design phase of the ECLS-K,  NCES/ED supported work to look into
the feasibility of oversampling American Indian children in order to support separate national
estimates for this group of children.  Several different methods for increasing the number of American Indian children in the ECLS-K sample were investigated.  These methods are
described in the ECLS Study Design Report.  

     The ECLS-B contractor shall develop and implement a plan for increasing the number of
American Indian children sampled for the ECLS-B.  The contractor shall oversample American
Indian children in order to support national estimates for this group of children. The contractor
shall oversample American Indian children in order to increase the total number of these children
in the ECLS-B sample to 1,000. 

     Once selected for participation in the ECLS, the contractor shall ensure that these
children, their parents/guardians, and child care providers participate fully in the study.  The
contractor shall complete tasks 3 through 13.

C.2  Children with Disabilities  

     One of the benefits arising from a national study of children is the collection of data on a
wide range of early learning experiences and environments for different groups of children.  The
core ECLS-B sample will include 1) children with disabilities who have been identified and are
receiving special education related services, 2) children with disabilities who are not receiving
special education related services, 3) children who are at risk but have not yet been identified,
and 4) children who have received special education related services but are no longer receiving
these services.  As children age, the distribution of children in these different groups will change.
While it appears that the core ECLS-B sample will include sufficient numbers of children
receiving special education services to support independent analyses of this group as a whole, a
sufficient number of children to support independent analyses of children with specific
disabilities (i.e., blindness, deafness, orthopedic impairment) is not expected unless such children
are oversampled.  In addition, without augmentations to the design, other key issues related to
the population of children with disabling conditions and their special education needs will not be
adequately addressed in the core ECLS-B.  The longitudinal study of children with disabling
conditions, if incorporated into the ECLS-B study design, will be funded by the U. S.
Department of Education, Office of Special Education.

     The design of the optional study of children with disabilities requires that the members of
this sample be followed for the same period of time as the main ECLS-B sample.

C.3  Food and Consumer Service 

     One of the purposes of the ECLS-B is to study the influence of children's physical
characteristics and household circumstances on their behavior and development. A  proposed
area of investigation for the ECLS-B is the relationship between children's nutrition and
participation in nutrition programs and their physical, social and emotional, and cognitive
development.  

     NCES/ED plans to collect information in the ECLS-B about the participation of
children's families in federal assistance programs (e.g., food stamps, WIC, AFDC).  An
additional supplement to the ECLS-B would be to collect measures of infant feeding practices,
children's physical activity, children's height and weight, their mothers' participation in prenatal
care programs, and their families' food sufficiency situations.  Information on how often children
engage in activities requiring physical exertion would be obtained from parent and nonparental
care provider reports; information on children's height and weight would be collected at each
scheduled wave of the study; and, data on infant feeding practices and families' abilities to get
enough to eat would be acquired from the parent interview.

     If this additional supplement is included in the ECLS-B, it will be funded by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture, Food and Consumer Service (FCS).  The contractor shall work with
FCS and NCES/ED to identify measures of infant feeding practices, children's physical activity,
children's height and weight, their mothers' participation in prenatal care programs, and their
families' food sufficiency situations.  The contractor shall design and implement an approach for
collecting these data.  The contractor shall complete tasks 3 through 13 for this supplement.

C.4 Home Assessment

     An important goal of the ECLS-B is to obtain a clearer understanding of the relationship
between the environments in which early learning takes place and children's preparation for
school.  The study is interested in the different settings in which early learning takes place,
especially the home environment.  The design of the ECLS-B shall lead to the collection of data
on a range of characteristics that define the structure of the home environment and the activities
and interactions that occur within the home.

     NCES/ED believes that valuable information can be obtained from the parents on the
activities and interactions that take place in the home with the use of traditional interview
methods.  However, it also recognizes the value of collecting data through other means (e.g.,
observational studies).  

     The contractor shall design and implement a study that enhances the data that are
available to describe and analyze children's homes and the impact of the home on child
outcomes.  The contractor shall carefully weigh the need for such data, the quality of the data that
will result from the use of these methods, and the cost of collecting these data.

C.5 Father Data

     In recent years, attention on the role of fathers has increased at the federal level.  As a
result, more information on fathers, whether they live in or out of their child's household, has
been collected.  Nonetheless, the recent studies collecting this information have generally relied
upon a sampled child's mother to answer questions regarding the child's father.  While mothers
may be able to adequately provide factual information about their child's father (e.g., age and
level of education), they are less likely to be adequate proxy respondents when it comes to
providing information on the father's attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors.  As a result, a proposed
area of study for the ECLS-B is to conduct supplemental interviews with fathers.

     NCES/ED plans to collect demographic, education, and employment information in the
ECLS-B about fathers residing with sampled children whether or not they are the actual
respondents.  An additional supplement to the ECLS-B would collect information directly from
fathers regarding their parental role identification (e.g., specific duties versus "co-parents"), their
perception of their financial situation, their involvement and expectations with regards to their
children, their family of origin (i.e., what kind of fathers they had), and their relationship with
their wives.

     The contractor shall develop and implement a methodology for collecting data from all or
a sample of the fathers of ECLS-B sampled children.  The contractor shall complete tasks 3
through 13 for this supplement.





              THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK