Appendix D 

NHES:2012 Summary Report of Extant Survey Research 

for NHES Topics 

NHES:2012 

 Summary Report 

of Extant Survey Research 

for NHES Topics 

February 2009 

Chris Chapman 

Project Officer 

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) 

U.S. Department of Education 

Prepared by 

Julie Keith 

Akemi Kinukawa 

Lina Guzman 

Child Trends
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iii 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EARLY CHILDHOOD PROGRAM PARTICIPATION (ECPP) ............................................................... 1 

The Cost, Quality, and Child Outcomes in Child Care Centers Study .................................................... 3 

Current Population Survey, October School Enrollment Supplement ..................................................... 5 

Early Childhood Longitudinal Study- Birth Cohort ................................................................................ 7

The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Cohort ........................................................... 9

The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Cohort of 2010-11 (ECLS-K:11) ............... 11

The Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study.................................................................................. 13 

Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey ................................................................................. 15 

National Child Care Survey 1990: Parent Study ................................................................................... 18 

National Evaluation of Welfare-to-Work Strategies (NEWWS) – Child Outcomes Study .................. 20 

The National Household Education Surveys Program, Early Childhood Program Participation 

Survey 2005 ........................................................................................................................................... 22 

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth 

Development .......................................................................................................................................... 24 

The National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (Canada) .................................................... 26 

National Study of Child Care of Low-Income Families – Community Survey ..................................... 28 

The National Survey of America’s Families ......................................................................................... 30 

The National Survey of Children’s Health ............................................................................................ 32 

National Survey of Families and Households ........................................................................................ 34 

Panel Survey of Income Dynamics, Child Development Supplement .................................................. 37 

Partnership Impact Research Project ..................................................................................................... 39 

Survey of Income and Program Participation– Child Care Topical Component ................................... 41 

Survey of Program Dynamics (SPD) ..................................................................................................... 43 

Women’s Employment Study ................................................................................................................ 45
iv

PARENT AND FAMILY INVOLVEMENT IN EDUCATION (PFI) ...................................................... 47 

National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 ....................................................................................... 49

National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 Cohort ........................................................................... 52 

The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Cohort ......................................................... 54

The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Cohort of 2010-11 ...................................... 56 

Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 ............................................................................................... 58 

Family Involvement in Education: A National Portrait ......................................................................... 60 

Hand in Hand National Parent Survey ................................................................................................... 62 

Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey ................................................................................. 64 

National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 ................................................................................... 67 

The National Household Education Surveys Program, Parent and Family Involvement in 

Education Survey ................................................................................................................................... 69 

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth 

Development .......................................................................................................................................... 71 

The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health........................................................................ 73 

The National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (Canada) .................................................... 75 

The National Survey of America’s Families ......................................................................................... 77 

The National Survey of Parents of Public School Students ................................................................... 79 

Panel Study of Income Dynamics, Child Development Supplement .................................................... 81

Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) ......................................................................... 83 

Prospects: The Congressionally Mandated Study of Educational Growth and Opportunity ................. 85 

Survey of Family and School Partnerships in Public Schools, K-8 ....................................................... 87 

Survey of Adults and Youth .................................................................................................................. 89 

Survey of Program Dynamics (SPD) ..................................................................................................... 91 

Women’s Employment Study ................................................................................................................ 93 
1

EARLY CHILDHOOD PROGRAM PARTICIPATION (ECPP)
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3

TITLE 

The Cost, Quality, and Child Outcomes in Child Care Centers Study 

PURPOSE 

The study was designed to examine the influence of center-based child care on children’s 

development during the preschool years and as they move into elementary school. 

SPONSORSHIP 

This research project was funded by grants from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the 

William T. Grant Foundation, the JFM Foundation, the A.L. Mailman Family Foundation, 

the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts, the USWEST 

Foundation, the Smith Richardson Foundation, and the Educational Research and 

Development Centers Programs as administered by the Office of Educational Research and 

Improvement (now the Institute of Education Sciences). 

DESIGN 

This longitudinal study included a stratified random sample of children and families from 

401 randomly selected child care centers, half for-profit and half non-profit, in four states 

(California, Colorado, Connecticut, and North Carolina). The sample included a total of 826 

children, with an average age of 4.3 years old and in their next to last year of preschool child 

care. These children were followed for 4 years (until average age of 8 years old). Data were 

collected to examine the relations between child care quality and children’s development. 

Data were collected through (1) classroom observations, (2) individual child assessments, 

(3) teacher ratings of children, and (4) parent reports of child and family characteristics. 

PERIODICITY 

The longitudinal study began in 1993 and continued for 4 years, until 1997. Data was 

collected during children's last two years in child care, during kindergarten, first and second 

grade years. There are no plans for another study at this time. 

CONTENT 

The study investigated the relationship between child care quality, including cost, and 

children’s patterns of development from preschool through the second grade. The study 

assessed the influence of center-based child care in America on children in areas such as 

cognitive and social skills, children’s relationships with their teachers, and the long-term 

affects of child care quality on children. Children’s background characteristics were also 

accounted for to determine if differences between children of different backgrounds emerged. 

This study measured two dimensions of child care quality: classroom practices and teacherchild relationships. Classroom practices were examined with a variety of observational 

instruments that measured the quality of the child care environment, teacher sensitivity and 

responsiveness, and teaching style. The key research question guiding this study was: "Do 

early child care experiences have long-term consequences for children's development over 

the time period from the preschool years into the early elementary years?” In addition, 

parents provided information on their child bearing beliefs and practices annually through a 
4

self-administered version of the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment 

scale. 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

 The Cost, Quality, and Child Outcomes study sample was limited to 401 center-based care 

programs in four states, and focused on the association between program quality and child 

development. The advantage of this study compared to the ECPP is that it is a longitudinal 

survey and therefore it can be used to examine the association between child care quality 

and child development. However, the Cost, Quality, and Child Outcomes study is not a 

national survey and cannot provide national estimates over time, nor can it provide 

information on other types of care (e.g., relative and non-relative care). It particularly 

focuses on center-care quality and child development and its content is not as 

comprehensive as the ECPP. Another difference between the two surveys is the quality 

measure: the Cost, Quality, and Child Outcomes study measures quality based on 

classroom observations and teachers' reporting on their beliefs and practices while the 

ECPP has measured quality through parent report (i.e., Emlen scale). 

AVAILABILITY 

 For more information on the Cost, Quality, and Child Outcomes Study contact: 

Dick Clifford Ph.D., Co-director 

FPG Child Development Center 

CB #8040, UNC-CH Campus 

Chapel Hill, NC 27599-8040 

 

Phone: (919) 962-4737 

Fax: (919) 962-7328 

Email: dickclifford@unc.edu 

Donna M. Bryant, Ph.D., Co-director 

FPG Child Development Center 

CB #8180, UNC-CH Campus 

Chapel Hill, NC 27599-8180 

Phone: (919) 966-4295 

Fax: (919) 966-7532 

Email: bryant@unc.edu 

More detailed information can be found online at: 

 http://www.childcareresearch.org/location/ccrca341 

http://www.fpg.unc.edu/~NCEDL/PDFs/CQO-es.pdf 
5

TITLE 

Current Population Survey, October School Enrollment Supplement 

PURPOSE 

The purpose of the Current Population Survey (CPS) is to provide estimates of employment, 

unemployment, and other characteristics of the labor force for the population at large and 

various subgroups of the population. The October School Enrollment Supplement provides 

specific information on the educational status of individuals in the population by 

demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. 

SPONSORSHIP 

The Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Bureau of the Census have jointly sponsored the CPS, 

with data collection conducted by the Census Bureau. The Department of Education 

sponsors additional questions on educational issues that change from year to year. 

DESIGN 

The Current Population Survey is designed to be representative of the civilian, noninstitutionalized population of the United States, including Armed Forces personnel living 

off base or on base with their families. The CPS uses a probability sample based on a 

multistage stratified sampling scheme. In general, the sample is selected by (a) grouping 

counties or groups of counties into primary sampling units (PSUs) that are assembled into 

homogeneous strata within each state; (b) selecting one PSU to represent each strata; and (c) 

selecting addresses within each PSU for membership in the sample. These steps result in 

2,007 CPS PSUs in the United States from which to draw the sample. There is no 

oversampling of minority or low-income areas. 

Each month, data is collected from approximately 60,000 sample households across the 

country. Households are in a rotating sample so that they are interviewed each month for 4 

months, followed by an 8-month “rest period,” and then interviewed for the next 4 months. 

Interviews are conducted in person during the first and fifth month that households are in the 

sample; otherwise interviews are conducted by telephone (by a field interviewer or from a 

centralized telephone interviewing facility). The household respondent must be a 

knowledgeable household member aged 16 years or older from the civilian; this respondent 

provides information for each household member. The questions in the school enrollment 

supplement are asked about all persons aged 3 or older in the household. The sample size 

for children in each 1-year age group is approximately 2,000. 

PERIODICITY 

The supplement has been conducted each October since 1946. Plans include retaining this 

supplement in the future. 
6

CONTENT 

Each year the basic school enrollment supplement contains questions on highest grade 

completed, enrollment status, and if enrolled, the grade or level of school, type of school 

(public or private), and whether the child attends center-based care, Head start, or prekindergarten. Additional questions on educational topics are also included, but the topics 

change each year. Topics from the October supplements of CPS related to the ECPP include 

information on child care and educational experiences (October 1992); whether a child 

receives any schooling at home (October 1994); proficiency in English and disability status 

(October 2004); and the use of the Internet (October 2007). 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

Given that the CPS October Education supplement is in fact a supplement to another major 

survey, it cannot provide information on the breadth of education-related topics that have 

been covered by the ECPP, nor the depth of questions on certain subjects. 

AVAILABILITY 

The Census Bureau usually releases reports on supplement data approximately 3 to 6 months 

after data collection, and final reports within 12 to 18 months. Published tabulations on 

school enrollment are available in the Current Population Reports, Series P-20.

Public use microdata files are available from the Bureau of the Census for months in which 

there is a supplement; these files are usually made available within 6 months to 1 year after 

data collection. 

 For further information on the October supplement to the CPS, contact

Hyon Shin 

Education and Social Stratification Branch 

Population Division 

U.S. Bureau of the Census 

Washington, D.C. 20233-8800 

(301) 763-6169

Email: hyon.b.shin@census.gov 

 Data are also available through their web site 

 http://www.bls.census.gov/cps 
7

TITLE 

Early Childhood Longitudinal Study- Birth Cohort 

PURPOSE 

The purpose of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study- Birth Cohort (ECLS-B) is to 

provide valuable detailed information on the early years of children’s lives, from birth 

through kindergarten entry including topics such as health care, nonparental care, and 

education. Specifically, the study is interested in gaining insight into how children’s 

neighborhoods, families, health care, and early childhood program participation influence 

variations in developmental outcomes. 

SPONSORSHIP 

The study is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for 

Education Statistics (NCES), in collaboration with the National Center for Health Statistics 

(NCHS), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the 

National Institutes for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), and the 

Administration for Children, Youth, and Families (ACYF). 

DESIGN 

The ECLS-B is a longitudinal study consisting of a nationally representative sample of 

approximately 14,000 children born in the year 2001. Children were sampled from 

registered births in the National Center for Health Statistics vital statistics system. Births 

were selected within primary sampling units and, in some cases, secondary sampling units. 

This sampling approach was chosen because of its cost effectiveness and because it 

provided better sample coverage compared to other methods such as sampling hospitals or 

birth certificates. Researchers followed sampled children through kindergarten entry. The 

sample was representative of diverse racial/ethnic groups and socioeconomic backgrounds. 

Data collection took place when children were 9 months old, two years old, four years old 

and in kindergarten. Data were collected using a mixed-mode design including in-person 

interviews with the child’s primary caregiver (usually the mother), a self-administered 

questionnaire for the child’s father, a child assessment of developmental skills, and 

telephone interviews with child care providers and kindergarten teachers. 

PERIODICITY 

The ECLS-B is a longitudinal study following the same children from birth through 

kindergarten entry. Full-scale collection for 9 month old children occurred in 2001 and 

2002, with the first follow-up of 2-year old children occurring in 2003 and 2004, and the 

second follow-up of 4-year-old children occurring in 2005 and 2006. In the third followup during the fall of 2006, data were collected from all participating sample children, 

approximately 75 percent of whom were in kindergarten or higher. In the fall of 2007, data 

were collected from the remaining 25 percent of participating sample children who had not 

yet entered kindergarten or higher in the previous collection, as well as children who were 

repeating kindergarten in the 2007-08 school year. The collection of data for children in 

kindergarten occurred over a two-year period because of the age requirements for school 

entry. NCES has released data for subsequent waves approximately one year after data 
8

collection ends. Data collection beyond the kindergarten year has not been scheduled at 

this time. 

CONTENT 

The ECLS-B was designed to describe the earliest experiences and relationships in 

children's lives. The study provides descriptive data on 1) children's health status at birth 

and at regular intervals during early childhood; 2) children's growth and development in 

critical domains; 3) children's transitions to child care and early childhood education 

programs and kindergarten; 4) father involvement; and 5) school readiness. The 

longitudinal nature of the study enables researchers to study children's physical, 

cognitive, language, social and emotional development and to relate children's growth 

and development to their early learning environment, while the sample design will allow 

researchers to examine differences among the children by race/ethnicity, economics, and 

family composition. 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

The ECPP survey provide data on a nationally representative sample of children from birth 

to those age 6 who have not yet entered kindergarten. In contrast, ECLS-B focuses only 

on one cohort of children born in 2001. Further, ECLS-B does not meet the NHES goal of 

measuring change over time with cross-sectional samples of the population of interest. 

AVAILABILITY 

The first three waves of data collection have been released. The restricted-use CD-ROM 

contains an electronic codebook, a restricted-use datafile, and survey documentation for 

the first three waves of data collection. The CD-ROM and instructions for obtaining a 

restricted-use data license are available on the ECLS-B web page. 

 For more information on the ECLS-B, contact the ECLS-B staff at: 

 ECLS@ed.gov 

The web site for ECLS-B is: 

http://nces.ed.gov/ecls/Birth.asp 

For information on this survey, contact 

Gail Mulligan 

National Center for Education Statistics 

1990 K Street, NW 

Room 9086 

Washington, DC 20006 

(202) 502-7491 

Email: Gail.Mulligan@ed.gov 

TITLE 
9

The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Cohort 

PURPOSE 

The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K) has two 

purposes: descriptive and analytic. It provides descriptive data on a national basis of 

children’s status at entry into school, their transition into school, and their progression 

through eighth grade. This data set enables researchers to study how a wide range of 

family, school, community, and individual variables affect early success in school. 

SPONSORSHIP 

ECLS-K is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Health 

and Human Services, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

DESIGN 

A nationally representative sample of approximately 22,000 children enrolled in about 

1,000 kindergarten programs during the 1998-99 school year was selected for participation 

in the study. ECLS-K used a multi-stage sampling method. The primary sampling units 

were geographic areas (i.e., a group of counties) and the second-stage units were schools 

that were selected based on the 1995-96 CCD Public School Universe File. The sample is 

designed to allow users to produce separate national estimates of public and private school 

kindergartners; black, Hispanic, white, and Asian children; and children by socioeconomic 

status. Data were collected from the individual child, the child’s parents/guardians, 

teachers, and school using mixed-modes. Measures of a child’s cognitive skills are 

obtained through a one-on-one assessment of the child, conducted at the child’s school. 

Additional information was collected from telephone interviews conducted with the parent 

each time children were assessed. If a parent did not have a telephone, an in-person 

interview was conducted. Teachers completed self-administered questionnaires each time 

children were assessed (with the exception of the fall of first grade). School administrators, 

principals, and headmasters were asked to complete self-administered questionnaires 

during each of the spring data collections. 

PERIODICITY 

Data on the kindergarten cohort were collected twice during the base year of the study--

once during the beginning and once near the end of the school year. In the fall of the 1999-

2000 school year, when most of the cohort moved to the first grade, data were collected 

from a 30 percent subsample of the cohort. In the spring of first grade, data were once 

again collected from the entire sample of children as well as their parents, teachers, and 

school administrators. In 2002 (third grade year), 2004 (fifth grade year), and 2007 (eighth 

grade year) child assessments were conducted and parent, teacher and school 

administrators completed interviews in the spring. 

CONTENT 

The child assessment largely focuses on the child’s physical and psychomotor 

development, social and emotional development, and cognitive development in reading, 

arithmetic, and general knowledge. Data on the characteristic of the children, their 

families, their schools, kindergarten programs, and classrooms are also collected to 
10 

examine the status of children at entry into kindergarten, the expectations of schools about 

what skills, behaviors and attributes are necessary, and how children fare in the new 

environment. The study also examines the roles that parents and families play in preparing 

for and supporting their children’s education and how families, schools, and communities 

interact to support children’s education. In particular, the Parental Involvement section 

includes a series of questions about the types of school activities parents attend, and barriers 

to participating in such activities as well as school choice. 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

The ECLS-K contains many items from prior NHES parent interviews that will likely be a 

part of the upcoming ECPP. Both studies are interested in examining the role of the home 

environment and parent involvement in children’s outcomes. The sample for the ECLS-K 

consists of a single cohort of children in kindergarten through the fifth grade, whereas the 

ECPP survey focuses on younger children, those from birth to age 6 who have not yet 

entered kindergarten. The ECPP will also provide information on the home environment 

of children who are home-schooled (ECLS-K obtains information about home-schooled 

children only if they were in a study school at the time of initial data collection). 

AVAILABILITY 

Data and documentation for the kindergarten, first grade, third grade, and fifth grade years, 

as well as three longitudinal data files (kindergarten through first grade, kindergarten through 

third grade, and kindergarten through fifth grade) are available via CD-ROM from the 

National Center for Education Statistics. 

 The web site for ECLS-K is: 

 http://nces.ed.gov/ecls/Kindergarten.asp 

For more information on this survey, contact 

 Chris Chapman 

National Center for Education Statistics 

1990 K Street, NW 

Room 9042 

Washington, DC 20006 

(202) 502-7414 

Email: Chris.Chapman@ed.gov 
11

TITLE 

The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Cohort of 2010-11 (ECLS-K:11) 

PURPOSE 

The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Cohort of 2011-11 (ECLS-K:11) 

will provide data on a national basis of children’s status at entry into school, their transition 

into school, and their progression through fifth grade. This data set will enable researchers 

to study how a wide range of family, school, community, and individual variables affect 

early success in school. 

SPONSORSHIP 

ECLS-K:11 is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of 

Health and Human Services, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

DESIGN 

The ECLS-K:11 will survey a nationally representative sample of children attending both 

full-day and part-day kindergarten in either public or private schools in 2010-2011. 

Children's parents, teachers, schools and providers will also provide information on 

children's cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development. 

Trained field staff will conduct direct assessment of children in their schools and telephone 

interviews with their parents. Teachers and school administrators will be contacted and 

asked to complete questionnaires. Before- and after-school care providers will also be 

interviewed. 

PERIODICITY 

Data collections are currently planned to occur in the fall and the spring of kindergarten 

(2010-2011), the spring of 1st grade (2012), the spring of 2nd grade (2013), the spring of 

3rd grade (2014), the spring of 4th grade (2015), and the spring of 5th grade (2016). Prior 

to the base year collection of the ECLS-K:11, a field test will be conducted with children 

and their teachers for the development of new survey items. 

CONTENT 

In addition to data on children's cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development, 

the study will also include information on children's home environment, home educational 

activities, school environment, classroom environment, classroom curriculum, teacher 

qualifications, and before- and after-school care. 

The ECLS-K:11 will differ from the previous ECLS studies in that it provides data 

relevant to emerging policy-related issues such as No Child Left Behind legislation, 

increasing school choice, and a rise in English language learners. ECLS-K:11 together 

with the original ECLS-K will allow comparisons between two cohorts experiencing 

different political, educational, social and demographic environments. 
12 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

The ECLS-K:11 Parent Interview will contain some items on child care that will likely be 

a part of the ECPP interview. The studies share an interest in children’s developmental 

status at school entry and early school experiences and their home activities with parents. 

In particular, the field testing of newly developed questions that can provide information 

on more recent educational issues such as school choice may provide useful information 

for the NHES:11. 

However, while the ECPP survey will provide trend data for nationally representative 

samples of children from birth to age 6 who have not yet entered kindergarten, the ECLSK:11 is limited to a single cohort of children who will be kindergartners in 2010-2011. 

AVAILABILITY 

Data and reports are not yet available.. 

 The web site for ECLS-K:11 is: 

http://nces.ed.gov/ecls/kindergarten2010.asphttp://nces.ed.gov/ecls/Kindergarten.asp

 For general information on this survey, contact 

Chris Chapman 

National Center for Education Statistics 

1990 K Street, NW 

Room 9042 

Washington, DC 20006 

(202) 502-7414 

Email: Chris.Chapman@ed.gov 

 Or, 

Gail M. Mulligan 

Project Officer, ECLS-K:11 

National Center for Education Statistics 

1990 K Street, NW 

Room 9086 

Washington, DC 20006 

(202) 502-7491 

Email: Gail.Mulligan@ed.gov 
13

TITLE 

The Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study 

PURPOSE 

The Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study addresses three areas: nonmarital 

childbearing, welfare reform and the role of fathers. The purpose of the study is to offer 

information on these areas to policy makers and community leaders. 

SPONSORSHIP 

Funding for the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study come from the National Institute 

of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and from a consortium of national and 

local foundations. The study is conducted by the Center for Research on Child Wellbeing, 

Princeton University. 

DESIGN 

The data are being collected in 20 U.S. cities, including among others, Austin, Pittsburgh, 

Boston, Baltimore, Chicago and San Jose. The cities were selected using a stratified random 

sample of all U.S. cities with a population of 200,000 or more. Total sample size is 4,700 

families, including 3,600 unmarried couples and 1,100 married couples. Data is 

representative of nonmarital births in each of the 20 cities, and also representative of all 

nonmarital births in U.S. cities with populations over 200,000. Three follow-up interviews 

were conducted with both parents at the time the child was one, three and five years old. 

Data on child health and development was collected from the parents during each of the 

follow-up interviews, and in-home assessments of child wellbeing were carried out at 30 

and 48 months. Child wellbeing measures overlap with those used in other national studies, 

including the Infant Health and Development Program, the Early Head Start Evaluation, 

the Teenage Parent Demonstration Project, and the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study - 

Birth Cohort Study 2000 (ECLS-B). This study collected its data using a mixed-mode 

approach, as detailed below. 

PERIODICITY 

Baseline interviews were conducted in-person between February, 1998 and September, 2000 

and consisted of 4,898 completed mother interviews and 3,830 completed father interviews. 

One-year telephone follow-up interviews were conducted between June, 1999 and March, 

2002 with 4,365 completed mother interviews and 3,367 completed father interviews. Threeyear telephone follow-up interviews were conducted between April 2001 and December 

2003. Five-year telephone follow-up interviews were conducted between July 2003 and 

February 2006. A nine-year telephone follow-up interview is being conducted from 2007 to 

2009.

CONTENT 

The baseline questionnaires for mothers and fathers include sections on prenatal care, 

mother-father relationships, expectations about fathers' rights and responsibilities, attitudes 

toward marriage, parents' health, social support and extended kin, knowledge about local 

policies and community resources, and education, employment, and income. Follow-up 
14 

interviews gather additional information on access to and use of healthcare and child care 

services, experiences with local welfare and child support agencies, and parental conflict 

and domestic violence. 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

The survey is designed to target unmarried parents, a much narrower scope than the ECPP 

sample. Although the survey does include some questions relative to child care, it was not 

directly designed to measure this study topic. 

AVAILABILITY 

 The first four waves of data are available from the website below. 

For more information on the Fragile Families and Child wellbeing study, contact: 

Sara McLanahan, Ph.D. 

Center for Research on Child Wellbeing 

Princeton University 

265 Wallace Hall 

Princeton, NJ 08544 

(609) 258-4875 

Email: mclanaha@princeton.edu 

 A summary including detailed information on the survey can be viewed at: 

http://www.fragilefamilies.princeton.edu/ 
15

TITLE 

Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey 

 

PURPOSE 

Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) is a national longitudinal study 

of the cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development of Head Start children; the 

characteristics, well-being, and accomplishments of families; the observed quality of Head 

Start classrooms; and the characteristics, needs and opinions of Head Start teachers.

SPONSORSHIP 

The FACES study is currently conducted by Mathematica Policy Research for the 

Commissioner’s Office of Research and Evaluation in the Administration on Children, 

Youth, and Families, DHHS. 

DESIGN 

The original cohort of FACES (1997) had six phases of data collection using personal 

interviews and in-person child assessments. FACES uses a multistage sample selection of 

(1) programs, (2) centers, (3) classrooms, and (4) children. The sampling frame of Head 

Start programs was created based on the Head Start Program Information Report (PIR). 

The first phase involved a spring 1997 field test in which approximately 2,400 children and 

parents were studied in a nationally stratified random sample of 40 Head Start programs. 

The second and third phases of FACES occurred in fall 1997 (Wave One) and spring 1998 

(Wave Two) when data were collected on a sample of 3,200 children and families in the 

same 40 Head Start programs. Spring 1998 data collection included assessments of both 

Head Start children completing the program and Head Start graduates completing 

kindergarten (kindergarten field test), as well as interviews with their parents and ratings 

by their kindergarten teachers. The fourth phase occurred in spring 1999 with data 

collection in the 40 Head Start programs, plus a kindergarten follow-up for children who 

completed Head Start in spring 1998. The fifth phase in spring 2000 completed the 

kindergarten follow-up for the children completing Head Start in spring 1999 and first 

graders who completed Head Start in 1998. The sixth phase in spring 2001 completed the 

first grade follow-up for the children who completed Head Start in spring 1999. An 

additional feature of FACES 1997 was the validation sub-study or embedded case study of 

a longitudinal sample of 120 randomly selected families from the larger FACES sample 

(three families from each of the 40 FACES sites were selected). 

Four cohorts of FACES have been fielded to date – FACES 1997, 2000, 2003 and 2006. 

Each cohort has included a nationally representative sample of Head Start children and 

their families. The subsequent cohorts have followed a similar study design. 

PERIODICITY 

The study was launched in 1997, as described above. A new national cohort of FACES 

was launched in fall 2000, with a sample of 2,800 children entering Head Start and their 

families in 43 new Head Start programs. The 2000 study involved data collection in the 

fall and spring of the Head Start year, spring of the second Head Start year (for children 

who spent two years in Head Start), and spring of children’s kindergarten year. The data 
16 

also includes information on their kindergarten enrollment in Spring 2002 and Spring 2003. 

The third FACES cohort was launched in Fall 2003 with a sample of 2,400 children 

entering Head Start and their families in 63 new Head Start programs. The 2003 study 

involved data collection in the fall and spring of the Head Start year, spring of the second 

Head Start year (for children who spent two years in Head Start), and spring of children’s 

kindergarten year. The fourth FACES cohort was launched in Fall 2006 with a nationally 

representative sample of children entering Head Start and their families in 60 new Head 

Start programs. The 2006 study is ongoing, and involves four rounds of data collection—

fall and spring of children’s first Head Start year, spring of the second Head Start year for 

children who were 3 years old at the time the sample was selected, and spring of children’s 

kindergarten year. 

CONTENT 

The study’s main data components consist of three chronological parent interviews: the 

Head Start parent interview, the Kindergarten parent interview, and the first grade parent 

interview. Each interview collects information on the family’s demographics, including 

employment and income, and home and neighborhood characteristics. The interviews also 

collect information regarding the child’s behavior and activities, caregiver, and disabilities. 

Other topics include: parent’s feelings and satisfaction level with Head Start, home safety, 

family health care, and community services. The first grade parent interview was excluded 

from the FACES 2000 and FACES 2003 surveys. 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

The FACES population includes cohorts of preschool children enrolled in Head Start 

programs. It collects limited data on whether the child attended center-based care prior to 

enrolling in Head Start, but does not ask about relative or non-relative care. 

AVAILABILITY 

For more information on the FACES study, contact: 

Maria Woolverton 

Office of Planning Research and Evaluation 

Administration for Children and Families 

Division of Child and Family Development 

370 L’Enfant Promenade SW

7

th Floor West 

Aerospace Building 

Washington, DC 20201 

(202) 205-4039 

Email: mwoolverton@acf.hhs.gov 

The FACES datasets and reports are archived by Research Connections, a web-based 

clearinghouse that offers a collection of more than 10,000 resources from the many 

disciplines related to child care and early education. 

Its website is http://www.researchconnections.org. 
17

The FACES instruments can be obtained from: 

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/hs/faces/index.html 
18 

TITLE 

National Child Care Survey 1990: Parent Study 

PURPOSE 

The National Child Care Survey was designed to provide a nationally representative 

portrait of all aspects of child care, including who provides care, how parents select 

nonparental care and how much they pay for it, how parents feel about their options for 

child care, and what child care arrangements were previously used by the parents. 

SPONSORSHIP 

The National Child Care Survey was a public-private partnership, jointly sponsored by 

the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the Head 

Start Bureau of the Administration for Children, Youth and Families (ACYF), Office of 

Human Development Services, Department of Health and Human Services. 

DESIGN 

The National Child Care Survey is a nationally representative study of 4,392 parents with 

one or more children under the age of 13. Households with children under the age of 13 

were recruited by random-digit-dial computer-aided telephone interviewing. 

PERIODICITY 

The National Child Care Survey: Parent Study was conducted once in late 1989 and early 

1990. 

CONTENT 

The National Child Care Survey Parent Study focused on the use of child care 

arrangements, how child care affects parental employment patterns, how parents make 

decisions about child care, and the characteristics of the settings in which child care is 

provided. The survey included a schedule of when the respondent and his or her spouse or 

partner was at work and a schedule of when each child was at each care arrangement in 

order to provide a detailed picture of the correspondence between child care arrangements 

and work. Extensive data on employment history were also gathered, including the 

relationship between work and child care in the past. 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

This study is directly related to the goals of the ECPP because it includes questions to 

parents about difficulty in finding child care, whether the availability of child care affected 

their ability to work, and detailed information about where the child was cared for while 

his or her parent(s) were at work. However, since it was administered once, it cannot 

produce estimates to track change over time. 
19

AVAILABILITY 

 The dataset as well as supporting documents are available from: 

American Family Data Archive 

Sociometrics Corporation 

170 State Street, Suite 260 

Los Altos, California 94022-2812 

(415) 949-3282 

 
20 

TITLE 

National Evaluation of Welfare-to-Work Strategies (NEWWS) – Child Outcomes Study 

PURPOSE 

The NEWWS evaluation is a study of the effectiveness of seven mandatory welfare-towork programs in the states of Georgia, Ohio, Michigan, Oklahoma, Oregon and 

California. Sample members were followed for five years. A broad range of data was 

collected through surveys including data on educational attainment, family composition, 

housing status, wage progression, employment, child care, depression, and total family 

income. In addition, effects on the well-being of the children of the mothers in the study 

was evaluated. Four types of child outcomes were measured: cognitive development and 

academic achievement; safety and health; problem behavior and emotional well-being; and 

social development. The Child Outcomes Study was launched as a special substudy to 

assess whether and how the development of preschool-age children was affected over time 

when their mothers were assigned to a JOBS program. 

SPONSORSHIP 

 The NEWWS evaluation was sponsored by the Department of Health and Human Services 

and the Child Outcomes Study was carried out by Child Trends under subcontract to 

Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation. 

DESIGN 

NEWWS used a random-assignment experiment, where at each evaluation site, individuals 

required to participate in the program were assigned to either a program group (with access 

to employment and training services) or a control group (who received no services but 

could seek them out on their own). 

In three of the sites (Georgia, Michigan, and California), a Child Outcomes Study was 

embedded within the larger evaluation so that families in the Child Outcomes Study 

completed the full evaluation. To be eligible for the Child Outcomes Study, a family had 

to have a child between the ages of three and five years at the time of enrollment, and single 

fathers were excluded. There were 5,905 families eligible for the Child Outcomes Study, 

however 3,194 completed the two-year follow-up. The two-year follow-up was conducted 

via in-person interviews at the family’s home, with families either being contacted on the 

telephone or having an interviewer go directly to the house. 

PERIODICITY 

The NEWWS evaluation was conducted in a two-year period at each study site, between 

the years 1991 and 1994. 

CONTENT 

The Child Outcomes Study includes measures on the history of child care arrangements 

for the focal child, what types of nonparental care the focal child has attended, whether the 

child has attended child care since the time the parent was enrolled in the evaluation, the 

number of teachers/providers the child has had in the program they attended, the age at 
21

which the child first started attending nonparental care, and the number of house per week 

that the child attended nonparental care. 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

The primary purpose of NHES and the ECPP is to conduct repeated measurements of the 

same phenomena at different points in time, this survey tracks nonparental care usage at 

one point in time. Additionally, the sample design is not nationally representative as is 

NHES and the ECPP. 

AVAILABILITY 

Information about the NEWSS study, including reports, datafiles, and codebooks are 

available from: 

 http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/NEWWS/ 

To obtain a printed copy of a report, contact the following: 

Human Services Policy, Room 404E 

Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation 

200 Independence Ave, SW 

Washington, DC 20201 

Fax: (202) 690-6562 
22 

TITLE 

The National Household Education Surveys Program, Early Childhood Program 

Participation Survey 2005 

PURPOSE 

The National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES) is a data collection system 

that is designed to address a wide range of education-related issues. It provides descriptive 

data on the educational activities of the U.S. population and offers policymakers, 

researchers, and educators a variety of statistics on the condition of education in the U.S. 

The ECPP component focused on children's participation in formal and informal 

nonparental care and education programs as well as characteristics of care arrangements 

for children from birth to age 6 who have not yet entered kindergarten. 

SPONSORSHIP 

 The National Center for Education Statistics sponsors the project, which is conducted by 

Westat. 

DESIGN 

NHES is a program of telephone surveys of the non-institutionalized civilian population of 

the United States. Households are selected for the survey using random digit dialing (RDD) 

methods. Each collection of NHES begins with a screening of a representative sample of 

households. In 2005, 7,209 interviews were conducted for the ECPP Survey. Data are 

collected using computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) procedures. 

One of the goals of NHES is to produce reliable estimates of the characteristics of children's 

and adults' educational experiences for the total targeted population and for domains 

defined by race and ethnicity. Estimates by race and ethnicity are of great interest, 

especially for monitoring educational trends over time. Therefore, the NHES sample design 

over-samples minorities in order to increase the reliability of estimates for these groups. 

PERIODICITY 

NHES has been conducted in the springs of 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2001, 2003, 

2005 and 2007. The ECPP survey was initially conducted in 1991, and has been repeated 

in 1995, 2001, and 2005. A subset of questions was also asked in 1999. NHES will be 

conducted again in 2011 and periodically thereafter. 

CONTENT 

In the 2005 ECPP survey, parents of children from birth to age 6 who had not enrolled in 

kindergarten completed interviews about whether the child attended or was enrolled in nonparental care such as relative care, nonrelative care, child care centers, and Head Start or 

Early Head Start. The interviews also included questions about how parents selected care, 

whether they had difficulty finding care, home activities with family members, and 

emerging literacy and numeracy. 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 
23

The primary purpose of NHES is to conduct repeated measurements of the same 

phenomena at different points in time, and as such, additional administrations of the ECPP 

are needed to track changes over time. 

AVAILABILITY 

NHES data sets are available online at http://nces.ed.gov/nhes/dataproducts.asp as well as 

on CD-ROM from: 

Christopher Chapman 

NCES 

Room 9086 

1990 K Street, NW 

Washington, DC 20206-5456 

(202) 502-7414 

Additional information on the NHES Program is available at: 

http://nces.ed.gov/nhes 

For more information on NHES, contact the NHES staff at: 

 NHES@ed.gov 
24 

TITLE 

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth 

Development 

PURPOSE 

The purpose of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) 

Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECC) is to examine how variations 

in child care relate to children’s development. The study also seeks to determine how 

differences in child care and family environment relate to children’s social, emotional, 

intellectual, and language development, and to their physical growth and health. 

SPONSORSHIP 

The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development sponsors the study. 

DESIGN 

The Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development is a longitudinal research project 

involving 10 study sites across the United States. The study focuses on the experiences of 

1,364 children, recruited at birth in 1991 from hospitals at the 10 data collection sites. The 

study was conducted in four phases. Phase I followed children from birth until age 3; Phase 

II followed 1,095 4 1⁄2 year olds into the first grade; Phase III followed 1,073 children 

through the fifth and sixth grades and Phase IV followed the children through the seventh, 

eighth, and ninth grades (the exact number is still being determined). 

The study employed a mixed mode data collection approach. Phase 1 data collection 

included videotaped behavioral observations of the sampled children at their homes, child 

care settings, visits to project research laboratories and child care center directors' 

telephone interviews/mailed questionnaire. In-person interviews were also obtained from 

parents and caregiver to gain additional information about the children. As the children 

moved into school age, data from Phases II and III were also gathered from teachers and 

visits by researchers to the classroom. Children’s physical activity was monitored directly 

at third, fifth and sixth grades. 

PERIODICITY 

The longitudinal study began in 1991 and the first phase was completed in 1994. The 

second phase began in 1995, just before most of the children began kindergarten, and was 

completed in 1999 when all the children finished the first grade. The third phase began in 

2000 when the children were in second grade and ended in 2006 when all the children 

finished sixth grade. The fourth phase began in 2005 when the children were in seventh 

grade and was completed in 2007 when the children finished ninth grade. 

CONTENT 

The primary domains of child development that the SECC is studying include social, 

emotional, intellectual, behavioral, and physical development. Although the study 

primarily focuses on early child care, the influence of the family on children's development 
25

is also an important component of the study. Family characteristics measured in the study 

included the family’s economic situation, family structure (single parent vs. partnered 

parent), the mother’s education, her child rearing attitudes, the quality of mother-child 

interaction, and the extent to which the home environment contributed to the optimal 

development of children. These family characteristics were used to examine the role of the 

family in the child’s entry into child care, the quality of that care, and the number of care 

arrangements. A second area of the study delves into the association between child care 

and the mother-child relationship. A third component looks at the characteristics of child 

care and how it relates to the children’s cognitive and language development, as well as 

their behavior and self-control in the first 3 years. Later phases of the study allowed 

researchers to examine whether any of the effects of preschool child care continue into 

middle childhood. The third phase of the study allowed researchers to examine the effect 

of family characteristics and the home environment on children's outcomes in middle 

childhood and the fourth phase of the study allowed researchers to examine those effects 

on children’s outcomes in early adolescence.

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

The study is directly related to the goals of the ECPP component and contains related items. 

However, the sample for the study is based on ten study sites, and therefore, it does not 

provide a nationally representative sample of U. S. children, as does NHES. Issues 

regarding disabled children, which are covered in NHES, are not explored in the SECC. 

AVAILABILITY 

For information on the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, 

contact: 

James A. Griffin, Ph.D. Deputy Branch Chief 

NICHD Child Development and Behavior Branch 

6100 Executive Blvd., Room 4B05D 

Rockville, MD 20852 

(301) 435-2307 

Email: griffinj@mail.nih.gov 

Study results, publications, and applications for the data from Phases I through III are 

available at the following website: 

https://secc.rti.org/home.cfm 

http://www.nichd.nih.gov/research/supported/seccyd.cfm 
26 

TITLE 

The National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (Canada) 

PURPOSE 

The Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY) is a long-term study conducted 

to monitor the development and well being of Canada’s children as they grow from infancy 

to adulthood. This study collects information about factors influencing a child’s social, 

emotional and behavioral development and to monitor the impact of these factors on a 

child’s development over time. The survey covers topics on the health of children, their 

physical development, learning and behavior and data on their social environment (family, 

friends, schools and community). The survey provides data for use in research on 

children’s development and their adjustment to school in Canada.

SPONSORSHIP 

Human Resources and Social Development Canada and Statistics Canada conducted the 

survey in partnership. 

DESIGN 

The survey follows a representative sample of Canadian children, aged newborn to 11 

years, into adulthood, with data collection occurring at 2-year intervals. The initial sample 

was approximately 22,500 children, which was drawn from the Canadian Labor Force 

Survey’s sample of respondent households. The data are collected from several sources 

including parents, teachers, principals, and the children themselves. Most interviews are 

conducted by an interviewer using computer-assisted interviewing (CAI). 

The NLSCY consists of longitudinal samples and cross-sectional samples. 

PERIODICITY 

This is a longitudinal study consisting of several longitudinal and cross-sectional samples. 

Cross-sectional weights are provided when an age cohort can be considered to be 

representative of a cross-sectional population. The study began 1994 and is ongoing at 2-

year intervals. There have been seven cycles of data collection, in 1994-95, 1996-97, 1998-

99, 2000-01, 2002-03, 2004-05, and 2006-07. 

CONTENT 

The survey assesses the child, and family and community environment in which the child 

is living. Specific topics include family structure/demographics, family and custodial 

history, parent’s education, parenting styles, importance of good grades, school 

involvement, and expectations for the child. Child care and child care arrangements are 

also topics covered by the NLSCY. 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

The survey measures a child’s attendance at child care, as well as other topics planned for 

the 2011 ECPP survey such as emerging literacy and numeracy, home activities, and 
27

health. However, the survey is conducted on children of all ages, and is conducted in 

Canada and therefore is not representative of people living in the United States. 

AVAILABILITY 

Information about the survey, including instruments and data files, can be found at the 

following web site: 

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/cgibin/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=4450&lang=en&db=imdb&adm=

8&dis=2 

 For further information about the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth 

contact: 

Statistics Canada 

100 Tunney's Pasture Driveway 

Ottawa, Ontario 

K1A 0T6 
28 

TITLE 

National Study of Child Care of Low-Income Families – Community Survey 

PURPOSE 

The National Study of Child Care of Low-Income Families – Community Survey was the 

second of three components of the National Study of Child Care of Low-Income Families. 

The Community Survey was a one-time random-digit-dial telephone survey of poor and 

near-poor families with working parents in 25 communities in 17 states. 

SPONSORSHIP 

The study was conducted by Abt Associates and the National Center for Children in 

Poverty at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health in New York City for 

the Administration for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human 

Services. 

DESIGN 

Starting with the sample of 100 counties/county groupings used by the 1990 National Child 

Care Survey, 80 were identified with a 1993 poverty rate for children greater than 13.8 

percent. When properly weighted, these 80 counties/county groups represent more than 90 

percent of poor children in the United States. The sample of 25 counties, selected randomly 

with probability of selection proportional to size, is a representative sample of the 80 

counties/county groupings. 

For the community survey, families in each of the 25 communities were selected by a 

random-digit dial (RDD) telephone survey. A total of 2,500 families (100 in each 

community) with children under the age of 13 in a nonparental care arrangement 

participated in an in-person interview. 

PERIODICITY 

The community survey was conducted over a 12-month period, beginning in August 2000 

and ending in July 2001. 

CONTENT 

The in-person interviews addressed questions relating to the type and number of 

nonparental care arrangements that low-income families use, what influences the choices 

that low-income families make about child care, the perception about availability of 

different kinds of child care, the proportion of family income spent on nonparental child 

care, and how the presence or absence of a child care subsidy affects parents’ child care 

decisions. 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

This study is directly related to the goals of the ECPP because it includes questions to 

parents about barriers to child care, whether the availability of child care affected their 
29

ability to work, and detailed information about the history of child care arrangements for 

the focal child. However, the survey is not nationally representative, and is limited to lowincome populations.

AVAILABILITY 

Information about the survey, including instruments and reports, can be found at the 

following web site: 

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/cc/nsc_low_income/index.html 

For further information about the National Study of Child Care of Low-Income Families, 

contact: 

Seth Chamberlain 

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 

Administration for Children and Families 

370 L’Enfant Promenade

7

th Floor West 

Washington, DC 20447 

(202) 260-2242 

Email: seth.chamberlain@acf.hhs.gov 
30 

TITLE 

The National Survey of America’s Families

PURPOSE 

The National Survey of America’s Families (NSAF) is a survey of the economic, health, and 

social characteristics of children, adults under the age of 65, and their families. The survey 

pays particular attention to low-income families, reporting on important aspects about their 

lives and how they differ from the lives of children and adults in families with higher 

incomes.

SPONSORSHIP 

The study was conducted by the Urban Institute and Child Trends, and sponsored by a 

number of private foundations. Westat conducted sampling and data collection for the study. 

DESIGN 

Sampling was done in a dual-frame design, with the main frame consisting of a random-digitdial telephone survey, and the supplemental frame of nontelephone households. The survey 

was conducted in three rounds. In round 1, in 1997, interviews were conducted with 75,437 

adults and about 34,439 children in 44,461 households. In round 2, in 1999, interviews were 

obtained for over 73,000 adults and almost 36,000 children in more than 42,000 households. 

In round three, in 2002, interviews were conducted for over 70,577 adults and 34,332 

children in over 43,000 households. Oversize samples were drawn in 13 states. The sample 

was representative of the civilian, noninstitutionalized population under age 65. A short 

screener interview was used to identify and sample households on the basis of age 

composition and household income. After the screener interview, telephone interviews were 

conducted using computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI). Interviews with 

respondents in nontelephone households were conducted using a cellular phone that was 

provided to them by the survey administrator to minimize the potential for mode effects, 

PERIODICITY 

Cross-sectional data were obtained in three rounds: February to November 1997, February 

to October 1999 and from February to October, 2002. 

CONTENT 

The survey contained several well-being measures having to do with economic security, 

health and health care, child’s education and cognitive and social development, child’s 

behavioral problems, and family and community environment. The survey was divided into 

the following topic areas: student status, parent/child/family interaction and education, 

household roster, child care, nonresidential parent/father, employment and earning, family 

income, welfare program participation, education and training, housing and economic 

hardship, and race and ethnicity. 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 
31

Although the 2002 survey does include new questions related to child care, it was not directly 

designed to measure this study topic. No future cycles are planned, so NSAF does not meet 

the NHES goal of measuring change over time. 

AVAILABILITY 

Current data are available and can be downloaded online: 

http://www.urban.org/center/anf/nsaf.cfm 

For more information, contact: 

Tim Triplett 

Survey Associate 

Assessing the New Federalism 

National Survey of America's Families 

The Urban Institute 

2100 M Street 

Washington, DC 20037 

202-261-5579

Email: ttriplet@ui.urban.org 
32 

TITLE 

The National Survey of Children’s Health

PURPOSE 

The National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) is a national telephone survey conducted 

every 4 years. It asks parents about a broad range of questions on children’s health and wellbeing, and is designed to allow for cross-state comparisons as well as national comparisons. 

It was first administered in 2003-2004 and the second administration was in 2007. 

SPONSORSHIP 

The study is funded by the Maternal Child Health Bureau of the U.S. Department of Health 

and Human Services. Sampling and telephone interviews were conducted by the National 

Center for Health Statistics. 

DESIGN 

The NSCH is a random-digit-dial telephone survey. Telephone numbers are randomly called 

to identify households which had children under the age of 18. A screener is administered 

and a child is selected at random among eligible children to be the focal child. A total of 

102,353 surveys were completed for children ages 0 to 17 in 2003-04; each of the 50 states 

had between 1,483 and 2,241 completed surveys. Final sample size for 2007 has not yet been 

released, however it is expected that the sample size will be slightly lower than that of the 

2003 survey. 

PERIODICITY 

The survey is scheduled to be repeated every four years. 

CONTENT 

The survey contains measures on children’s physical and mental health, health insurance 

status and type of coverage, access and use of health care, whether the child has a personal 

doctor or “medical home”, attendance at various types of nonparental care, hours per week 

spent in nonparental care (2003 only), parental reports on child development, difficulty 

finding child care, family health and activities, and child and family demographics. 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

The survey is a nationally representative sample of children and includes questions related to 

the ECPP. It is also scheduled to repeat every four years so there is the ability to monitor 

change over time. However, the NSCH does not collect detail on child care arrangements, 

parental choice in child care, parental employment, or data on emerging literacy and 

numeracy as is collected in the ECPP. 

AVAILABILITY 
33

Current data are available and can be downloaded online: 

http://www.nschdata.org 

For more information, contact: 

CAHMI – the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative

Oregon Health & Science University 

Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine 

707 SW Gaines Road, Mail Code CDRCP 

Portland, OR 97239-2998 

(503) 494-1930 

Email: CAHMI@ohsu.edu 
34 

TITLE 

National Survey of Families and Households 

PURPOSE 

The National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) investigated the causes and 

consequences of the major changes in U.S. patterns of fertility, marriage, mortality, 

migration, family composition, and household structure that have occurred over the past 

several decades. 

SPONSORSHIP 

The Social and Behavioral Sciences Branch, Center for Population Research, of the National 

Institute of Child Health and Human Development funded this survey. Staff at the Center 

for Demography and Ecology of the University of Wisconsin-Madison designed the survey 

and analyzed the information. Data were collected by The Institute for Survey Research at 

Temple University and the University of Wisconsin Survey Center. 

DESIGN 

The NSFH was conducted in three waves. A baseline wave (Wave 1) was conducted in 

1987-88, a follow-up (Wave 2) was conducted in 1992-94 and another follow-up (Wave 3) 

was conducted from 2001-2003. The target population consisted of people age 19 and older, 

who were living in households, and who could be interviewed in either English or Spanish 

at the time of the baseline interview. The main sample was a national probability sample of 

17,000 households from 100 sampling areas in the United States.

The sample size for Wave 1 was approximately 13,000 households. The overall sample 

included a core cross-section of households plus an oversampling of blacks, Puerto Ricans, 

Mexican Americans, single-parent families, families with stepchildren, cohabiting couples, 

and recently married couples. One adult per household was randomly selected as the primary 

respondent. Data were collected through personal interviews and self-administered forms. 

Spouses and cohabiting partners of primary respondents were given shorter self-administered 

questionnaires. 

In Wave 1, some information was obtained about each of the children in the household, and 

additional information was obtained about a selected "focal child." The focal child was 

chosen by listing the first names of all children in the household, and selecting the child 

whose name came first alphabetically. 

For Wave 2, about 10,000 surviving members of the original sample were interviewed in 

person. The following other interview components were also included for Wave 2: a personal 

interview with the current spouse or cohabiting partner of the primary respondent; a personal 

interview with the original spouse or partner of the primary respondent in cases where the 

relationship has ended; a telephone interview with the “focal children” who were age 13-18 

in Wave 1 and age 18-23 for Wave 2; a short telephone interview with “focal children” who 

were age 5-12 in Wave 1 and age 10-17 in Wave 2; short proxy interviews with a surviving 

spouse or other relative in cases where the original respondent had died or was too ill to 

interview; and a telephone interview with a randomly selected parent of a main respondent. 
35

 During Wave 3, 10,069 telephone interviews were conducted with a subset of Wave 1 

respondents. The instrument included the following components: a mid-to-later life sample 

of main respondents 45 and older with no “focal” children and a parent sample of young adult 

focal children and Wave 1 spouses or partners were interviewed. Proxy interviews were 

given to the spouse or partner if the main respondent was too ill to be interviewed. 

PERIODICITY 

Data collection took place in three waves. The first wave was from 1987-88, the second 

wave was from 1992-94 and the third wave was from 2001-2003.

CONTENT 

The questions included on this survey cover a very broad range of family-related topics. 

Those of relevance to NHES in Wave 1 included questions about children’s school 

attendance; grade repetition, behavior problems requiring a meeting, school suspension or 

expulsion; and emotional problems. Questions about children age 4 and younger included 

nursery and preschool participation, hours spent at programs, and how frequently the parent 

reads to the child. If the respondent was employed, there were questions about child care 

arrangements during working hours. For children age 5 through 11, parents were asked to 

assess their children's class ranking relative to other classmates and to state educational 

expectations for their children. 

In Wave 2, primary respondents were asked several questions about their children. For 

children age 5 to 17, respondents were asked about their children repeating grades in school, 

children’s behavior problems, educational expectations, and activities with their children, 

and involvement in the child’s school. For children under age 5, respondents were asked 

about long-lasting physical conditions, mental or emotional problems, readiness for 

kindergarten, behavior problems, television watching, and preschool participation. There 

were also questions regarding nonresident parents’ contact with children. 

In Wave 2, youth age 10 to 17 were also interviewed about several topics including having 

been a victim of stealing or having been threatened; fighting; grades in school; participation 

in school and community activities; expected educational attainment; cigarette, alcohol, and 

marijuana use; and contact with absent parents. Young adults age 18 to 23 were also 

interviewed about some educational issues, including receipt of high school diploma, 

expected educational attainment, postsecondary education, and degrees and certificates 

earned. 

In Wave 3 the content of the main respondent/spouse interview was similar to Wave 2. In 

Wave 3, the focal children ranged in age from 18 to 34. 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

Because this survey is based on a cohort of respondents in 1987-1988, the data are not 

appropriate for monitoring changes in educational issues over time among cross-sections 

of U.S. children and adults. Also, the substantive focus is not early childhood. Thus, the 

range of data available in ECPP is not fully represented in the NSFH. 

AVAILABILITY 
36 

The public use data tapes and associated documentation for all three waves are available. 

These can be accessed by FTP and the World Wide Web for no charge. Assistance with 

the data may be obtained by contacting: 

 National Survey of Families and Households 

 Center for Demography 

 University of Wisconsin 

1180 Observation Drive, Room 4412 

 Madison, WI 53706-1393

 Phone: (608) 262-1537

 Fax: (608) 262-8400

 Email: nsfhhelp@ssc.wisc.edu 

 For additional information about the survey online: 

 http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/nsfh/home.htm 
37

TITLE 

Panel Survey of Income Dynamics, Child Development Supplement 

PURPOSE 

The purpose of the Panel Survey of Income Dynamics (PSID) is to gather data on a broad 

variety on the dynamic aspects of economic and demographic behavior and social issues. The 

Child Development Supplement is meant to provide researchers with a comprehensive, 

nationally representative, and longitudinal data base of children and their families. 

SPONSORSHIP 

Major funding for the Panel Study of Income Dynamics comes from the National Science 

Foundation. Additional support comes from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for 

Planning and Evaluation, Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of 

Labor, the National Institute on Aging, the Office of Economic Opportunity, and the National 

Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Funding for the Child Development 

Supplement is primarily from the National Institute of Child Health and Human 

Development (NICHD) and its additional funds are provided by the William T. Grant 

Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the 

U.S. Department of Education. 

DESIGN

The original Panel Study of Income Dynamics sample consisted of two independent samples. 

The first an equal probability cross-sectional national sample of 3,000 drawn by the 

University of Michigan’s Survey Research Center, and the second is a sample of 2,000 lowincome families drawn from the Survey of Economic Opportunity conducted by the Census 

Bureau. I think we need to state when this began. 

This longitudinal study re-interviews the same individuals each year, following them through 

their life cycle. The study includes new family members as the individuals marry and have 

children. The survey collects data on all household members, but focuses primarily on the 

heads of household. The sample has grown to include information on 50,000 individuals 

spanning as much as 28 years of their lives. In 1997, the Child Development Supplement 

collected data on 0-12 year old children from a variety of sources, including parents, teachers, 

and the children themselves. There are approximately 2,500 families who participated in the 

research, and participants who are selected have been involved in at least one panel of Income 

Dynamics study. In 2002-2003, families were re-contacted if they had participated in the 

first Child Development Supplement and were in a PSID panel in 2001. The PSID was 

originally collected in face-to-face interviews using paper questionnaires. It then moved to 

computer assisted telephone interviewing in 1993. 

PERIODICITY 

The Panel Study of Income Dynamics has been conducted every year, since 1968. The first 

wave of the Child Development Supplement was fielded in 1997, the second wave occurred 

in 2002 and 2003, and a third wave occurred in 2007. 
38 

CONTENT 

The focus of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics is on economic and demographic 

information, including items such as income sources and amounts, employment, family 

composition changes, and demographic events. The Child Development Supplement serves 

to enhance the PSID by obtaining detailed data on items not generally included in the main 

database. The data supports studies of ways in which time, money, parenting and teaching 

styles, divorce, unemployment, etc. influence and affect children’s development cognitively, 

emotionally, and physically, and how this is buffered by family, school, and community. 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

Although there have been 31 data collections for the main database since 1968, the Child 

Development Supplement was first conducted in 1997. A second wave occurred between 

2002 and 2003, and a third wave was conducted in 2007. 

The substantive focus of the supplement is on school age children’s academic achievement 

and cognitive ability, social and emotional well being, and health. Thus, the study cannot 

provide information on topics covered by the ECPP, nor does it provide information on 

educational activities in the home. 

AVAILABILITY 

Current data is available and can be downloaded from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics 

web site at: 

 http://www.isr.umich.edu/src/psid 

 For information and inquires about the study, contact 

 PSID Staff 

 The Panel Study of Income Dynamics 

 Institute for Social Research 

 PO Box 1248 

 Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1248

Phone: (734) 763-5166

 Fax: (734) 647-4575

 Email: psidhelp@isr.umich.edu 
39

TITLE 

Partnership Impact Research Project 

PURPOSE 

The Partnership Impact Research Project was a three-year study designed to assess the nature 

of early education partnerships among Head Start, pre-kindergarten (pre-k), child care, and 

early care and education programs and their influence on child care quality and access to 

services. During the longitudinal study, original data collection was used to learn about 

the accessibility of services for parents whose children attended a child care center. 

SPONSORSHIP 

Funding for the Partnership Impact Research Project was provided by the Child Care Bureau 

of the Administration for Children and Families of the U.S. Department of Health and Human 

Services. The study was conducted by the Education Development Center. 

DESIGN 

Year one of the study focused on a qualitative analysis to explain partnership approaches 

at the state and local levels and involved two case studies, one at the state level and one at 

the provider level. In years two and three of the study, parents whose children attended the 

child care centers being studied were interviewed about their opinions regarding the quality 

of care their child received. A total of 1,691 parents responded to the survey. The sample 

was derived from a convenience sample selected to ensure a broad range of perspectives and 

to ensure methodological soundness. It used a mixed-mode approach combining mail 

questionnaires, telephone interviews, and face-to-face interviews. 

PERIODICITY 

The Partnership Impact Research Project was conducted once between 2001 to 2004. 

CONTENT 

The parent survey of the Partnership Impact Research Project included measures on 

parents’ views of the child care center their child attended. It provides information about 

the population being served through child care centers, including home/school connection, 

how a parent views the classroom and the care being provided by the center, and the 

services available to both the child and parent through the center. 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

While the Partnership Impact Research Project includes measures relevant to the content of 

the ECPP, it is not nationally representative and does not include multiple data collection 

periods so that change over time can be measured. 

AVAILABILITY 
40 

Current data is available and can be downloaded from the Inter-University Consortium for 

Political and Social Research: 

http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/cocoon/ICPSR/STUDY/04298.xml 

 For information and inquires about the study, contact 

 Diane Schilder 

 Senior Research Associate 

 Center for Children and Families 

 55 Chapel St. 

 Newton, MA 02458 

Phone: (617) 969-7100
41

TITLE 

Survey of Income and Program Participation– Child Care Topical Component 

PURPOSE 

The Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) is a multipanel longitudinal survey 

of adults, measuring their economic and demographic characteristics over a period of 2 1/2 

years. The Child Care Topical Module of SIPP is designed to establish an ongoing database 

of child care statistics at the national level. 

SPONSORSHIP 

The topical module is funded and conducted by the U.S. Bureau of the Census. An Advisory 

Panel with representatives from selected Federal agencies oversees the questionnaire design 

and decides the frequency of interviewing. 

DESIGN 

The SIPP survey is based on a multistage stratified sample of the non-institutional resident 

population of the U.S. The survey universe includes persons living in households plus those 

persons living in group quarters such as dormitories and rooming houses. The first stage of 

sampling involves the definition of primary sampling units (PSUs), which are counties or 

groups of counties. Those with similar key socioeconomic characteristics are grouped 

together into strata and one sample PSU is selected from each stratum. The PSUs used for 

SIPP are a subsample of those used in the Current Population Survey (CPS). The second 

stage of sampling is the selection of households. To arrive at this sample, geographic units 

called "enumeration districts" (EDs), with an average of 350 housing units, are sampled from 

each PSU. Within each selected ED, two or four living quarters or “ultimate sampling units,” 

are systematically selected. 

The topical module on child care is asked of respondents who are the designated parents or 

guardians of children under 15 who are living in the sampled household. In the first 

administration of the module (1984 panel, wave 5), the respondents (usually mothers) had to 

be employed outside the home. In subsequent panels, the respondents were either working 

or enrolled in school. Computer-assisted interviewing is used to collect the data. The 

questions asked of respondents in each panel pertain only to the three youngest children 

living in the household under 15 years of age. Child care data concerning approximately 

5,400 children have been collected at each time of administration. 

PERIODICITY 

The first SIPP panel began in 1984 and a new panel has been introduced in February of each 

year. For each panel, the child care module has been administered in at least one wave of the 

survey. Each wave of interviewing is consecutive and lasts 4 months: Wave 1 begins in 

February and ends in May; Wave 2 begins in June and ends in September, etc. Each 

household in a panel is interviewed once each wave, so that each household is interviewed 

once every 4 months over a period of 3 years. The child care module was administered for 

each panel as follows: 1984 panel, wave 5; 1985 panel, wave 6; 1986 panel, waves 3 and 6; 

1987 panel, waves 3 and 6; 1988 panel, waves 3 and 6; 1989 panel, wave 3; 1990 panel, wave 

3; 1991 panel, wave 3; 1992 panel, waves 6 and 9; 1993 panel, waves 3 and 6; 1996 panel 
42 

wave 4; 2001 panel, wave 4; and 2004 panel waves 4 and 8. The child care module is 

currently being designed for a future administration of SIPP. 

CONTENT 

The SIPP child care module obtains basic information on child care arrangements for 

children during the time when respondents are working or are in school. Questions 

specifically concern the month prior to the interview. For each of the three youngest children, 

the respondent is asked about the main type of arrangement used (that is, the one where the 

child was cared for during most of the hours that the respondent worked or was in class), 

when the child was usually cared for under the arrangement, and the number of hours per 

week the child usually spent in the arrangement. Information about the type and location of 

the second major type of arrangement is also gathered. Respondents are then asked about 

the total cost of child care arrangements in a typical week, and whether they have made any 

noncash payments. They are also asked if either they or their spouses have lost time from 

work because the person responsible for taking care of their children was not available. 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

Up to 1996, the SIPP data regarding child care were not representative of all children. Until 

that time, the SIPP child care module was administered only when the respondent (usually 

the mother) was employed or in school. Also, arrangements made by families in which the 

mother is at home are not considered in SIPP, and the care arrangements discussed are only 

those that overlap the mother’s hours of employment or school, rather than any nonparental 

care arrangements. Also, fathers are included among child care providers in the SIPP, so the 

concept used is different than the nonparental child care concept in the ECCP. Further, while 

SIPP includes information on child care, the survey does not collect information on any other 

topics that are proposed for the ECPP survey. 

AVAILABILITY 

 For substantive questions on the child care topical module, contact: 

Lynda Laughlin 

U.S. Bureau of the Census 

4600 Silver Hill Road 

Washington, DC 20233 

301-763-2422 

hhes.sipp.survey@census.gov 

For information on the SIPP Child Care module and data access, visit the web site: 

http://www.sipp.census.gov/sipp/sipphome.htm 
43

TITLE 

Survey of Program Dynamics (SPD) 

PURPOSE 

The Survey of Program Dynamics was created to assess how the Personal Responsibility 

and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 impacted household that were 

previously interviewed in the 1992 and 1993 Survey of Income and Program Participation 

(SIPP) panels. The SPD will simultaneously describe the full range of state welfare 

programs along with social, economic, demographic and family changes that will help or 

limit the effectiveness of the reforms. 

SPONSORSHIP 

The SPD was ordered by Congress in 1996 and was been implemented by the U.S. Census 

Bureau. 

DESIGN 

The SPD is based on the 1992 and 1993 SIPP panels, which was a multistage, stratified 

sample of the U.S. noninstitutionalized, civilian population. In addition to core questions on 

children’s school enrollment, participation in nonparental care, and enrichment activities, the 

1999 SPD included a series of questions designed to measure child well-being. For the 1999 

SPD, Census Bureau representatives conducted in-person interviews at 16,659 eligible 

households. 

PERIODICITY 

The SPD was conducted yearly between 1997 and 2002, and was intended to create a 10-

year longitudinal database consisting of information collected in the 1992 administration of 

SIPP through the 2002 administration of SPD. The 1999 survey had a series of questions on 

child well-being. 

CONTENT 

The content of the SPD between 1997 and 2002 includes questions on the economic, 

demographic, and social characteristics of those interviewed. Information about children 

is also collected, including their school enrollment and enrichment activities, disability, 

health care, child care arrangements, contact with an absent parent, and payment of child 

support on their behalf. In 1999, the SPD included additional questions on children’s 

extended measures of well-being, positive behavior/social competence, and conflict 

between parents. 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

The SPD contains information directly related to the topics scheduled to be covered in the 

ECPP. However, the data are relatively old and there are no current plans for future 

administrations of the SPD. 

 
44 

AVAILABILITY 

 For more information on the SPD, including data files and publications, please visit: 

http://www.census.gov/spd/ 

Email: dsd.survey.of.program.dynamics@census.gov 
45

TITLE 

Women’s Employment Study

PURPOSE 

The Women’s Employment Study was a five-wave panel study of mothers who were current 

or former welfare recipients in an urban county in Michigan. The study examined barriers 

to employment among welfare mothers. Its purpose was to identify the key factors that 

enable welfare recipients to remain employed and enable social service providers to better 

assess client needs and design targeted short-term and long-term service program 

components 

SPONSORSHIP 

The Women’s Employment Study was funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the 

Joyce Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the National Institute 

of Child Health and Development, and the National Institute of Mental health. It was carried 

out by the University of Michigan’s Survey Research Center. 

DESIGN 

The Women’s Employment Study was a random sample of 753 single mothers on welfare 

who lived in an urban Michigan area. To be eligible for the study, the women had to be U.S. 

citizens, and white (non-Hispanic) or African-American. In-person interviews were 

conducted on a comprehensive set of barriers to employment, such as schooling, work 

experience, work readiness, job skills and credentials, experiences of employment 

discrimination and harassment, physical and mental health status, alcohol and drug use, 

family stresses including child well-being, experiences of domestic violence, and 

experiences in welfare-to work services and training programs. Questions such as the 

extent and prevalence of multiple barriers to work and co-morbidity among barriers, which 

barriers or combinations reduce wage growth, how barriers change as work and welfare 

status changes, and how barriers and welfare-to-work program participation are related, 

were also examined. 

PERIODICITY 

The first wave of the study was conducted in 1997, and subsequent follow-ups were 

conducted in 1998, 1999, 2001, and 2003. 

CONTENT 

The Women’s Employment Study analyzed the ways in which labor market, mental health, 

physical health, and family problems affect a woman’s ability to obtain and retain 

employment over time. Content related to child care included child care as a barrier to 

employment, number of current child care arrangements, type of child care used, and 

satisfaction with and concerns about care. 
46 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

The Women’s Employment Study contains topics directly related to those covered in the 

ECPP. However, the small sample size and limited sample population does not allow for the 

estimates produced by the data to be generalized to the general population. 

 

AVAILABILITY 

For more information on the Women’s Employment Study, please contact:

 Sheldon Danziger 

 University of Michigan 

 540 E. Liberty St. 

 Suite 202 

 Ann Arbor, MI 48502 

 

 Phone: (734) 998-8505 

 Email: sheldond@umich.edu 

http://www.fordschool.umich.edu/research/poverty/wes/ 

http://www.researchforum.org/project_general_100.html 
47

PARENT AND FAMILY INVOLVEMENT IN EDUCATION (PFI)
48 

This page is intentionally blank. 
49

TITLE 

National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Children and Young Adults Survey 

PURPOSE 

 The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) is a multi-purpose panel 

survey which began with a nationally representative sample of over 12,000 men and 

women who were between the ages of 14 and 22 years of age on December 31, 1978. Its 

main purpose is to follow labor force activities. 

 A separate survey, the NLSY79 Children and Young Adults, began in 1986 as an offshoot 

of the NLSY79 to collect information on all children born to NLSY79 female respondents. 

The purpose of the survey includes making assessments of each child's development and 

obtaining other demographic information. This data includes information on child-parent 

interaction, attitudes toward schooling and health and substance use. For children age 15 

and older, data is collected on schooling, training, work experiences, health, and dating. 

 

SPONSORSHIP 

The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) is sponsored by the Bureau of Labor 

Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor 

DESIGN 

 For the sampling of NLSY79, a group of housing units was selected based on a stratified 

multistage area probability sampling method in order to accurately reflect different 

characteristics of the population such as race, income, and region. Then screener surveys 

used to select eligible interviewees were administered in person at sampled households.

Computer-assisted personal interviews (CAPI) are conducted in-person by an interviewer 

except for self-administered surveys. Most of the female respondents were between the 

ages of 43 to 51 in 2008. 

 For the NLSY79 Children and Young Adults survey, many of the assessments and much 

of the supplemental information have been collected from the child's mother if children are 

younger than 10. For children aged 10 and older, information has been collected from the 

children. 

PERIODICITY 

 Participants in the NLSY79 were interviewed annually from 1979 through 1994 and are 

currently interviewed on a biennial basis. 

 The NLSY79 Children and Young Adults survey was initiated in 1986. For children aged 

10 and older, information has been collected biennially from the children since 1988. Since 

1994, children aged 15 and older information have completed more extensive interviews 

biennially. 

 

The main focus of NLSY79 is to collect information on labor force activities. It contains 

detailed information on work history and job characteristics such as hours worked, 

earnings, occupation, industry, and benefits. The strength of the data is that some 
50 

information such as work history, marital status, fertility and participation in government 

assistance programs, are collected in an event history format reporting the beginning and 

ending dates of different life events. The survey also includes questions on educational 

attainment, training, income, health conditions, workplace injuries, alcohol and substance 

abuse, and sexual activity. 

 For the NLSY79 Children and Young Adults survey, child demographics, family 

background characteristics, and a health history and information on the child’s home 

environment have been collected from the mother for children that were younger than 10 

years old. Children aged 10 and older are assessed on child-parent interaction, and attitudes 

on topics such as schooling, dating patterns, and health. For children aged 15 and older, a 

child interview is conducted that includes attitudes towards schooling, training, work, 

health and dating. A self-reported confidential supplement is also administered to gather 

information regarding parent-child conflict, participation in delinquent or criminal 

activities and use of controlled and uncontrolled substances. 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

 Similar to the PFI, the NLSY79 Children and Young Adults survey covers a wide range of 

topics related to child parent interaction and the child’s environment. However, it covers a 

much broader range of topics not restricted to education, and less detail on educational 

involvement than the PFI. The biennial sample of children is approximately half that 

anticipated for the PFI. Furthermore, later rounds of the survey include a greater proportion 

of older children in the sample since the mothers have been reaching the end of their 

childbearing years. As a result, it is possible that the younger children are more likely to 

belong to middle class families where women have children at later ages. Therefore, 

comparisons of children of different ages need to be done cautiously. Since it is a 

longitudinal survey, the NLSY does not provide trend data on parent and family 

involvement like the PFI. 

AVAILABILITY 

 For more information on Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 

concerning data and documentation, contact the following 

 NLS Users Services 

 Center for Human Resources Research (CHRR) 

921 Chatham Lane, Suite 100 

 Columbus, OH 43221-2418 USA 

 Phone: (614) 442-7366 

 Fax: (614) 442 7329 

Email: usersvc@postoffice.chrr.ohio-state.edu 

 http://www.bls.gov/nls/nlsy79ch.htm 

 http://www.nlsinfo.org 

 
51

Data from the Child and Young Adult survey are available as a free download online at 

the following web site: 

 http://www.bls.gov/nls 
52 

TITLE 

National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 Cohort 

PURPOSE 

The purpose of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 Cohort (NLSY97) is to 

collect information on the processes of moving from school to work among youth in the 

U.S. and to identify strengths and weaknesses in these processes. A particular goal is to 

identify the causes of difficulties some youths have in making the school-to-work 

transition. It collects extensive information about youths' labor market behavior and 

educational experiences over time. 

SPONSORSHIP 

 The NLSY97 is sponsored by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

DESIGN 

The sample for the NLSY97 includes about 9,000 youth that were age 12 to 16 years old 

as of December 31, 1996. These youth were representative of a national sample of U.S. 

residents in 1997 who were born between 1980 and 1984. Over 75,000 households were 

screened in 147 primary sampling units (i.e., a metropolitan area, nonmetropolitan area, a 

single county or group of counties). In addition to the cross-sectional sample, oversamples 

of black and Hispanic youth were included. 

During Round 1 of the survey, which took place in 1997, both the eligible youth and one 

of that youth's parents completed hour-long in-person interviews in the youth's home using 

Computer-Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) methods. Youth also completed a selfadministered survey that contained potentially sensitive questions. In addition, during the 

screening process, an extensive two-part questionnaire was administered that listed and 

gathered demographic information on members of the youth's household and on his or her 

immediate family members living elsewhere. 

PERIODICITY 

The data collection for the NLSY97 started in 1997. Follow-up interviews with youths 

have been conducted yearly. 

CONTENT 

The study collects information annually about youths' educational and employment 

experiences. Data on employment include employment status, characteristics of their jobs, 

work-related training, school-to-work program and their labor market behavior. 

Educational data include youths' performance on standardized tests, course of study, 

transcripts, and the timing and types of degrees although the transcript information has 

missing data. Additionally, the NLSY97 contains information on many other topics such 

as youths' relationships with parents, contact with absent parents, marital and fertility 

histories, dating, sexual activity, onset of puberty, training, participation in government 

assistance programs, expectations, time use, criminal behavior, and alcohol and drug use. 
53

Certain areas of the survey that are potentially sensitive, such as sexual activity and 

criminal behavior, comprise the self-administered portion of the interview. 

The first round of the NLSY97 contains a parent questionnaire that generates information 

about the youths' family background and history. Information in the parent questionnaire 

includes: parents' marital and employment histories, relationship with spouse or partner, 

ethnic and religious background, health (parents and child), household income and assets, 

participation in government assistance programs, youths' early child-care arrangements, 

custody arrangement for youth, child's school history and parent expectations about the 

youth. 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

Although the survey includes factors that have been found to affect educational outcomes 

such as the quality of parent-child relationships, family stability and structure, and parental 

marital quality, the coverage of the topics directly related to the PFI is limited because of 

its substantive focus on “school-to-work” issues. The age range of students included is 

also limited relative to students included in NHES. Additionally, since it is a longitudinal 

survey, the NLSY does not provide trend data on parent and family involvement like the 

PFI. 

AVAILABILITY 

For more information on the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 concerning 

data and documentation, contact: 

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 

National Longitudinal Survey Program 

Employment Research and Program Development 

Suite 4945 

2 Massachusetts Ave., NE 

Washington, DC 20212-0001 

 Telephone: (202) 691-7410 

Fax: (202) 691-7425 

Email: nls_info@bls.gov 

For general information on the NLSY online: 

http://www.bls.gov/nls/nlsy97.htm 
54 

TITLE 

The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Cohort 

PURPOSE 

The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K) has two 

purposes: descriptive and analytic. It provides descriptive data on a national basis of 

children’s status at entry into school, their transition into school, and their progression 

through eighth grade. This data set enables researchers to study how a wide range of 

family, school, community, and individual variables affect early success in school. 

SPONSORSHIP 

ECLS-K is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Health 

and Human Services, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

DESIGN 

A nationally representative sample of approximately 22,000 children enrolled in about 

1,000 kindergarten programs during the 1998-99 school year was selected for participation 

in the study. ECLS-K used a multi-stage sampling method. The primary sampling units 

were geographic areas (i.e., a group of counties) and the second-stage units were schools 

that were selected based on the 1995-96 CCD Public School Universe File. The sample is 

designed to support separate estimates of public and private school kindergartners; black, 

Hispanic, white, and Asian children; and children by socioeconomic status. Data were 

collected from the individual child, the child’s parents/guardians, teachers, and school 

using mixed modes. Measures of a child’s cognitive skills are obtained through a one-onone assessment of the child, conducted at the child’s school. Additional information was 

collected from telephone interviews conducted with the parent each time children were 

assessed. If a parent did not have a telephone, an in-person interview was conducted. 

Teachers completed self-administered questionnaires each time children were assessed 

(with the exception of the fall of first grade). School administrators, principals, and 

headmasters were asked to complete self-administered questionnaires during each of the 

spring data collections. 

PERIODICITY 

Data on the kindergarten cohort were collected twice during the base year of the study--

once during the beginning and once near the end of the school year. In the fall of the 1999-

2000 school year, when most of the cohort moved to the first grade, data were collected 

from a 30 percent subsample of the cohort. In the spring of first grade, data were once 

again collected from the entire sample, their parents, teachers, and school administrators. 

In 2002 (third grade year), 2004 (fifth grade year), and 2007 (eighth grade year) child 

assessments were conducted and parent, teacher and school administrators completed 

interviews in the spring. 

CONTENT 

The main components of the child assessment focus on the child’s physical and 

psychomotor development, social and emotional development, and cognitive development 
55

in reading, arithmetic, and general knowledge. Characteristic of the children, their 

families, their schools, kindergarten programs, and classrooms are collected to examine the 

status of children at entry into kindergarten, the expectations of schools about what skills, 

behaviors and attributes are necessary, and how children fare in the new environment. 

Another set of issues looks at the family and community in which children live by focusing 

on the resources of the family, the home environment, and the community within which 

the schools must operate. The study also examines the roles that parents and families play 

in preparing for and supporting their children’s education and how families, schools, and 

communities interact to support children’s education. In particular, the Parental 

Involvement section includes a series of questions about the types of school activities 

parents attended, barriers to participating such activities as well as school choice. 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

The ECLS-K contains many items from prior NHES parent interviews that will likely be a 

part of the upcoming PFI. Both studies are interested in examining the role of the home 

environment and parent involvement in children’s outcomes. The sample for the ECLS-K 

consists of a single cohort of children in kindergarten through the eighth grade, whereas 

the PFI survey will include a much wider grade range. The PFI will allow for research to 

be conducted on changes in levels of parent involvement from kindergarten to the 12th

grade. The PFI will also allow for information on the home environment to be collected 

for children who are home-schooled (ECLS-K is limited to children enrolled in a school at 

the time of the initial data collection. Those who were home-schooled at later rounds were 

marked as 'inapplicable' for school related questions). 

AVAILABILITY 

Data and documentation for the kindergarten, first grade, third grade, and fifth grade years, 

as well as three longitudinal data files (kindergarten through first grade, kindergarten through 

third grade, and kindergarten through fifth grade) are available via CD-ROM from the 

National Center for Education Statistics. 

 The web site for ECLS-K is: 

 http://nces.ed.gov/ecls/Kindergarten.asp 

For more information on this survey, contact 

 Chris Chapman 

National Center for Education Statistics 

1990 K Street, NW 

Room 9042 

Washington, DC 20006 

(202) 502-7414 

Email: Chris.Chapman@ed.gov 
56 

TITLE 

The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Cohort of 2010-11 

PURPOSE 

The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Cohort of 2010-11 (ECLS-K:11) 

will provide data on a national basis of children’s status at entry into school, their transition 

into school, and their progression through fifth grade. This data set enables researchers to 

study how a wide range of family, school, community, and individual variables affect early 

success in school. 

SPONSORSHIP 

ECLS-K:11 is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of 

Health and Human Services, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

DESIGN 

The ECLS-K:11 will survey a nationally representative sample of children attending both 

full-day and part-day kindergarten in either public or private schools in 2010-2011. 

Children's parents, teachers, schools and providers will also provide information on 

children's cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development. 

Trained field staff will conduct direct assessment of children in their schools and telephone 

interviews with their parents. Teachers and school administrators will be contacted and 

asked to complete questionnaires. Before- and after-school care providers will also be 

interviewed. 

PERIODICITY 

Data collections are currently planned to occur in the fall and the spring of kindergarten 

(2010-2011), the spring of 1st grade (2012), the spring of 2nd grade (2013), the spring of 

3rd grade (2014), the spring of 4th grade (2015), and the spring of 5th grade (2016). Prior 

to the base year collection of the ECLS-K:11, a field test will be conducted with children 

and their teachers for the development of new survey items. 

CONTENT 

In addition to data on children's cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development, 

the data will also include information on children's home environment, home educational 

activities, school environment, classroom environment, classroom curriculum, teacher 

qualifications, and before- and after-school care. 

The ECLS-K:11 will differ from the previous ECLS studies in that it provides data 

relevant to emerging policy-related issues such as No Child Left Behind legislation, 

increasing school choice, and a rise in English language learners. ECLS-K:11 together 

with the original ECLS-K will allow comparisons between two cohorts experiencing 

different political, educational, social and demographic environments. 
57

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

The ECLS-K:11 Parent Interview will contain some items on family involvement that will 

likely be a part of the PFI interview. The studies share an interest in children’s 

developmental status at school entry and early school experiences and their home activities 

with parents. In particular, the test fielding of the new questions updated to more recent 

educational issues such as school choice would provide useful information for the PFI. The 

PFI survey will provide data on a nationally representative sample of children enrolled in 

kindergarten through 12th grade, in regular school or homeschool, whereas the ECLS-K is 

limited to a single cohort of children who are going to be kindergartners in 2010-2011. 

AVAILABILITY 

Data and reports are not yet available. 

 The web site for ECLS-K is: 

 http://nces.ed.gov/ecls/Kindergarten2010.asp 

 For general information on this survey, contact 

Chris Chapman 

National Center for Education Statistics 

1990 K Street, NW 

Room 9042 

Washington, DC 20006 

(202) 502-7414 

Email: Chris.Chapman@ed.gov 

 Or, 

Gail M. Mulligan 

Project Officer, ECLS-K:11 

National Center for Education Statistics 

1990 K Street, NW 

Room 9086 

Washington, DC 20006 

(202) 502-7491 

Email: Gail.Mulligan@ed.gov 
58 

TITLE 

Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 

PURPOSE 

This study monitors the transition of a national sample of tenth graders as they move 

through high school and on to postsecondary education or enter the work force. 

SPONSORSHIP 

 The National Center for Education Statistics sponsors the project. 

DESIGN 

 The Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 is comprised of three waves of data collection. 

A baseline survey (Wave 1) was conducted in the spring of 2002 and follow-up surveys 

were conducted in 2004 (Wave 2) and 2006 (Wave 3). This longitudinal study reinterviews the same individuals each wave. Future waves of data collection are planned 

for either 2010 or 2012. 

 In Wave 1, the sample size consisted of over 15,000 high school sophomore students and 

their parents, approximately 10,000 teachers, 750 principals, librarians and survey 

administrators. Sophomores completed cognitive tests in reading and math and one parent 

was surveyed for each student. Questionnaires were also completed by English and math 

teachers. 

 Schools were selected first, and then tenth-grade students were randomly selected within 

each school. Oversampling occurred for some population groups, i.e. Asian Americans so 

that comparisons would be valid between African Americans, Asians, Hispanics and 

whites. 

In Wave 2, most sampled students were seniors, however some students were in other 

grades or had dropped out of school. The same 750 schools were sampled, with separate 

follow-ups for dropouts and a sample of transfer students. High school transcripts and 

school records for grades 9-12 were also examined. 

In Wave 3, follow-up interviews were conducted using multiple modes such as web-based 

self-administered interviews, CATI (computer-assisted) telephone or personal interviews. 

Many cohort members were either receiving post-secondary education or employed. 

PERIODICITY 

 A representative sample of sophomore high school students was surveyed in 2002. A 

sample of the original respondents was reinterviewed through a follow-up in 2004 and 

2006. One additional follow-up is scheduled for 2010. 

CONTENT 

The study focused on identifying school attributes that determine achievement, parent and 

community involvement in student achievement and factors influencing students to 
59

dropout of school. Cognitive growth is assessed along with the issue of access to 

educational programs. The transition of students from high school to work or postsecondary education was also examined. The additional follow-up will provide students’ 

later outcomes such as attainment in higher education and their transition to employment. 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

Data from the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 focuses on a cohort of secondary 

students, while the PFI measures changes in educational issues over time among crosssections of children from enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade. 

AVAILABILITY 

 Additional information summarizing the study and the survey instruments is available on 

the following web site: 

 http://www.nces.ed.gov/surveys/els2002 

 For more information on this survey, contact 

 John G. Wirt 

National Center for Education Statistics 

1990 K Street, NW 

Room 9028 

Washington, DC 20006 

(202) 502-7478 

 Email: John.Wirt@ed.gov 
60 

TITLE 

Family Involvement in Education: A National Portrait 

PURPOSE 

The purpose of the study was to examine how schools, parents, and employers work together 

to improve education. 

SPONSORSHIP 

The study was sponsored by the Partnership for Family Involvement in Education, the GTE 

Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Education. 

DESIGN 

Respondents were drawn from the General Social Survey (GSS 1996), a nationally 

representative sample of households. The total GSS sample was 3,814; with 2,904 of these 

cases interviewed. From this number, the National Portrait sample was drawn. Respondents 

were selected if a child aged 5 –14 was in the household at the time of the interview, and if 

the screener did not indicate an adult other than the respondent as the child’s primary 

caretaker. 

Data were collected in May and June 1997, through computer-assisted telephone 

interviewing (CATI). The eligible sample totaled 523. Of this number, 376 parents actually 

completed interviews, for a response rate of 71.5 percent. 

PERIODICITY 

Family Involvement in Education: A National Portrait was a one-time national study in 

1997; there are no plans for future administrations. 

CONTENT 

The study focused on the following areas: how parents feel about their opportunities to be 

involved in their children’s schooling, how schools encourage parental involvement in 

students’ learning, what additional educational resources parents value, and how and what 

schools communicate to parents about students’ learning. A portion of the study addressed 

before- and after-school arrangements and parents’ views on program quality and desirable 

program features. 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

This survey contained many items that are relevant to the purposes of the PFI. However, 

the age range is not as wide as that planned for the PFI. In addition, the sample size for the 

study was much smaller than that of the PFI. 
61

AVAILABILITY 

 For information on the Family Involvement in Education study, contact: 

 Adriana de Kanter 

 Department of Education

 Office of the Secretary 

 400 Maryland Avenue, SW. 

 Room Number 6W312 

 Washington, DC 20202 

 (202) 401-0272
62 

TITLE 

Hand in Hand National Parent Survey 

PURPOSE 

The survey was part of a larger initiative called "Hand in Hand: Parents, Schools, 

Communities United for Kids," a national campaign to build and strengthen partnerships 

to improve the education of all children. The larger initiative has four major elements: a 

parents' survey to determine how parents perceive their roles and to examine parent 

involvement; an effort to increase public awareness through a national media campaign; 

work to encourage businesses to provide flex or paid leave policies so that employees can 

visit schools during the day; and participation in the Partnership for Family Involvement, 

a joint program of the U.S. Department of Education and the National Coalition for Parent 

Involvement in Education (NCPIE). Hand in Hand was developed as a response to Goal 8 

of the National Education Goals 2000. It was established to share information about 

programs that expect, value, and nurture the family and community role in children's 

learning. 

SPONSORSHIP 

Hand in Hand was funded by the Mattel Foundation and coordinated by the Institute for 

Educational Leadership. The study was conducted by Marttila & Kiley, Inc., a national 

research firm based in Boston, MA 

DESIGN 

The survey was conducted with 1,032 parents of primary-school children in grades K 

through 6. Group discussions among parents of children in the same grade levels were also 

conducted. 

PERIODICITY 

This was a one time survey conducted between June 25 and July 9, 1995. 

CONTENT 

The study included items about parents' opinions about the importance of their involvement 

at home, at school, and with their children's schoolwork. Questions were also asked about 

school meeting attendance, the frequency with which parents spoke to teachers, 

involvement in homework, and barriers to involvement. 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

This survey has many items that are relevant to the purposes of the PFI. However, the age 

range is not as wide as that planned for the PFI. In addition, the sample size for the study 

was much smaller than that of the PFI. Also, as the study was conducted only once in 

1995, it does not meet the NHES goal of measuring change over time. 
63

AVAILABILITY 

Information about the study is available at the web site: 

http://www.mattel.com/about_us/Comm_Involvement/ci_mcf_hist1.asp 
64 

TITLE 

Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey 

PURPOSE 

Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) is a national longitudinal study 

of the cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development of Head Start children; the 

characteristics, well-being, and accomplishments of families; the observed quality of Head 

Start classrooms; and the characteristics, needs and opinions of Head Start teachers. 

SPONSORSHIP 

The FACES study is currently conducted by Mathematica Policy Research for the 

Commissioner’s Office of Research and Evaluation in the Administration on Children, 

Youth, and Families, DHHS. 

DESIGN 

The original cohort of FACES (1997) had six phases of data collection using personal 

interviews and in-person child assessments. FACES uses a multistage sample selection of 

(1) programs, (2) centers, (3) classrooms, and (4) children. The sampling frame of Head 

Start programs was created based on the Head Start Program Information Report (PIR). 

The first phase involved a spring 1997 field test in which approximately 2,400 children and 

parents were studied in a nationally stratified random sample of 40 Head Start programs. 

The second and third phases of FACES occurred in fall 1997 (Wave One) and spring 1998 

(Wave Two) when data were collected on a sample of 3,200 children and families in the 

same 40 Head Start programs. Spring 1998 data collection included assessments of both 

Head Start children completing the program and Head Start graduates completing 

kindergarten (kindergarten field test), as well as interviews with their parents and ratings 

by their kindergarten teachers. The fourth phase occurred in spring 1999 with data 

collection in the 40 Head Start programs, plus a kindergarten follow-up for children who 

completed Head Start in spring 1998. The fifth phase in spring 2000 completed the 

kindergarten follow-up for the children completing Head Start in spring 1999 and first 

graders who completed Head Start in 1998. The sixth phase in spring 2001 completed the 

first grade follow-up for the children who completed Head Start in spring 1999. An 

additional feature of FACES 1997 was the validation sub-study or embedded case study of 

a longitudinal sample of 120 randomly selected families from the larger FACES sample 

(three families from each of the 40 FACES sites were selected). 

Four cohorts of FACES have been fielded to date – FACES 1997, 2000, 2003, and 2006. 

Each cohort has included a nationally representative sample of Head Start children and 

their families. The subsequent cohorts have followed a similar study design. 

PERIODICITY 

The study was launched in 1997, as described above. A new national cohort of FACES 

was launched in fall 2000, with a sample of 2,800 children entering Head Start and their 

families in 43 new Head Start programs. The 2000 study involved data collection in the 

fall and spring of the Head Start year, spring of the second Head Start year (for children 

who spent two years in Head Start), and spring of the children’s kindergarten year.. The 
65

data also includes information on their kindergarten enrollment in spring 2002 and spring 

2003. The third FACES cohort was launched in fall 2003 with a sample of 2,400 children 

entering Head Start and their families in 63 new Head Start programs. The 2003 study 

involved data collection in the fall and spring of the head Start year, spring of the second 

Head Start year (for children who spent two years in Head Start), and spring of the 

children’s kindergarten year. The fourth FACES cohort was launched in fall 2006 with a 

nationally representative sample of children entering Head Start and their families in 60 

new Head Start programs. The 2006 study is ongoing, and involves four rounds of data 

collection – fall and spring of children’s first Head Start year, spring of the second head 

Start year for children who were 3 years old at the time the sample was selected, and spring 

of the children’s kindergarten year.

CONTENT 

The study’s main data components consist of three chronological parent interviews: the 

Head Start parent interview, the kindergarten parent interview, and the first grade parent 

interview. Each interview collects information on the family’s demographics, including 

employment and income, and home and neighborhood characteristics. The interviews also 

collect information regarding the child’s behavior and activities, caregiver, and disabilities. 

Other topics include: parent’s feelings and satisfaction level with Head Start, home safety, 

family health care, and community services. The first grade parent interview was excluded 

from the FACES 2000, 2003 and 2006 surveys. 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

The FACES questionnaires contain items about family involvement, many of which are 

similar to the PFI. The FACES sample is, however, limited to cohorts of children in 

preschool through the 1st grade and includes only those in Head Start programs. 

AVAILABILITY 

 For more information on the FACES study, contact: 

Maria Woolverton 

Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation 

Administration for Children and Families 

Division of Child and Family Development 

370 L’Enfant Promenade SW 

7

th Floor West 

Washington, DC 20201 

(202) 205-4039 

Email: mwoolverton@acf.hhs.gov 

 

 The FACES datasets and reports are archived by Research Connections, a web-based 

clearinghouse the offers a collection of more than 10,000 resources from the many disciplines 

related to child care and early education. 
66 

Its website is: 

 

http://www.researchconnections.org 

The FACES instruments can be obtained from: 

 http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/hs/faces/index.html 
67

TITLE 

National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 

PURPOSE 

 The purpose of the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) is to provide 

information about transition periods between middle school and high school and from high 

school into postsecondary education or into the work force. 

SPONSORSHIP 

 The National Center for Education Statistics sponsors the National Education Longitudinal 

Study of 1988. 

DESIGN 

The NELS:88 was conducted in five waves. A baseline wave (Wave 1) was conducted in 

spring of 1988, a follow-up (Wave 2) was conducted in 1990 and other follow-ups were 

conducted in 1992 (Wave 3), 1994 (Wave 4) and in 2000 (Wave 5). Sampling for NELS 88 

was done using a list of all schools with 8th-grade. Schools were stratified based on the 

characteristics important to the survey's goals. A group of schools was selected from each 

stratum and a certain number of students were selected from each school. Self-administered 

surveys were conducted on school premises, 

In Wave 1, the sample size consisted of approximately 24,600 eighth grade students in 1,052 

public, private and parochial schools. A state supplemental sample of 4,000 students was 

also added. Eighth graders completed questionnaires and cognitive test batteries in group 

sessions. A self-administered questionnaire was completed by parents, teachers, 

administrators and principals. 

In Wave 2, follow-up data from 96 percent of the student cohort in 1988 was obtained. Early 

dropouts (students leaving school before the end of tenth grade) and the transition of students 

to high school was monitored. 

In Wave 3, the student sample consisted of about 25,000 students, 15,000 parents and 1,500 

school administrators. Wave 3 collected information regarding the transition to work or 

postsecondary education. 

In Wave 4, approximately 15,900 persons were sampled with an oversampling of Blacks, 

Asians, American-Indians, low-SES Whites and drop-outs. Parents, teachers and school 

administrators were not included in this follow-up. Information was collected through CATI 

telephone interviews, in-person and cognitive interviews. 

Wave 5 focuses on what the cohort had accomplished since the baseline wave of 1988. Many 

of the students had completed their postsecondary education and were starting careers. 

Public-use data are now available for all waves. 
68 

PERIODICITY 

 A nationally representative sample of eighth graders was surveyed in 1988. A sample of the 

original respondents was resurveyed through four follow-ups in 1990, 1992, 1994 and 2000. 

CONTENT 

 

The student questionnaire included in this study covers a wide range of topics about 

transitions and outcomes that students experienced as they left middle or junior high school, 

passed through high school and entered post-secondary institutions or the work force. 

Students were asked questions about their experiences at home, in school and at work. Topics 

also included the process of dropping out of secondary school, how schools helped 

disadvantaged students, and the academic performance of minority students. Data was also 

gathered on neighborhood characteristics and the educational and occupational choices of 

these students. Students self-reported use of smoking, alcohol and drug use. High school 

and post-secondary transcripts provided information on course work and grades earned. 

Parent interviews included question school contacts and involvement in school activities. 

Parents were also asked about their child’s activities outside of school, their opinions about 

their child’s school, educational expectations for their child and their financial plans for 

child’s post secondary education.

During Waves 1, 2 and 3, achievement tests in reading, social studies, mathematics and 

science were administered when most students were eighth graders, sophomores or seniors. 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

This study is based on a cohort of 8th grade respondents and their parents and teachers in 

1988, and therefore parents of children younger than 8th grade are excluded from the survey. 

NELS:88 suffered from a high rate of attrition and had a difficulty locating students after the 

base year as most of them entered high school. 

AVAILABILITY 

A free copy of the NELS:88 public use data files and electronic codebook is available from 

the individual listed below: 

Jeffrey A. Owings 

National Center for Education Statistics 

1990 K St NW 

Washington, DC 20006 

(202) 502-7423

Email: Jeffrey.Owings@ed.gov 

To access information online: 

http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/nels88/index.asp 
69

TITLE 

The National Household Education Surveys Program, Parent and Family Involvement in Education 

Survey 

PURPOSE 

The National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES) is a data collection system 

that is designed to address a wide range of education-related issues. It provides descriptive 

data on the educational activities of the U.S. population and offers policymakers, 

researchers, and educators a variety of statistics on the condition of education in the U.S. 

The Parent and Family Involvement in Education (PFI) survey has addressed multiple 

aspects of parent and family involvement, including family experiences with schools, 

schoolwork outside of school, and non-school family activities. 

SPONSORSHIP 

The National Center for Education Statistics sponsors the project, which is conducted by 

Westat. 

DESIGN 

NHES is a system of telephone surveys of the non-institutionalized civilian population of 

the United States. Households are selected for the survey using random digit dialing 

(RDD) methods. Each collection of NHES begins with a screening of a representative 

sample of households. Data are collected using computer-assisted telephone interviewing 

(CATI) procedures. In 1996, 20,792 interviews were completed for the Parent and 

Family Involvement in Education and Civic Involvement Survey and in 2003, 12,426 

interviews were conducted for the Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey. 

One of the goals of NHES is to produce reliable estimates of the characteristics of 

children's and adults' educational experiences for the total targeted population and for 

persons of different races and ethnicities. The NHES sample design over-samples 

minorities in order to increase the reliability of estimates for these groups. 

PERIODICITY 

NHES has been conducted in the springs of 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2001 2003, 

2005, and 2007. The PFI survey was initially conducted in 1996. Several parent 

involvement items were included in 1999. The most recent PFI surveys were conducted in 

2003 and 2007. 

CONTENT 

Parents and guardians answered questions about their children enrolled in kindergarten 

through 12th grade, up to age 20. Questions addressed family involvement, including the 

involvement of non-residential parents, in four areas: children's schooling, communication 

with teachers or other school personnel, children's homework and behavior, and activities 

with children outside of school. The survey also includes a few questions about school 

choice asking parents whether their child goes to an assigned school or a school of their 
70 

choice and whether their school district provides such a choice. NHES is also one of the 

few national surveys that collects home school information. 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

Because the primary purpose of NHES is to conduct repeated measurements of the same 

phenomena at different points in time, additional surveys are needed to compare the results 

over time. 

AVAILABILITY 

 NHES data sets are available on CD-ROM from: 

 

 Christopher Chapman 

 NCES 

 Room 9086 

 1990 K Street NW 

 Washington, DC 20206-5456 

 (202) 502-7414 

For more information on NHES, contact the NHES staff at: 

 NHES@ed.gov 

To access NHES information online: 

 http://nces.ed.gov/nhes/ 
71

TITLE 

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth 

Development 

PURPOSE 

The purpose of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECC) is to examine how variations 

in child care relate to children’s development. The study also seeks to determine how 

differences in child care experiences relate to children’s social, emotional, intellectual, and 

language development, and to their physical growth and health. 

SPONSORSHIP 

The study is sponsored by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development 

(NICHD). 

DESIGN 

The Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development is a longitudinal research project 

involving 10 study sites across the United States. The study focuses on the experiences of 

1,364 children, recruited at birth in 1991 from hospitals at the 10 data collection sites. The 

study was conducted in four phases. Phase I followed children from birth until age 3; Phase 

II followed 1,095 4 1⁄2 year olds into the first grade; Phase III followed 1,073 children 

through the fifth and sixth grades and Phase IV followed the children through the seventh, 

eighth, and ninth grades (the exact number is still being determined). 

Multiple methods were used to collect data. Phase 1 data collection included videotaped 

behavioral observations of the sampled children at their homes, child care settings, visits 

to project research laboratories and child care center directors' telephone interviews/mailed 

questionnaire. In-person interviews were also obtained from parents and caregiver to gain 

additional information about the children. As the children moved into school age, data 

from Phases II and III have also been gathered from classroom visits by researchers. 

Children’s physical activity was monitored directly at third, fifth and sixth grades. 

PERIODICITY 

The longitudinal study began in 1991 and the first phase which was made up of three month 

updates was completed in 1994. The second phase began in 1995, just before most of the 

children began kindergarten, and was completed in 1999 when all the children finished the 

first grade. The third phase began in 2000 when the children were in second grade and 

ended in 2006 when all the children finished sixth grade. The fourth phase began in 2005 

when the children were in seventh grade and was completed in 2007 when the children 

finished ninth grade. 

CONTENT 

Although the study primarily focuses on early child care, the influence of the family on 

children's development is also an important component of the study. Family characteristics 

measured in the study include the family’s economic situation, family structure (single 
72 

parent vs. partnered parent), the mother’s education, her child rearing attitudes, the quality 

of mother-child interaction, and the extent to which the home environment contributed to 

the optimal development of children. These family characteristics were used to examine 

the role of the family in the child’s entry into child care, the quality of that care, and the 

number of care arrangements. A second area of the study delves into the association 

between child care and the mother-child relationship. A third component looks at the 

characteristics of child care and how it relates to the children’s cognitive and language 

development, as well as their behavior and self-control in the first 3 years. Later phases of 

the study allowed researchers to examine whether any of the effects of preschool child care 

continue into middle childhood. The third phase of the study also allowed researchers to 

examine the effect of family characteristics and the home environment on children's 

outcomes in middle childhood, and the fourth phase of the study allowed researchers to 

examine those effects on children’s outcomes in early adolescence.

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

The study does not focus on parent involvement in education, although it contains a limited 

number of items about on the topic. In addition, the sample for the study is based on ten 

study sites, and therefore, it does not provide a nationally representative sample of U. S. 

children as does the PFI. Also, the age range of the study is limited to early and middle 

childhood (9th grade), whereas the PFI will cover children from enrolled in kindergarten 

through the 12th grade. 

AVAILABILITY 

For information on the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, 

contact: 

James A Griffin, Ph.D. 

Deputy Branch Chief 

NICHD Child Development and Behavior Branch 

6100 Executive Blvd, Room 4B05D 

Rockville, MD 20852 

(301) 435-2307 

Email: griffinj@mail.nih.gov 

Study results, publications, and applications for the data from Phases I through III are 

available at the following website: 

 http://secc.rti.org/home.cfm 

 http://www.nichd.nih.gov/research/supported/seccyd.cfm 
73

TITLE 

The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health 

PURPOSE 

The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) is a school-based 

study of health-related behaviors of adolescents in grades 7-12. It was designed to explore 

the causes of those behaviors, with an emphasis on the influence of social context. 

SPONSORSHIP 

The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and 17 other 

federal agencies funded the Add Health study. Fieldwork was conducted by the National 

Opinion Research Center of the University of Chicago. 

DESIGN 

The primary sampling frame was a database collected by Quality Education Data, Inc. A 

sample of 80 pairs of eligible high schools and their corresponding junior high schools was 

selected. The In-School Questionnaire, a self-administered questionnaire formatted for 

optical scanning, was the primary instrument. It was administered to a nationally 

representative sample of students in grades 7-12 in during the 1994-95 school year. In each 

school, one 45- to 60-minute class period was devoted to completing the questionnaires. 

Data were also collected from school administrators. 

In addition to the school sample, an in-home sample was selected from the school rosters. 

Students in each school were stratified by grade and sex and about 17 students were 

randomly chosen from each stratum so that a total of approximately 200 adolescents were 

selected from each of the 80 pairs of schools. A total core sample of 12,105 adolescents 

was interviewed. Supplementary over-samples were drawn from certain ethnic groups. 

All respondents in the in-home sample were given the same interview. The majority of 

interviews was conducted in the respondents’ homes and took between one and two hours. 

All data were recorded on laptop computers. Students were also given the Add Health 

Picture Vocabulary Test, a computerized, abridged version of the Peabody Picture 

Vocabulary Test. Over 17,000 parents were also surveyed by an interviewer using a paperand-pencil instrument but only for the first wave. 

PERIODICITY 

There have been four waves of data collection. Wave I was conducted from September 

1994 through December 1995. Wave II was conducted from April 1996 through August 

1996. Wave III was collected from August 2001 through April 2002 when respondents 

were between 18 and 26 years old. Data collection for Wave IV was started in 2007, 6 

years after the third wave, when respondents are between 24 and 32 years old. In Wave I, 

data were collected from school administrators, adolescents at school and at home, and 

parents. In Wave II, data were collected from school administrators and adolescents at 

home. In Wave III, and IV, data were collected again from the adolescent cohort but not 

collected from school administrators 
74 

CONTENT 

The Add Health survey and interview focused on forces that influence adolescents’ 

behavior, in particular those residing in the various contexts of their lives: families, 

friendships, romantic relationships, peer groups, schools, neighborhoods, and 

communities. The questionnaire included topics such as the social and demographic 

characteristics of respondents, the education and occupation of parents, household 

structure, at risk behaviors, expectations for the future, self-esteem, health status, 

friendships, and school-year extracurricular activities. 

The Parent Survey during the Wave I included questions on their education and 

employment, involvement in school activities, parent-adolescent communication and 

interaction, and their familiarity with the adolescent's friends and friends' parents. 

Wave III of the study examined the transition between adolescence and adulthood by 

exploring choices that adolescents make (staying in school or dropping out, attending 

college or getting a job, etc.) Wave IV follows the cohort into their young adulthood 

allowing researchers to examine life trajectories of the cohort transitioning from adolescent 

to adulthood. Survey questions include educational transitions, economic status, physical 

and emotional health, behaviors and event history data on relationships and employment 

status. 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

The Add Health Study targeted a population of adolescents currently enrolled in either 

junior high or senior high school, thus the sample was not as broad as the PFI. Also, 

although the Add Health parent survey contained some items about parent involvement 

with adolescents that may be similar to those in the PFI, it does not directly measure 

parent and family involvement in education to the same extent and it cannot provide trend 

data on parental involvement over time, since it is a longitudinal cohort and the parent 

survey was not conducted after Wave I. 

AVAILABILITY 

 A full report summarizing the study can be viewed on the following web site: 

 http://www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/addhealth/ 

For more information or to obtain the public-use data, contact: 

Sociometrics Corporation 

170 State Street, Suite 260 

Los Altos, California 94022-2812 

Phone: (650) 949-3282 

Fax: (650) 949-3299 

Email: socio@socio.com 
75

TITLE 

The National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (Canada) 

PURPOSE 

The National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY) is a long-term study 

conducted to monitor the social, emotional and behavioral development and well being of 

Canada’s children as they grow from infancy to adulthood. The survey provides data for 

use in research on the impact factors in children’s development and their adjustment to 

school in Canada. 

SPONSORSHIP 

Human Resources and Social Development Canada and Statistics Canada conducted the 

survey in partnership. 

DESIGN 

The survey follows a representative sample of Canadian children, aged newborn to 11 

years, into adulthood, with data collection occurring at 2-year intervals. The initial sample 

was approximately 22,500 children, which was drawn from the Canadian Labor Force 

Survey’s sample of respondent households. The data are collected from several sources 

including parents, teachers, principals, and the children themselves. Most interviews are 

conducted by an interviewer using computer-assisted interviewing (CAI). 

PERIODICITY 

This is a longitudinal study consisting of several longitudinal and cross-sectional samples. 

Cross-sectional weights are provided when an age cohort can be considered to be 

representative of a cross-sectional population. The study began 1994 and is ongoing with 

data collection occurring at two-year intervals covering children and youth till they are 25 

years of age. There have been seven cycles of data collection, in 1994-95, 1996-97, 1998-

99, 2000-01, 2002-03, 2004-05, and 2006-07. 

CONTENT 

The survey assesses the child, the family and community environment in which the child 

is living. Specific topics include family structure/demographics, family and custodial 

history, parent’s education, parenting styles, importance of good grades, school 

involvement, and expectations for the child. Child care and child care arrangements are 

also topics covered by the NLSCY. 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

The survey is conducted in Canada and therefore is not representative of people living in 

the United States. The study, unlike the PFI, is not directly designed to measure parent and 

family involvement in children’s education but focuses on child development instead.
76 

AVAILABILITY 

Information about the survey, including instruments and data files, can be found at the 

following website: 

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/cgibin/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=4450&lang=en&db=imdb&adm=8&dis=

2 

For further information about the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth 

contact: 

Statistics Canada 

100 Tunney’s Pasture Driveway 

Ottawa, Ontario 

K1A 0T6 
77

TITLE 

The National Survey of America’s Families

PURPOSE 

The National Survey of America’s Families (NSAF) is a survey of the economic, health, and 

social characteristics of children, adults under the age of 65, and their families. The survey 

pays particular attention to low-income families, reporting on important aspects about their 

lives and how they differ from the lives of children and adults in families with higher 

incomes.

SPONSORSHIP 

The study was conducted by the Urban Institute and Child Trends, and sponsored by a 

number of private foundations. Westat conducted sampling and data collection for the study. 

DESIGN 

Sampling was done in a dual-frame design, with the main frame consisting of a random-digitdial telephone survey, and the supplemental frame of nontelephone households. The survey 

was conducted in three rounds. In round 1, in 1997, interviews were conducted with 75,437 

adults and about 34,439 children in 44,461 households. In round 2, in 1999, interviews were 

obtained for over 73,000 adults and almost 36,000 children in more than 42,000 households. 

In round three, in 2002, interviews were conducted for over 70,577 adults and 34,332 

children in over 43,000 households. Oversize samples were drawn in 13 states. The sample 

was representative of the civilian, noninstitutionalized population under age 65. A short 

screener interview was used to identify and sample households on the basis of age 

composition and household income. After the screener interview, telephone interviews were 

conducted using computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI). Interviews with 

respondents in nontelephone households were conducted using a cellular phone that was 

provided to them by the survey administrator to minimize the effects of different modes used 

for interviews, 

PERIODICITY 

Cross-sectional data were obtained in three rounds: February to November 1997, February 

to October 1999 and February to October, 2002. 

CONTENT 

The survey contained several well-being measures having to do with economic security, 

health and health care, child’s education and cognitive and social development, child’s 

behavioral problems, and family and community environment. The survey was divided into 

the following topic areas: student status, parent/child/family interaction and education, 

household roster, child care, nonresidential parent/father, employment and earning, family 

income, welfare program participation, education and training, housing and economic 

hardship, and race and ethnicity. 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 
78 

Although the survey included some questions similar to those in the PFI, (e.g., items about 

child support, teen employment, the Children’s Health Insurance Program), it was not 

directly designed to measure parent and family involvement in education. Thus the questions 

about education and parent involvement are few and lack the depth of the PFI does. 

AVAILABILITY 

Current data are available and can be downloaded online: 

http://newfederalism.urban.org/nsaf/

 http://www.urban.org/center/anf/nsaf.cfm 

http://newfederalism.urban.org/nsaf/

For more information, contact: 

Tim Triplett 

Survey Associate 

Assessing the New Federalism 

National Survey of America's Families 

The Urban Institute 

2100 M Street 

Washington, DC 20037 

(202) 261-5579 

Email: ttriplet@ui.urban.org 
79

TITLE 

The National Survey of Parents of Public School Students 

PURPOSE 

The purpose of this survey was to collect information on the views of parents of public 

school children regarding the importance of parental and federal involvement in education. 

The survey also collected information about parents who may qualify for Title 1 services. 

SPONSORSHIP 

Bennett, Petts, and Blumenthal conducted the survey for the National PTA. 

DESIGN 

The study was conducted as a national telephone survey among 800 adults who had at least 

one child in public school. Prior to interviewing, the sample was divided into two separate 

categories. The first was a national random sample of 600 adults. The second was a 

national random sample of 200 adults with a household income of $25,000 a year or less. 

These two samples were then combined and weighted to reflect the actual distribution of 

income for the nation’s population as a whole.

PERIODICITY 

The study was conducted December 6-10, 1998. There are no plans at this time for further 

data collection. 

CONTENT 

The survey focused on the parents’ opinions about the role of parental involvement in 

education (level of importance, support of federal programs, being informed about school). 

Questions were also asked about their views of the role of federal government in education 

programs and the low-income families’ knowledge of Title 1 programs and services that 

may have been available to their child. 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

The National Survey of Parents of Public School Students measures only the opinions of 

the parents on the importance of involvement in education, not their levels of involvement 

within their children’s schools. Also the sample is limited to only parents of public school 

children, a narrower focus than the PFI. Because the survey was conducted only in 1995, 

it does not meet the NHES goal of monitoring change over time. 
80 

AVAILABILITY 

 For more information, contact:

PTA Office of Programs and Public Policy 

1400 L Street, NW 

Suite 300 

Washington, DC 20005-9998 

Phone: (202) 289-6790 

Fax: (202) 289-6791 
81

TITLE 

Panel Study of Income Dynamics, Child Development Supplement 

PURPOSE 

The purpose of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) is to gather data on a broad 

variety of economic and demographic behavior and social issues. The Child Development 

Supplement is meant to provide researchers with a comprehensive, nationally representative, 

and longitudinal data base of children and their families. 

SPONSORSHIP 

Major funding for the Panel Study of Income Dynamics comes from the National Science 

Foundation. Additional support comes from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for 

Planning and Evaluation, Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of 

Labor, the National Institute on Aging, the Office of Economic Opportunity, and the National 

Institute of Child Health and Human Development. 

Funding for the Child Development Supplement is primarily from the National Institute of 

Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and its additional funds are provided by 

the William T. Grant Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the U.S. Department of 

Agriculture, and the U.S. Department of Education. 

DESIGN 

The original Panel Study of Income Dynamics sample consisted of two independent samples. 

The first is an equal probability cross-sectional national sample of 3,000 drawn by the 

University of Michigan’s Survey Research Center, and the second is a sample of 2,000 lowincome families drawn from the Survey of Economic Opportunity conducted by the Census 

Bureau. 

This longitudinal study re-interviews the same individuals each year, following them through 

their life cycle. The study includes new family members as the individuals marry and have 

children. The survey collects data on all household members, but focuses primarily on the 

heads of household. The sample has grown to include information on 50,000 individuals 

spanning as much as 28 years of their lives. In 1997, the Child Development Supplement 

collected data on 0-12 year old children from a variety of sources, including parents, teachers, 

and the children themselves. There are approximately 2,500 families who participated in the 

research, and participants who are selected have been involved in at least one panel of Income 

Dynamics study. In 2002-2003, families were re-contacted if they had participated in the 

first Child Development Supplement and were in a PSID panel in 2001. The PSID was 

originally collected in face-to-face interviews using paper questionnaires. It then moved to 

computer assisted telephone interviewing in 1993.

PERIODICITY 

The Panel Study of Income Dynamics has been conducted every year. The first wave of the 

Child Development Supplement was conducted in 1997, and the second wave occurred in 

2002 and 2003. The third wave occurred in 2007. 
82 

CONTENT 

The focus of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics is on economic and demographic 

information, including items such as income sources and amounts, employment, family 

composition changes, and demographic events. The Child Development Supplement serves 

to enhance the PSID by obtaining detailed data on items not generally included in the main 

database. The survey studies ways in which time, money, parenting and teaching styles, 

divorce, unemployment, etc. influence and affect children’s development cognitively, 

emotionally, and physically, and how this is buffered by family, school, and community. 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

The substantive focus of the supplement is on school age children’s academic achievement 

and cognitive ability, social and emotional well being, and health. The study does not provide 

direct information on the parental involvement topics planned for the PFI. 

AVAILABILITY 

Current data are available and can be downloaded from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics 

online: 

 http://www.isr.umich.edu/src/psid 

 For information and inquires about the study, contact 

 PSID Staff 

 The Panel Study of Income Dynamics 

 Institute for Social Research 

 PO Box 1248 

 Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1248

Phone: (734) 763-5166

 Fax: (734) 647-4575

 Email: psidhelp@isr.umich.edu 
83

TITLE 

Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 

PURPOSE 

PISA is an internationally standardized school-based assessment given to students fifteen 

years of age in reading, mathematics, science literacy and general learning competencies. 

The purpose of the survey is to capture the yield of educational systems on everyday 

learning for those about to leave secondary school. The survey is administered by the 

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) every three years, the 

most recent round took place in 2006 in 57 countries, including 5,611 students in the U.S. 

SPONSORSHIP 

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) at the U.S. Department of Education 

provides funding to complete the study in the United States, and Westat was responsible 

for U.S. data collection and analysis for PISA 2000 and PISA 2003. RTI was responsible 

for conducting the U.S. administration and analysis of PISA 2006. 

DESIGN 

The sampling frame was a list of schools having 15-year-old students obtained by each 

country. From this list, a minimum of 150 schools were selected in each country. Students 

were the second-stage sampling units. In most cases, 35 students were randomly chosen 

from a list of all 15-year-old students in each selected school. The total number of students 

assessed by PISA in each country ranges between 4,500 and 10,000. 

PERIODICITY 

The survey is administered every three years. The first assessment took place in 43 

countries in 2000, followed by the assessments in 2003 and 2006. Sixty-two countries are 

expected to participate in the 4th assessment in 2009. 

CONTENT 

PISA assessment focuses on how much students who have almost completed compulsory 

education have acquired knowledge and skills necessary for their full participation in 

society rather than how much they have mastered school-based curricula. Students are 

assessed in the subjects of reading, mathematics literacy, problem solving and science 

literacy. Principals are also given a questionnaire on topics such as community, school, 

and student characteristics and barriers to student learning. PISA does not include a parent 

questionnaire. 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

In addition to demographic and educational information of their parents, the student 

questionnaire asks students about their home environment for learning, values and attitudes 

towards a particular subject, perception of teachers, and learning activities outside of 
84 

school. During the first year, students were also asked of family processes measures such 

as family members' involvement in homework, and their activities and communication with 

parents. Such measures have been found to be related to higher literacy internationally, 

however these measures have been dropped from PISA. Although PISA does not include 

parental surveys, the question items may be useful for developing family process measures 

for parents in the PFI. 

AVAILABILITY 

Information about the survey, including instruments and data files, can be found at the 

following website: 

http://www.pisa.oecd.org/ 

http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pisa/ 

For further information about PISA, contact: 

 Daniel McGrath, Program Director 

 International Activities Program-ECICSD 

 National Center for Education Statistics 

 1990 K Street, NW 

 Room 9010 

 Washington, DC 20006 

 (202) 502-7426 

 

 Email: Daniel.McGrath@ed.gov 
85

TITLE 

Prospects: The Congressionally Mandated Study of Educational Growth and Opportunity 

PURPOSE 

Prospects was initiated in 1988 under Congressional mandate as an assessment of Chapter 

I (formerly Title 1) programs. It was a longitudinal study designed to assess the impacts 

of Chapter I programs on school performance and compare students with "significant 

participation" in Chapter I programs to comparable children who were not receiving 

services. The study is nationally representative and was designed to inform policymakers. 

SPONSORSHIP 

Prospects was sponsored by the Planning and Evaluation Service of the U.S. Department 

of Education. 

DESIGN 

Prospects was designed to provide six 1-year "snapshots" from the following perspectives: 

economic disadvantage, as measured by sampling children in schools with very high 

concentrations of poor children and evaluating the nature of the educational environment 

of the schools that these children attend; characteristics of the children who received 

compensatory services, including Chapter 1; and characteristics of limited-Englishproficient (LEP) students and the services that are available to them. The design is based 

on a multi-stage sample with public school districts as the first stage, school buildings as 

the second stage, and students as the third stage. The first stage sample was selected from 

12 sampling strata defined by three levels of urbanization within each of the four Census 

regions. To select a large enough number of Chapter I children, school districts serving 

large numbers of Chapter 1 students were given a higher probability of selection. Districts 

and schools were stratified according to economic disadvantage and concentration of LEP 

students. The sample size allows for analyses by level of urbanization, by region as defined 

by Census, and for the nation as a whole. The design yielded approximately 320 schools 

in 150 districts and included samples of approximately 12,000 1st grade students, 12,000 

3rd grade students, and 7,000 7th grade students. 

PERIODICITY 

The survey collected annual data for 6 years on three cohorts of public school children 

beginning in grades 1, 3, and 7 in 1991. 

CONTENT 

A total of 15 forms or questionnaires were used to collect data from students, parents, 

school records, teachers, and school and district officials. The parent questionnaire 

collected demographic information about household members, information on the child's 

previous enrollment in preschool, special services received, the child's self esteem, social 

skills, and disabilities. The questionnaire included sections called Your Child at Home 

(rules concerning schoolwork and household responsibilities, parent involvement with 

homework, reading with the child, expectations for the child's educational achievement, 

and educational family activities); Your Child at School (services received, parent 
86 

involvement in school, parent's assessment of services received, school absenteeism, 

summer school attendance, grade repetition, and the parent's evaluation of the child's ability 

and performance); Contacts with Your Child's School (frequency and reasons for the parent 

contacting school, school response to parent contact, and types of in-school activities that 

the parent had attended); About Your Child's School (parent evaluation of school 

resources, practices and standards, and evaluation of parents' role in school); Your Child's 

Future (expectations about the child's educational attainment and provisions for education 

following high school); About Yourself and Your Family (household members, language 

minority status, parents' educational and occupational attainment and status, race/ethnicity, 

marital status of adults in household, total family income, and educational/media resources 

in the home). 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

This study focuses only on children in Chapter I in public schools; it therefore does not 

include a nationally representative sample of all children in kindergarten through 12th

grade. Also, Prospects was completed in 1997, and future studies are not planned; thus, the 

study does not provide an opportunity to monitor change over time. 

AVAILABILITY 

 The data tapes and CD-ROM are available for all years. 

 For more information, contact: 

 Daphne Kaplan 

 U.S. Department of Education 

 400 Maryland Avenue, S.W. 

 Room 6W201 

 Washington, D.C. 20202-8240 

 (202) 401-7949 

 Copies of the report are available from: 

 Planning and Evaluation Services 

 Office of the Under Secretary 

 U.S. Department of Education 

 400 Maryland Ave., S.W., Room 4165 

 Washington, D.C. 20202-8240 

 
87

TITLE 

Survey of Family and School Partnerships in Public Schools, K-8

PURPOSE 

The study was designed to provide information on the ways that schools are engaging 

parents in their children’s education and the extent to which parents are responding to the 

opportunities for involvement that schools provide. The study was also intended to provide 

data that could be compared with data on the same topic collected from parents in other 

studies. 

SPONSORSHIP 

The National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) sponsored the study with data 

collection by Westat. 

DESIGN 

The survey was conducted through the NCES Fast Response Survey System (FRSS). 

FRSS is a survey system designed to collect small amounts of issue-oriented data with 

minimal burden on respondents and within a relatively short time frame. Short 

questionnaires were sent to a nationally representative sample of 900 public schools 

enrolling kindergarten through eighth grade students. Principals were asked to either 

complete the survey or assign its completion to the person most knowledgeable about 

parent involvement programs and activities at the school. Data have been weighted to 

national estimates of all public schools serving grades K-8. 

The sample for the FRSS survey was selected from the 1993-1994 NCES Common Core 

of Data (CCD) Public School Universe File, resulting in a sample frame of 60,000 schools. 

A stratified sample of 9000 schools was selected from the elementary school frame. To 

select the sample, the frame of schools was stratified by poverty status, as determined by 

the percent of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunches. Within these primary 

strata, schools were also sorted by enrollment size class and then by metropolitan status. 

The sample sizes were then allocated to the primary strata in rough proportion to the 

aggregate square root of the enrollment of schools in the stratum. 

PERIODICITY 

The study was conducted during the spring of 1996. There are no plans for further data 

collection at this time. 

CONTENT 

The survey addresses the following issues: the kinds of communication schools establish 

to provide parents with information, the kinds of activities schools sponsor that are 

designed to inform parents about their children’s school performance, the types of 

volunteer activities schools make available to parents, and the extent to which parents are 

included in decision making regarding school issues. 
88 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

The Survey on Family and School Partnerships in Public Schools was not a parent survey. 

Instead, it is targeted at collecting information directly from the school. Thus it represented 

a different viewpoint than the PFI. Also, the sample was comprised exclusively of public 

schools. The survey did not collect information on any private schools or any grades 

beyond eighth in public or private schools. 

AVAILABILITY 

 A full report summarizing the study and the survey itself are available online: 

 http://nces.ed.gov/pubs98/98032.pdf 
89

TITLE 

Survey of Adults and Youth 

PURPOSE 

 The Survey of Adults and Youth (SAY) monitors youth access to parent and community 

resources. The survey interviews adults, parents and youth with a time use portion which 

covers after-school hours. 

SPONSORSHIP 

 The Survey of Adults and Youth was designed by faculty from New York University, 

Columbia University and Princeton University and was sponsored by the Robert Wood 

Johnson Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation. 

 

DESIGN 

 The survey was administered to a nationally representative sample and a representative 

sample from five Urban Health Initiative (UHI) Cities: (Philadelphia, Baltimore, Detroit, 

Oakland and Richmond). Chicago was added later. 

 Interviews were conducted by telephone and were random digit dialed. The first wave 

sample for Round 1 consisted of 15,571 adults and 7,778 youth, with an adult response rate 

of 89 percent and a child interview rate of 74 percent. 

PERIODICITY 

 The first Survey of Adults and Youth was completed in 1998-1999 and a second survey 

was conducted between 2001 and 2002. A third survey was completed between 2004 and 

2005. Subsequent rounds will be repeated every five years. 

CONTENT 

 The components of the survey include a parent survey that asks about conflicts between 

work and family commitments. An adult survey concentrates on youth issues, trust in local 

government and civic involvement. A youth survey provides information on parent-child 

relationships, the extent of involvement in supervised youth activities, educational 

expectations and achievement in school. 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

 The Survey of Adults and Youth focuses on parent/child relationships, supervised afterschool activities, conflicts between work and family and educational expectations and 

achievement. Also, this study is based on a regional sample and is not nationally 

representative. 
90 

AVAILABILITY 

 For further information about SAY, contact: 

 Tod Mijanovich 

 New York University 

 Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service 

 Center for Health and Public Service Research 

 295 Lafayette St. 

 New York, NY 10012-9604 

Email: tm11@nyu.edu 
91

TITLE 

Survey of Program Dynamics (SPD) 

PURPOSE 

The Survey of Program Dynamics was created to assess how the Personal Responsibility 

and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 impacted household that were 

previously interviewed in the 1992 and 1993 Survey of Income and Program Participation 

(SIPP) panels. The SPD will simultaneously describe the full range of state welfare 

programs along with social, economic, demographic and family changes that will help or 

limit the effectiveness of the reforms. 

SPONSORSHIP 

The SPD was ordered by Congress in 1996 and has been implemented by the U.S. Census 

Bureau. 

DESIGN 

The SPD is based on the 1992 and 1993 SIPP panels, which was a multistage, stratified 

sample of the U.S. noninstitutionalized, civilian population. In addition to core questions on 

children’s school enrollment, participation in nonparental care, and enrichment activities, the 

1999 SPD included a series of questions designed to measure child well-being. For the 1999 

SPD, Census Bureau representatives conducted in-person interviews at 16,659 eligible 

households. 

PERIODICITY 

The SPD was conducted between 1997 and 2002, and was intended to create a 10-year 

longitudinal database consisting of information collected in the 1992 administration of SIPP 

through the 2002 administration of SPD. 

CONTENT 

The content of the SPD between 1998 and 2002 includes economic, demographic, and social 

characteristics of the people interviewed. Information about children is also collected, 

including their school enrollment and enrichment activities, disability, health care, child 

care arrangements, contact with an absent parent, and payment of child support on their 

behalf. In 1999, the SPD included additional questions on children’s extended measures 

of well-being, positive behavior/social competence, and conflict between parents. 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

While the SPD contains information related to home activities and family involvement 

outside of school, it does not contain topics related to the rest of the expected content of the 

PFI survey. Also, while it was a longitudinal survey from 1992 to 2002, the fact that it has 

not been administered since then means that more recent comparisons cannot be made using 

the SPD. 

 
92 

AVAILABILITY 

 For more information on the SPD, including data files and publications, please visit: 

http://www.census.gov/spd/ 

Email: dsd.survey.of.program.dynamics@census.gov 
93

TITLE 

Women’s Employment Study 

PURPOSE 

The Women’s Employment Study was a five-wave panel study of mothers who were current 

or former welfare recipients in an urban county in Michigan. The study examined barriers 

to employment among welfare mothers. Its purpose was to identify the key factors that 

enable welfare recipients to remain employed and enable social service providers to better 

assess client needs and design targeted short term and long term service program 

components 

SPONSORSHIP 

The Women’s Employment Study was funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the 

Joyce Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the National Institute 

of Child Health and Development, and the National Institute of Mental Health. It was carried 

out by the University of Michigan’s Survey Research Center.

DESIGN 

The Women’s Employment Study was a random sample of 753 single mothers on welfare 

who lived in an urban Michigan area. To be eligible for the study, the women had to be U.S. 

citizens, and white (non-Hispanic) or African-American. In-person interviews were 

conducted on a comprehensive set of barriers to employment, such as schooling, work 

experience, work readiness, job skills and credentials, experiences of employment 

discrimination and harassment, physical and mental health status, alcohol and drug use, 

family stresses including child well-being, experiences of domestic violence, and 

experiences in welfare-to work services and training programs. Questions such as the 

extent and prevalence of multiple barriers to work and co-morbidity among barriers, which 

barriers or combinations reduce wage growth, how barriers change as work and welfare 

status changes, and how barriers and welfare-to-work program participation are related, 

were also examined. 

PERIODICITY 

The first wave of the study was conducted in 1997, and subsequent followups were conducted 

in 1998, 1999, 2001, and 2003. 

CONTENT 

The Women’s Employment Study analyzed the ways in which labor market, mental health, 

physical health, and family problems affect a woman’s ability to obtain and retain 

employment over time. Content related to parent and family involvement in education 

include questions about number of books, magazines, and newspapers in the home, whether 

anyone in the family uses a library card, how often household members read, whether 

anyone in the family takes the focal child, whether anyone helps the focal child learn letters 

and numbers, and whether anyone in the family has spoken to the child’s teacher for any 

reason. 
94 

LIMITATIONS RELATIVE TO THE GOALS OF NHES 

The Women’s Employment Study contains a few measures that are related to home activities 

and family involvement outside of school, but it does not contain topics related to the rest of 

the expected content of the PFI. Also, the small sample size and limited sample population 

does not allow for the estimates produced by the data to be generalized to the general 

population. 

 

AVAILABILITY 

For more information on the Women’s Employment Study, please contact:

 Sheldon Danziger 

 University of Michigan 

 540 E. Liberty St. 

 Suite 202 

 Ann Arbor, MI 48502 

 

 Phone: (734) 998-8505 

 Email: sheldond@umich.edu 

http://www.fordschool.umich.edu/research/poverty/wes/ 

http://www.researchforum.org/project_general_100.html