DOI: 10.3886/icpsr04283.v4
title: National Center for Early Development and Learning Multistate Study of Pre-Kindergarten, 2001-2003
title: Version 4

description: The National Center for Early Development and Learning
(NCEDL) Multi-State Study of Pre-Kindergarten examined the
pre-kindergarten programs of six states: California, Illinois, New
York, Ohio, Kentucky, and Georgia. For this study, pre-kindergarten
(pre-k) included center-based programs for four-year-olds that are
fully or partially funded by state education agencies and that are
operated in schools or under the direction of state and local
education agencies.
The study had two primary purposes:

To describe the variations of experiences for children in
pre-kindergarten and kindergarten programs in school-related settings
(public schools and state-funded pre-k classrooms in community-based
settings), and
To examine the relationships between variations in
pre-kindergarten/kindergarten experiences and children's outcomes in
early elementary school.
The study addressed six primary groups of research questions:

What is the nature and distribution of education and
experience of teachers and teacher assistants in pre-k public school
programs?
What is the nature and distribution of global quality and
specific practices in key areas such as literacy, math, and
teacher-child relationships in a diverse sample of pre-k public school
programs for four-year-olds as well as in a similarly diverse sample
of kindergarten classes?
How do quality and practices vary as a result of child and
teacher characteristics (e.g., child gender, race, home language,
family income, and teacher's years of education) and classroom,
program, community, and state structural variables (e.g.,
teacher-child ratio, funding base of the program, teacher salary, and
degree of state regulation) for children with different demographic
characteristics (e.g., race, gender, home language, and family
income)?
Do quality and practice vary in relation to combinations
of these variables? For example, are quality and practice a function
of family poverty and teacher pay or education?
Can children's outcomes at the end of their
pre-kindergarten year be predicted by the children's experiences in
pre-k programs? Are the various dimensions of quality and/or practice
differentially related to outcomes? Are these relationships constant
across a population of children with different characteristics (e.g.,
race, gender, home language, and family income)?
Do pre-kindergarten program quality and practices predict
children's transitions to kindergarten and children's skills at the
end of the kindergarten year? Are these transitions moderated by
children's characteristics, like race, gender, and family
income?
The six states in the study were selected based on the significant
amount of resources they have committed to pre-k initiatives. States
were also selected to maximize the diversity in geography, program
settings (public school or community), program intensity (full day
versus part day), and educational requirements for teachers. Within
each state, a random sample of 40 centers/schools was selected. One
classroom in each center/school was selected at random for
observation, and four children in each classroom were selected for
individual assessment. The children were followed from the beginning
of pre-k through the end of kindergarten. In five of the six states,
families were also visited in their homes.

Classroom Services and Specific Instructional Practices
Within the 40 classrooms in each participating state, carefully
trained data collectors conducted classroom observations twice each
year, while additional surveys were used to gather information from
administrators/principals, teachers, and parents. Data were gathered
on program services, (e.g., healthcare, meals, and transportation),
program curriculum, teacher training and education, teachers' opinions
of child development, and their instructional practices on subjects
such as language, literacy, mathematics concepts, and
social-emotional competencies. Data were also collected as to what
types of steps were taken to aid children in their transitions from
pre-k to kindergarten.
Children
Within each participating pre-k classroom, four randomly selected
children were assessed using a battery of individual instruments to
measure language, literacy, mathematics, and related concept
development, as well as social competence. A panel of expert reviewers
aided the researchers in selecting a variety of standardized and
nonstandardized assessments. The pre-k child assessments were
conducted in the fall and spring of 2001-2002. The same children were
followed into kindergarten and assessed in the fall and spring of
2002-2003 to examine whether specific practices employed by pre-k
teachers made a difference in their transitions to kindergarten.
Families
In individual home-based interviews, information on socio-economic,
socio-cultural, and familial contexts were obtained through open-ended
questions, structured ratings, and videotaped parent-child interactions.
Specifically, parents were asked about (1) family life as it relates
to socio-economic status and socio-cultural environment, (2) family
educational practices and beliefs about the comparative roles of
school and family in educating children, (3) the nature and quality of
the home-school relationship, and (4) their own ratings of their
children's psychological development and social competence.

Demographic information collected includes race, gender, family
income, and mother's education level.
The above information pertains to the Main Child Level Public-Use Version and the Main Child Level Restricted-Use Version. From these main datasets, subsets were created at the classroom level for Pre-Kindergarten (Pre-K Classroom Level Public-Use Version and Pre-K Classroom Level Restricted-Use Version) and for Kindergarten (Kindergarten Classroom Level Public-Use Version and Kindergarten Classroom Level Restricted-Use Version).
description: (1) All analysis should include the state variable when weights are used. The samples were drawn separately for each state and the weights add to 100 percent within each state, not across each state. (2) For children within a classroom, because boys and girls were sampled and the dispersions were sometimes low, they were considered
sampled without replacement, by gender. (3) The child weights were adjusted for nonresponse using a model-based approach. Children were divided based upon important demographic characteristics and then proportionally reweighted within each cell that contained attrition. (4) The weights should be used any time that a cross-sectional analysis within a period is performed. For example, the effect on children's test scores in the spring of pre-k based upon classroom and teacher characteristics should use the spring of pre-k child weights.
description: Response Rates: Of the 40 sites per state, 78 percent of eligible
sites agreed to participate (fall of pre-k, n = 238). For fall of
pre-k (n = 238), 94 percent of the one classroom per site selected
agreed to participate. For fall of pre-k (n = 940), 61 percent of the
parents of eligible children consented.
description: The pool of potential sites was limited to 19 states that
served 15 percent or 15,000 four-year-olds. That pool was reduced to
six states chosen to represent diversity in length of program day,
teacher credentialing requirements, program locales (in schools versus
in community settings), and geography. After state selection, 20 ZIP
codes from each state/region were randomly chosen, two sites were
randomly chosen from each of those, one pre-k classroom was randomly
selected from each selected site, and four pre-k children were
randomly selected from each of those classrooms. Program sites in
California were limited to 20 in the greater Los Angeles area and 20
in the Central Valley area, while selection sites in New York were
similarly limited to 20 in New York City and 20 within a 50-mile
radius of Albany.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Main Child Level Public-Use Version
DS2: Kindergarten Classroom Level Public-Use Version
DS3: Pre-K Classroom Level Public-Use Version
DS4: Main Child Level Restricted-Use Version
DS5: Kindergarten Classroom Level Restricted-Use Version
DS6: Pre-K Classroom Level Restricted-Use Version
description: Children old enough for kindergarten in fall 2002, who did not have an Individualized Education Plan, who spoke competent English or Spanish, and who were enrolled in center-based programs for four-year-olds that were fully or partially funded by state education agencies and that were operated in schools or under the direction of
state and local education agencies within six selected states: California, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Kentucky, and Georgia. Smallest Geographic Unit: state
description: computer-assisted self interview (CASI); coded on-site observation; coded video observation; cognitive assessment test; face-to-face interview; self-enumerated questionnaireAdditional information about this study is
available on the Web site of the

National Center for Early Development and Learning.The
variable CHHLPROBTK contains values that were entered verbatim from
written responses provided by the survey respondents. The original
data file received from the data depositor also contained truncated
values for this variable. The information to correct this truncation
could not be provided and so the variable was left unedited.The
variables CHPARTCDK_A through CHPARTCDK_I are nine variables which
record whether or not each data collection segment has data for a
particular child. These nine variables were created from a single
variable which was originally an amalgam of all the data found within
each of the nine variables. This original variable proved difficult to
process and less simple to manipulate.