America's Kindergartners: Findings from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study,Kindergarten Class of 1998-99, Fall 1998 (Revised)

摘要

Much of the literature on the status of children in schools is focused onelementary and secondary school children. Little information is available on kindergarten programs in the United States and on the nation's children as they enter kindergarten and move through primary grades. Information about the entry status of the nation's kindergartners can inform educational policy and practice, and especially those policies and practices that are targeted to meeting the needs of a diverse population of children entering kindergarten for the first time. The US Department of Education sponsored The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study of the Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K). It represents the first findings from a new national study of kindergartners, their schools, classrooms, teachers and families. The ECLS-K began following a nationally representative sample of kindergartners in the fall of 1998 and will follow the same children from their entry to kindergarten through their fifth grade year. Information from children was gathered during an individualized in-person assessment with the child in child's school, parents were interviewed over the phone and teachers were given self-administered questionnaires.