Early Childhood Longitudinal Study: Kindergarten Class of 2010-2011 - Sample Design Issues

• Activity Number: 175
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Monday, August 1, 2011 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Survey Research Methods
• Author(s): Thanh Lê*+ and Greg Norman and Karen Tourangeau and J. Michael Brick and Gail Mulligan
• Companies: Westat Inc. and Westat Inc. and Westat Inc. and Westat Inc. and National Center for Education Statistics
• Keywords: Longitudinal survey ; multi-stage sampling ; oversampling ; sample coverage ; sample attrition

Abstract

The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study: Kindergarten Class of 2010-2011 (ECLS-K) is the second longitudinal study of kindergartners sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics. As with the 1998-99 cohort study, it will provide national data on children's characteristics as they progress from kindergarten through the fifth grade, and information on key analytical issues such as school readiness and transition from kindergarten to subsequent grades. Unlike the 1998-99 study where data were collected every other year after first grade, the 2010-2011 study aims to study kindergartners at every grade after kindergarten. In this paper, we discuss the sample design, describe school sampling frames, present procedures adopted to improve the school coverage, and discuss deviations from the 1998-99 sample design. The difficulty of implementing the sample - the recruitment of schools