Description & Citation--Study No. 4283

Bibliographic Description

Study No.:

4283

Title:

National Center for Early Development and Learning Multistate Study of Pre-Kindergarten, 2001-2003

Principal Investigator(s):

Clifford, Dick, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Frank P. Graham Child Development Institute

Bryant, Donna, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Frank P. Graham Child Development Institute

Burchinal, Margaret, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Frank P. Graham Child Development Institute

Barbarin, Oscar, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Frank P. Graham Child Development Institute

Early, Diane, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Frank P. Graham Child Development Institute

Howes, Carollee, University of California-Los Angeles. Graduate School of Education and Information Studies

Pianta, Robert, University of Virginia. Curry School of Education

Winton, Pam, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Frank P. Graham Child Development Institute

Funding:

United States Department of Education. Institute of Education Sciences

Bibliographic Citation:

Clifford, Dick, Donna Bryant, Margaret Burchinal, Oscar Barbarin, Diane Early, Carollee Howes, Robert Pianta, and Pam Winton. National Center for Early Development and Learning Multistate Study of Pre-Kindergarten, 2001-2003. ICPSR04283-v2. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2009-06-08. doi:10.3886/ICPSR04283.v2

Scope of Study

Summary:

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:

  1. 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

  2. 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:

  1. What is the nature and distribution of education and experience of teachers and teacher assistants in pre-k public school programs?

  2. 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?

  3. 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)?

  4. 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?

  5. 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)?

  6. 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.

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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).

Subject Terms:

academic achievement, classroom environment, early childhood education, educational policy, educational programs, educationally disadvantaged, funding, government regulation, literacy education, mathematics, outcome evaluation, poverty, prediction, teacher education, teacher qualifications, teacher salaries, teacher student relationship, teaching conditions

Smallest Geographic Unit:

state

Geographic Coverage:

Albany (New York), California, Central Valley (California), Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Los Angeles, New York (state), New York City, Ohio, United States

Time Period:
  • 2001--2003

Date of Collection:
  • 2001--2003  (Fall 2001--Spring 2003)

Unit of Observation:

individual (child), classroom

Universe:

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.

Data Types:

observational data, survey data

Data Collection Notes:

Additional 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.

Methodology

Sample:

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.

Weight:

(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.

Mode of Data Collection:

computer-assisted self interview (CASI), coded on-site observation, coded video observation, cognitive assessment test, face-to-face interview, self-enumerated questionnaire

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.

Extent of Processing:

All archived data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. The archive also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, the archive performed the following processing steps for this data collection:

  • Performed recodes and/or calculated derived variables.

Access and Availability

Note:

Detailed file-level information (such as record length, case count, and variable count) is listed in the file manifest.

Original ICPSR Release:

2005-10-26

Restrictions:

Users are reminded that these data are to be used solely for statistical reporting and analysis, and not for the investigation of specific individuals or states. The reporting of state-level statistics of any type is prohibited. To protect respondent privacy, the public-use and restricted-use versions of the data differ in the amount of geographic detail provided. The restricted-use version contains the variables: SITE and SPSU while the public-use version does not. Access to parts of this study requires a signed User Agreement. To obtain the file(s), researchers must agree to the terms and conditions of the Restricted Data Use Agreement, which is included with every download and can also be obtained separately on the Browse Documentation page.

Version History:

  • 2010-12-16 The Restricted Data Use Agreement has been updated.

  • 2009-07-27 The Restricted Data Use Agreement has been modified.

  • 2009-06-17 The Restricted Data Use Agreement has been added.

  • 2009-06-08 Main Child Level Public-Use Version differs from the previous version of the main dataset due to the addition of the following variables: T_BAP, T_BAK, T_BAE, SITE_TRPS, SITE_TRKF, SITE_TRKS, SITE_ECK. The Main Child Level Public-Use Version differs from the Main Child Level Restricted-Use Version in that SITE and SPSU have been dropped from the public-use version. A few labels were corrected: SITE_PF were corrected so that subjects with no fall pre-k data do not have a value in this variable. STATE was dropped in favor of SPSU. Nonrestricted and restricted versions of the classroom-level datasets were created for Kindergarten and Pre-Kindergarten: Kindergarten Classroom Level Public-Use Version differs from Kindergarten Classroom Level Restricted-Use Version and Pre-K Classroom Level Public-Use Version differs from Pre-K Classroom Level Restricted-Use Version in that SITE and SPSU have been dropped.

  • 2006-03-28 A restricted-use version of the data file has been added to this collection.

Dataset(s):
  • 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