Change Memo

Memorandum United States Department of Education

Institute of Education Sciences

National Center for Education Statistics

DATE: September 7, 2023

TO: Bev Pratt, OMB

THROUGH: Carrie Clarady, OMB Liaison, NCES

FROM: Jill McCarroll, Study Director, Early Childhood Longitudinal Studies Program, NCES

SUBJECT: Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2023-24 (ECLS-K:2024) September 2023 Materials Change Request (OMB#1850-0750 v.28)

The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS) program, conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education (ED), draws together information from multiple sources to provide rich, descriptive data on child development, early learning, and school progress. The ECLS program studies deliver national data on children’s status at birth and at various points thereafter; children’s transitions to nonparental care, early care and education programs, and school; and children’s experiences and growth through the elementary grades. The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2023-24 (ECLS-K:2024) is the fourth cohort in the series of early childhood longitudinal studies. The study will advance research in child development and early learning by providing a detailed and comprehensive source of current information on children’s early learning and development, transitions into kindergarten and beyond, and progress through school. The ECLS-K:2024 will provide data about the population of children who will be kindergartners in the 2023-24 school year. The ECLS-K:2024 will focus on children’s early school experiences continuing through the fifth grade, and will include collection of data from children, parents, teachers, and school administrators.

The request to conduct the first three national data collection rounds for the ECLS-K:2024 was approved in April 2023 (OMB# 1850-0750 v.26), with a revision (OMB# 1850-0750 v.27) approved in July 2023. The ECLS-K:2024 fall kindergarten data collection will be conducted from August until December 2023, followed by the spring (March-July 2024) kindergarten round, and the spring (March-July 2025) first-grade round. Each of these rounds of data collection will involve advance school contacts, for example to conduct student sampling activities, collect teacher and school information, and locate families whose children may have moved schools. Future OMB packages will be submitted for the third-and fifth-grade field test (to be conducted in March-July 2026), as well as for the national spring (March-July 2027) third-grade round and the spring (March-July 2029) fifth-grade round.

This current change request is to update the study newsletters that will be distributed to parents and teachers in October 2023. Nonsubstantive changes to the newsletters occurred after further discussion with and review by senior NCES management staff. These changes are largely limited to minor style changes and updates to the statistics presented (i.e., the data from the School Pulse Panel were updated to match that released in a recent data errata announcement for that study).

The requested changes do not affect the approved total cost to the federal government for conducting this study. Revisions made to the previously approved ECLS-K:2024 October 2023 parent and teacher newsletters from the OMB# 1850-0750 v.27 are detailed below, and the newsletters are included in a new Attachment, Attachment A-7.

The following edits were made to the newsletter for school staff:

• Overall, the formatting and visual elements of the newsletter were updated. The logos at the top of the page were reordered, so that the U.S., Department of Education logo and name now appears on the left, with the IES logo and name in the center, and the text “National Center for Education Statistics” appears on the right.

• REVISED – The introductory text from Dr. Peggy Carr, Commissioner of NCES, was edited slightly to make it more clear. (page 1)

• REVISED – Dr. Peggy Carr’s photograph and title was added. (page 1)

• REVISED – The newsletter was updated so that the initial focus is on how the study is helpful to the educational community, and the type of research that is available, both from the study and NCES as a whole. The new section is titled “ECLS Insights.” Findings from the previous ECLS program studies were updated to provide data considered more relevant to the newsletters’ target population. (page 1)

• REVISED – Findings from the School Pulse Survey were expanded and corrected (based on an errata announcement for that study) in the “Relevant Results: News from NCES” section. (page 2)

• REVISED – The reference to “Twitter” was updated to “X-formerly known as Twitter”. (page 2)

The following edits were made to the newsletter for parents:

• Overall, the formatting and visual elements of the newsletter were updated. The logos at the top of the page were reordered, so that the U.S., Department of Education logo and name now appears on the left, with the IES logo and name in the center, and the text “National Center for Education Statistics” appears on the right.

• REVISED – The introductory text from Dr. Peggy Carr was edited slightly to make it more clear. (page 1)

• REVISED – Dr. Peggy Carr’s photograph and title was added. (page 1)

• REVISED – The newsletter was updated so that the initial focus is on how the study is helpful to the educational community, and the type of research that is available, both from the study and NCES as a whole. The new section is titled “ECLS Insights.” Findings from the previous ECLS program studies were updated to provide data considered more relevant to the newsletters’ target population. (page 1)

• REVISED – The findings from the School Pulse Survey were updated and expanded and corrected (based on an errata announcement for that study) in the “Relevant Results: News from NCES” section. A text box defining “high-dosage tutoring” was also added. (page 2)

• REVISED – The text under “Featured Resources” was edited to more adequately explain the type of videos available on NCES’ YouTube channel. Text was added referencing the QR code included at the bottom of the newsletter. (page 2)

• REVISED – The reference to “Twitter” was updated to “X-formerly known as Twitter”. (page 2)