Memorandum United States Department of Education
Institute of Education Sciences
National Center for Education Statistics
DATE: August 30, 2024
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) August 2024 Materials Revision Request (OMB#1850-0750 v.31)
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 in kindergarten during the 2023-24 school year. The ECLS-K:2024 focuses on children’s early school experiences continuing through the third grade,1 and includes 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 on April 7, 2023 (OMB# 1850-0750 v.26).2 Revisions to procedures and materials for the first two rounds of data collection were submitted and approved in three subsequent revisions requests (OMB# 1850-0750 v.27 was approved on July 2, 2023; OMB# 1850-0750 v.29 was approved on February 2, 2024; and OMB#1850-0750 v.30 was approved on July 19, 2024). The ECLS-K:2024 fall kindergarten data collection was conducted from August until January 2024 and the spring kindergarten round was conducted from March through July 2024. These two kindergarten data collections will be followed by a spring (March-July 2025) first-grade round. Each of these rounds of data collection involves 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 are planned for the third- grade pilot test (to be conducted in March-July 2026), as well as for the future currently-planned round, that is the national spring (March-July 2027) third-grade round.
This current revision request (accompanied by 30 days of public comment) is to update study respondent materials, surveys, and website designs that will be used in the spring 2025 first-grade data collection activities. Many of the revisions in this package were made based on analyses of the fall 2022 field test data (OMB# 1850-0750 v.25) and based on experiences in the field from the national kindergarten rounds of collection, as well as additional discussions with design experts, all of which informed changes to the design of the surveys and child assessment. Other changes occurred after further discussion on operational procedures. Further, changes have been made to respondent materials to remove references to the fifth-grade round, as this collection is no longer planned. Revisions to the study instruments, the respondent materials, and websites are limited to changes to the spring first-grade materials. The changes described in this revision build upon those previously submitted to OMB in the April 2024 OMB#1850-0750 v.30 revision request. The current revision request contains updates to the school staff and parent survey instruments made as the specifications were programmed. This revision request also contains the specifications for the Spanish translation of the parent survey and respondent materials, as well as the Mandarin translation of the parent welcome letter; an abbreviated hard-copy parent survey; and paper versions of the school staff surveys.
Additionally, this August 2024 revision request revises the race/ethnicity items in the web and hard-copy first-grade survey instruments in line with the new federal statistical standard released on 3/28/24 (Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity (SPD 15)). Upon conversations with ED’s working group on the implementation of SPD 15 as well as in consultation with OMB, NCES developed the revised ECLS race/ethnicity items in compliance with SPD 15. Aggregate proxy reports of race/ethnicity which appear in one item in the first-grade school administrator survey and in one item in the first-grade special education teacher survey are not compliant with the new standard and continue to use race and ethnicity categories as described in the 1997 SPD 15 and as administered in prior ECLS collections, per an agreement between NCES senior leadership and OMB. Because these reports are aggregate by schools, NCES is reliant on the ability of those third-party record keepers to report their data in compliance with SPD 15 and it is not yet expected that schools will be able to reliably report these data using the 2024 SPD 15 revision by the spring 2025 ECLS-K:2024 data collection.
The requested changes in this revision request reflect a $2.99mil increase to the approved total cost to the federal government for conducting this study; there are no changes to respondent burden. Revisions made to some parts of the previously approved ECLS-K:2024 national first-grade data collection request are detailed below.
Please note that the covers of all of the attachments submitted with this revision request have had the version number updated and the date of submission updated with “revised August 2024” to indicate the version and date of this revision request. Additionally, small grammatical errors (such as the removal of a spare comma) and verb tense in text reviewing activities that have previously occurred were updated throughout the documents.
Note, all changes made in Part A can be seen in the tracked version delivered with this submission. The table of contents for the various attachments to the submission has been updated to reflect the addition of the paper surveys.
References to a future 2029 fifth-grade data collection were removed to reflect NCES’ decision to end the study with the spring third-grade data collection. The ECLS-K:2024 was originally designed to culminate with a fifth-grade data collection round. However, based upon study progress to date and resource constraints, in 2024 NCES made the decision to end the study instead at its third-grade round. Study materials continue to discuss rounds as "planned rounds" (or use similar language), to leave open possibilities for NCES to change the forthcoming study rounds.
Text was edited to indicate that a third- through fifth-grade field test is no longer planned. Instead NCES now plans for a pilot test. The text was also updated to indicate that an OMB package requesting clearance to conduct the pilot study will be submitted in spring 2025, rather than late 2024.
Text was edited to indicate that the spring 2024 kindergarten data collection has already occurred. That is, all future tense text used to describe the spring kindergarten round was changed to past tense.
Text was edited to indicate that English and Spanish versions of an abbreviated paper parent survey are included in the August 2024 revision request and that these surveys will be implemented in the spring 2025 first-grade round if NCES determines that the response rates among parents are lower-than-desired.
The summary of the contents for the August 2024 revision request was updated to include materials that had not been previously included, specifically changes to the newsletter distribution and the elimination of the height and weight measurements in the spring 2025 first-grade round. These changes are further detailed throughout the remainder of Part A. Text was also added to indicate that the race/ethnicity items in the school and parent surveys were updated to conform to the new federal statistical standard released on 3/28/24 (Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity (SPD 15)), as well as justification a request for approval by OIRA to proceed with the proposed items, and a discussion of one school administrator survey item and one special education teacher survey item for which the 1997 SPD 15 race/ethnicity categories will be used, per an agreement between NCES senior leadership and OMB. Text in footnotes previewing what would be contained in the August 2024 revision request was deleted. Finally, text in this section was added to clarify the timeframe of the changes made to the spring first-grade instruments and respondent materials in the August 2024 revision request.
Text referring to the total number of actual sampled schools and students was updated for both the fall and spring kindergarten rounds. The numbers previously reflected the original sampling plan. Since both rounds of the kindergarten data collection have been completed, the numbers were updated using actuals. Text was also added later in Part A to reflect the rounded total number of students expected to be sampled (18,400) and the rounded target number of schools to be recruited (790).
Text previewing possible changes to the administration of the School Administrator survey in the first-grade round were deleted, as NCES decided to continue with the current administration protocols as described in Part A and elsewhere in the package. Text referencing substituting the School Administrator survey with a Facilities Checklist to be completed by field staff was also deleted, as again NCES decided to continue with the School Administrator survey as already described in the package.
Text referring to destination schools, that is schools where four or more students transfer, and the incentive they would receive in the spring kindergarten round was deleted, as no destination schools were identified in that round. We do expect to identify destination schools in the spring first-grade round.
Text indicating that NCES was considering mailing respondent materials directly to parents in the spring 2025 first-grade round was deleted. After discussion, NCES decided that using the children’s backpacks to distribute study materials to parents ensures that all parents will receive materials in a standardized manner. That is, some schools and districts did not provide parent contact information, meaning that materials cannot be mailed to them.
Text was added to clarify that the child’s language screener score in either the spring 2024 or fall 2023 rounds will be used to determine if the screener will again be administered in the spring 2025 round. That is, the language screener score from the spring 2024 round will be used to determine if re-administration of the screener is needed. However, if the child did not complete an assessment in the spring 2024 round, the score from the fall 2023 round will be used to determine if the screener is administered. For the small number of children who are fielded in the spring first-grade round who did not have a completed assessment in the base year, the language screener will be administered.
Text was added to reflect revised procedures for conducting the parent survey in the spring 2025 round. While most parents will still be invited to complete the survey online, parents whose families moved out of a sampled PSU, whose children are home-schooled, or whose children attend a refusal school will not have the ability to complete a web survey unless they request access to it on the phone. This is because their children are no longer in a participating school with a school coordinator to distribute the email invitation and welcome package containing the unique PIN. These cases will be assigned to field staff at the beginning of the round, and these parents will be contacted to complete the survey over the phone. If one of these parents wishes to complete the survey on the web, the field staff will have the ability to reassign the survey to them. The field staff will discuss with the parent how to access the survey online, and provide the unique PIN that the parent will need to access the survey. The text was also edited to indicate that when contacting non-responding parents, field staff can also reassign the survey back to those parent for completion on the web, if requested. Again, the field staff will walk the parents through accessing the survey online and will provide the unique PIN.
Text was added to indicate that parent survey reminder calls will no longer be used in the spring 2025 round. In previous rounds, field staff completed reminder telephone calls to non-responding parents, asking them to complete the survey online and answering questions. Continuing non-responders were then contacted later in the field period to complete the survey over the telephone. Because the reminder calls did not significantly help response rates in the base year rounds, NCES decided to eliminate the reminder calls. Instead, field staff will ask non-responding parents to complete the survey over the telephone (or in-person) in their first contact with the parent.
Text stating that vision evaluations are being considered for the first-grade round of the study was deleted. Vision evaluations with a subsample of children were considered for the spring first-grade round, but ultimately NCES and potential co-sponsors decided against including this component. NCES is still considering vision evaluations for the third-grade round; if exercised, the task will be described in a future OMB submission.
As noted, text refencing height and weight measurements in the spring 2025 first-grade round were deleted, as NCES decided not to conduct these measurements in that round. The height and weight measurements were taken in the spring 2024 kindergarten round as described in the package, and are still planned for the spring 2027 third-grade round.
Text was added to indicate that parent consent for their children’s participation in the ECLS-K:2024 child assessments will again be sought in the spring first-grade round, if missing from the earlier kindergarten rounds. The study expects the number of children that are missing consent in the spring 2025 round to be minimal, as most children with missing consent in the base year also did not have completed parent surveys and thus were not considered base year completes, meaning that they will not be fielded in the spring 2025 round. However, for those children who are eligible for participation in spring 2025 but for whom we are missing parental consent for them to participate, the study will again seek parental permission to conduct the assessment.
The frequency of the school staff/teacher newsletter distribution was changed from “quarterly” to “periodic," given a lack of evidence that the more frequent newsletter distribution schedule is required to maintain interest and engagement with the ECLS-K:2024. Specifically, newsletters planned for distribution in spring 2025 and spring 2026 were eliminated as the study will not be in a national data collection round. Instead a newsletter was added to winter 2026 to better align with data collection. School newsletters were distributed four times throughout the kindergarten rounds: October 2023, January 2024, April 2024, and July 2024. Future school newsletters are currently planned for distribution in winter and fall 2025, winter and fall 2026, and winter and spring 2027. Text was also added to indicate that the parent newsletters will be distributed in either the fall or winter of each year.
Text indicating that NCES is considering a change to the parent incentive in the spring 2025 first-grade round was deleted, as NCES plans to continue with the parent incentive as already described in the package.
The contract value and costs associated with the kindergarten and first grade data collections were updated based on a contract modification signed on July 2, 2024.
The anticipated release schedules for the ECLS-K:2024 data, associated technical documentation, and first findings reports were updated to reflect the current project schedule.
Note, all changes made in Part B can be seen in the tracked version delivered with this submission.
Text was edited to indicate that the spring 2024 kindergarten data collection has already occurred. That is, all future tense text used to describe the spring kindergarten round was changed to past tense.
Section B.1 was updated to reflect additional changes to the sampling procedures. Earlier submissions included changes that resulted in the sample design due to school recruiting challenges. The revisions in the current submission reflect the original sample design, the updated sample design based on recruitment challenges, and now further updates to the sample design as a result of the decision to end the study after third-grade. Specifically, the number of target schools and students needed to meet precision estimates was reduced, while the design effects assumption and number of students needed for subgroup analyses was increased. Additionally, text about adjustments to the mover rate was deleted, as those changes are no longer needed due to the revision of the sample target numbers. Finally, text on analytically important subgroups, such as various race/ethnicity groups and language minority children, was also updated to reflect the new sample sizes for these subgroups, based on the updates to the sample design.
Text refencing height and weight measurements in the spring 2025 first-grade round were deleted, as NCES decided not to conduct these measurements in that round. The height and weight measurements were taken in the spring 2024 kindergarten round as described in the package, and are still planned for the spring 2027 third-grade round as well. Text noting that NCES is considering height and weight measurements, as well as a vision assessment, in the spring 2029 fifth-grade round was also deleted, as NCES determined that the study will end after the 2027 third-grade round and the vision evaluation is no longer being considered for first grade.
Text indicated which subgroups of children will be followed when they leave their originally-sampled schools was softened, as discussion of which subgroups will be followed is ongoing.
The ECLS-K:2024 was originally designed to culminate with a fifth-grade data collection round. However, based upon study progress to date and resource constraints, in 2024 NCES made the decision to end the study instead at its third-grade round. Study materials continue to discuss rounds as "planned rounds" (or use similar language), to leave open possibilities for NCES to change the forthcoming study rounds.
The definition of a base year complete was revised to reflect continuing NCES decisions. In 2024, NCES decided to count as base year respondents for the purposes of sample following (but not for the computation of response rates) children who are unable to complete the kindergarten child activities due to the requirement of an accommodation that the study cannot provide (e.g., Braille), even if there was no complete parent survey for these children. The decision was made in order for the sample to be as inclusive as possible. Text was also added to clarify that children who did not have a completed assessment or full parent survey in at least one of the kindergarten rounds and have a parent/guardian who completed the abbreviated survey in the spring kindergarten round will not be considered a base year complete; however these cases will be followed in subsequent rounds of data collection.
Text was added to clarify that while approximately 20 parent interviewers were hired for the kindergarten rounds, 50 parent interviewers are planned for the spring first-grade round in an effort to raise response rates by completing more survey calls during the field period.
Text that indicated district and school recruitment may continue into 2024 was revised to specify that the recruitment did continue into 2024.
Text was edited to indicate that English and Spanish versions of an abbreviated paper parent survey are included in the August 2024 revision request and that these surveys may be implemented in the spring 2025 first-grade round pending an NCES decision to use these to collect data from full parent survey nonrespondents. In that case, the abbreviated paper surveys will be distributed to non-responding parents to provide additional data on critical items for analysts.
Text in footnotes previewing what would be contained in the August 2024 revision request were deleted.
Text referring to destination schools, that is schools where four or more study students transfer, and the incentive they would receive in the spring kindergarten round was deleted, as no destination schools were identified in that round. We do expect to identify destination schools in the spring first-grade round.
Text stating that vision evaluations are being considered for the first-grade round of the study was deleted. Vision evaluations were considered for the spring first-grade round, but ultimately NCES and potential co-sponsors decided against including this component. NCES is still considering vision evaluations for the third-grade round; if exercised, the task will be described in a future OMB submission.
Text previewing possible changes to the administration of the School Administrator survey in the first-grade round were deleted, as NCES decided to continue with the current administration protocols as described in Part A and elsewhere in the package. Text referencing substituting the School Administrator survey with a Facilities Checklist to be completed by field staff was also deleted, as again NCES decided to continue with the School Administrator survey as already described in the package.
Text was added to indicate that the race/ethnicity of each sampled child will again be collected from school coordinators during the advance school contact, occurring in fall 2024 prior to the spring first-grade data collection in spring 2025. The text notes that, pending approval by ORIA with the clearance package, the categories from Figure 3 from the March 2024 Statistical Policy Directive No. 15 will be used to collect these data, rather than the more categories used in Figures 1 or 2, due to concerns about the validity of more detailed reporting by proxies.
Text was added to clarify that the child’s language screener score in either the spring 2024 or fall 2023 rounds will be used to determine if the screener will again be administered in the spring 2025 round. That is, the language screener score from the spring 2024 round will be used to determine if re-administration of the screener is needed. However, if the child did not complete an assessment in the spring 2024 round, the score from the fall 2023 round will be used to determine if the screener is administered. For the small number of children who are fielded in the spring first-grade round who did not have a completed assessment in the base year, the language screener will be administered.
Text was added to indicate that parent consent for their children’s participation in the ECLS-K:2024 child assessments will again be sought in the spring first-grade round, if missing from the earlier kindergarten rounds. The study expects the number of children that are missing consent in the spring 2025 round to be minimal, as most children with missing consent in the base year also did not have completed parent surveys and thus were not considered base year completes, meaning that they will not be fielded in the spring 2025 round. However, for those children that are fielded in spring 2025 with missing consent, the study will again seek parental permission to conduct the assessment.
Text was added to reflect revised procedures for conducting the parent survey in the spring 2025 round. While most parents will still be invited to complete the survey online, parents whose families moved out of a sampled PSU, whose children are home-schooled, or whose children attend a refusal school will not have the ability to complete a web survey unless they request access to it on the phone. This is because their children are no longer in a participating school with a school coordinator to distribute the email invitation and welcome package containing the unique PIN. These cases will be assigned to field staff at the beginning of the round, and these parents will be contacted to complete the survey over the phone. If during these calls a parent wishes to complete the survey by themself on the web, the field staff will have the ability to reassign the survey to them. The field staff will then discuss with the parent how to access the survey online, and provide the unique PIN that the parent will need to access the survey. The text was also edited to indicate that when contacting non-responding parents, field staff can also reassign the survey back to those parent for completion on the web, if requested. Again, the field staff will walk the parents through accessing the survey online and will provide the unique PIN.
Text was added to indicate that parent survey reminder calls will no longer be used in the spring 2025 round. In previous rounds, field staff completed reminder telephone calls to non-responding parents, asking them to complete the survey online and answering questions. Continuing non-responders were then contacted later in the field period to complete the survey over the telephone. Because the reminder calls did not significantly help response rates in the base year rounds, NCES decided to eliminate the reminder calls. Instead, field staff will ask non-responding parents to complete the survey over the telephone (or in-person) in their first contact with the parent.
Text was edited to specify that the parent newsletter planned for 2025 will be distributed using children’s backpacks in January 2025. The original text erroneously stated that the parent newsletter would be distributed “later in the round” of the 2025 spring first-grade data collection.
Text indicating that NCES was considering mailing respondent materials directly to parents in the spring 2025 first-grade round was deleted. After discussion, NCES decided that using the children’s backpacks to distribute study materials to parents ensures that all parents will receive materials in a standardized manner. That is, some schools and districts did not provide parent contact information, meaning that materials cannot be mailed to them.
Text referencing that future OMB packages would contain a summary of the field test results was deleted, as these summaries are already included in previous revision requests.
Note, all changes made in Attachment A-2 can be seen in the tracked version delivered with this submission.
References to a future 2029 fifth-grade data collection were removed to reflect NCES’ decision to end the study with the spring third-grade data collection. The ECLS-K:2024 was originally designed to culminate with a fifth-grade data collection round. However, based upon study progress to date and resource constraints, in 2024 NCES made the decision to end the study instead at its third-grade round. Study materials continue to discuss rounds as "planned rounds" (or use similar language), to leave open possibilities for NCES to change the forthcoming study rounds.
Text was added to clarify that the parent survey may be completed on the web or by telephone. A larger-than-expected number of parents surveys were completed over the telephone by interviewers in the kindergarten rounds, and that trend is expected to continue in the spring first-grade round. Thus the language around the mode of parent survey completion was updated to include the telephone option.
The frequency of the school staff/teacher newsletter distribution was changed from “quarterly” to “periodic," given a lack of evidence that the more frequent newsletter distribution schedule is required to maintain interest and engagement with the ECLS-K:2024. Specifically, newsletters planned for distribution in spring 2025 and spring 2026 were eliminated as the study will not be in a national data collection round. Instead a newsletter was added to winter 2026 to better align with data collection. School newsletters were distributed four times throughout the kindergarten rounds: October 2023, January 2024, April 2024, and June 2024. Future school newsletters are currently planned for distribution in winter and fall 2025, winter and fall 2026, and winter and spring 2027. Text was also added to indicate that the parent newsletters will be distributed in either the fall or winter of each year.
Text refencing height and weight measurements in the spring 2025 first-grade round were deleted, as NCES decided not to conduct these measurements in that round. The height and weight measurements were taken in the spring 2024 kindergarten round as described in the package, and are still planned for the spring 2027 third-grade round as well.
Text in the spring 2025 parent/guardian study notification email was edited slightly. The previous text was written as if the email was being sent from Westat. Because the email will be sent to school coordinators to distribute to parents/guardians, some of the text was edited to be more appropriate (for example, “your school” was changed to “our school”). Text in the email was also edited to allow the email to be appropriate for parents who refused consent for their child’s participation in a previous round, as well as for parents who provided consent for their child’s participation. Finally, text was added to alert parents that they may be contacted by an interviewer to complete the survey over the telephone prior to the due date for the web survey.
A fill in the spring 2025 School Administrator welcome letter was removed as it was not necessary.
Some existing text in the parent/guardian welcome letter was made conditional, so that the letter can be used for parents who refused consent, as well as parents whose children are homeschooled or attend a school that refused to participate,. The study will attempt to conduct the study activities with these children outside of school, in a location convenient for the family, and references to a school or teacher are not relevant for those parents. The author of the letter was also made conditional; the letter will be signed by the Westat project director rather than a school coordinator for those parents whose children will be assessed outside of school. Text was also added to this letter to indicate that the survey could be completed by telephone, if that is preferable.
Text referencing the specific MyECLS portal will be accessible when using the assigned PIN was added to the spring 2025 school staff PIN postcard. In the kindergarten rounds, some respondents had questions about the relevant portal(s) they would access, so this text was added to ease any confusion.
Several new text templates were added for field staff to use when communicating with parents during the spring 2025 field period. These templates were based on those used on other studies or based on requests from field staff in the kindergarten rounds. Text allowing the field staff to identify themselves was also added to other text templates.
Edits were made to indicate that multiple email reminder templates are attached to the school coordinator reminder emails. Previously, the text only indicated one template was attached to the school coordinator email.
The Spanish translations of parent respondent letters, emails, and text messages were added to this revision request. The exception is the Spanish translation of the abbreviated parent survey letter, as that translation was included in the April 2024 revision request (OMB#1850-0750 v.30).
The Mandarin translation of the parent welcome letter was added to this revision request.
A cover letter to accompany the abbreviated paper parent survey for non-responders, planned for distribution in spring 2025, was added. This letter provides direction to the school coordinator for distributing the surveys to teachers to place in backpacks, to be taken home for parents to complete. As mentioned in Part A of the package, this abbreviated paper parent survey will only be used in spring first-grade pending an NCES decision to use it to collect data from full parent survey nonrespondents.
Text was added to the school staff thank you letters clarifying that a magazine subscription is included for schools who chose to receive the $250 incentive, rather than the $300 incentive.
Attachment B now includes the spring first-grade parent survey in Spanish (attachment B-3b) and the spring first-grade abbreviated survey (attachment B-3c) and the spring first-grade abbreviated survey in Spanish (attachment B-3d).
Between revision request memo 3 and revision request memo 4 (i.e., the current submission), the response scale was updated for select items within section SSQ. These same questions also occur within the teacher child-level survey (TQC). Within the parent survey, they were revised during survey development. However, they were revised to be different from the original source, which is how they are also administered within TQC. Therefore, we revised the parent versions to correspond with the original source/TQC administration (see Attachment B3a (spring first-grade parent survey), items SSQ020a through SSQf, and items SSQ025a through SSQ025f).
In addition, between revision request memo 3 and revision request memo 4 (i.e., the current submission), within the parent survey we refined programming instructions and value ranges (these were not substantive changes; they did not affect question content). Race and/or ethnicity items were revised to comply with Revisions to OMB's Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity (see Attachment B3a (spring first-grade parent survey),, items FSQ196a1 through FSQ196h). For more information, see Part A, Section A.7.
See Attachment H, which lists all items removed, added, and changed for the instruments in this submission.
For the spring first-grade teacher teacher-level web survey (TQA) (attachment C-5a), minor edits were made to fix typos and formatting, and to update sources. In addition, one question about digital camera use was dropped and two subject areas (foreign language and computer science) were added to two questions about classroom practices (See Attachment C5a (spring first-grade TQA), items CPA020j and CPA020k). Race and/or ethnicity items were revised to comply with Revisions to OMB's Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity (See Attachment C5a (first-grade TQA), items TBA030a through TBA030h). For more information, see Part A, Section A.7.
For the spring first-grade teacher teacher-level special education survey (SPA) (attachment C-6a), updates were made for clarity to select source notes and programming specifications (i.e., internal programming notes) in the final web instrument relative to the prior approved version. The self-report race and/or ethnicity item series was also revised to comply with Revisions to OMB's Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity (see Attachment C6a (first-grade SPA), items EBD040a through EBD040hOS). For more information, see Part A, Section A.7.
Attachment C also includes the spring first-grade teacher teacher-level paper survey (attachments C-5b and C-5c) and the spring first-grade special education teacher teacher-level paper survey (attachment C-6b). For the spring first-grade teacher teacher-level paper surveys, updates were made to fix typos and formatting. The question about digital camera use was dropped and two subject areas (foreign language and computer science) were added to two questions about classroom practices (see Attachment C5b (spring first-grade TQA1A), items B2j and B2k). The self-report race and/or ethnicity item series was also revised to comply with Revisions to OMB's Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity (see Attachment C5b (spring first-grade TQA1A), item H3 and Attachment C5c (spring first-grade TQA1B), item H3). For the spring first-grade special education teacher teacher-level paper survey, the self-report race and/or ethnicity item series was revised to comply with Revisions to OMB's Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity (see Attachment C6b (spring first-grade SPA), item 37). For more information, see Part A, Section A.7.
See Attachment H, which lists all items removed, added, and changed for the instruments in this submission.
For the spring first-grade teacher child-level survey (TQC) (attachment D-4a), minor punctuation changes were made. Updates were also made for clarity to select source notes and programming specifications in the final web instrument relative to the prior, approved version.
For the first-grade child-level special education teacher survey (SPB) (attachment D-6a), the response option of "No assistive technologies or devices were used" was corrected to "None of the above" to capture more valid data in one teacher methods and materials item (see Attachment D6a (spring first-grade SPB), item SIB240), and updates were made for clarity to select source notes and programming specifications (i.e., internal programming notes) in the final web instrument relative to the prior, approved version.
Attachment D also includes the spring first-grade teacher child-level paper surveys, one for children at-or-above expected grade level (that is, first-grade) (attachment D-4b) and one for children below grade level (attachment D-4c) during the spring first-grade collection. Minor edits were made to fix punctuation, formatting, page numbering, and skip logic. Attachment D also includes the spring first-grade special education teacher child-level paper survey (attachment D-6b). Minor edits were made to fix punctuation, formatting, page numbering, and skip logic.
See Attachment H, which lists all items removed, added, and changed for the instruments in this submission.
For the spring first-grade school administrator (SA) web survey (attachment E-2a), minor edits were made to fix typos and formatting, and update skip logics and sources.
The self-report race and/or ethnicity item series was also revised to comply with Revisions to OMB's Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity (see Attachment E2a (spring first-grade SA), items SAS020a through SAS020h). For more information, see Part A, Section A.7.
Skip logic between items was also changed to reflect these changes and references to the field test were removed. Programming specifications were updated (i.e., internal programming notes) in the final web instrument relative to the prior approved version, to refine these for clarity to the programmers. Questions were also renumbered as needed.
Attachment E includes the spring first-grade school administrator paper survey (attachments E-2b and E-2c). Minor edits were made to fix typos, formatting, and standardize instructions. The self-report race and/or ethnicity item series was also revised to comply with Revisions to OMB's Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity (see Attachment E2b (spring first-grade SAQ1A), item G2 and see Attachment E2c (spring first-grade SAQ1B), item G2). For more information, see Part A, Section A.7.
See Attachment H, which lists all items removed, added, and changed for the instruments in this submission.
Changes were made to the inactivity warning message in the Blaise (web) surveys.
The timeline on the landing page was updated to remove explicit references to the 2027 and 2029 data collection rounds. References to the vision exams were removed from the landing page timeline and the school administrator portal.
The Spanish translations of the text on the infographics tabs were added to the More Information section of the Landing page. A typo was corrected in the Spanish translation of the infographics.
Changes were made to the “prepare for the school visit” section of the school coordinator portal to reflect that there will not be a pre-scheduled study activities call in spring first grade, to reflect that the study will still be collecting consent for some participants in the first-grade round, and to display slightly different text for newly identified transfer schools than for schools that participated in previous rounds of the study.
The “Staffing and Teacher Characteristics” row of the school administrator survey table was removed from the school coordinator and school administrator portal. A statement about testing the log-in protocol in the pilot test was removed from the school administrator portal, as the same protocol will be followed that was used in spring kindergarten.
A note was added to specify that the consent section of the parent portal will display for the spring first-grade round. For parents of children not enrolled in a participating school, references to the child’s school were removed from the Overview and Contact Information sections of the parent portal; this was done in both the English and Spanish versions of the text. A note was added to clarify that the parent consent and survey navigation icons will not appear in fall first grade. Text was modified to clarify that the height and weight measurements will be conducted only in selected rounds of the study. A note was added to clarify the infographics that appear on the parent portal for the kindergarten and first-grade rounds.
Note, all changes made in Attachment F can be seen in the tracked version delivered with this submission.
As first done with the April 2024 revision request (OMB#1850-0750 v.30), NCES is no longer delivering an Attachment G. All information that was once in Attachment G (item number, item text, construct, research question) is now within Attachment H.
Attachment H is included to show all items removed or changed from the spring first-grade K-1 2022 field test instruments compared with the spring first-grade national instruments in this submission. In addition, Attachment H shows all items added for the spring first-grade national that were not in the K-1 2022 field test.
Changes to Attachment H include (as documented above within Attachment B through G sections):
For parent, TQA, SPA, and SA, updates to questions on race and/or ethnicity to comply with Revisions to OMB's Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity;
Within parent, selected items within SSQ were updated, where response options were revised;
Within TQA one question about digital camera use was dropped and two subject areas (foreign language and computer science) were added to two questions about classroom practices; and
Within SPB the response option of "No assistive technologies or devices were used" was modified to "None of the above" to capture more valid data in one teacher methods and materials item.
In sum, Attachment H presents information on:
Field test item number;
Field test item wording;
Field test construct;
Field test research question;
National item number;
National item wording;
National construct;
National research question; and
Whether the item was added, dropped, or revised and the justification for this change.
1 The ECLS-K:2024 was originally designed to culminate with a spring 2029 fifth-grade collection; during recruitment, potential participants were told that the currently planned rounds of data collection would be fall kindergarten, spring kindergarten, spring first-grade, spring third-grade, and spring fifth-grade. In 2024 NCES decided to end the study with the spring third-grade collection. In addition to noting this change here in the revision request, this design change will be discussed in the next full OMB package (planned for the third-grade pilot test).
2 Note that the expiration date associated with this clearance (April 30, 2026) has not been updated on the materials being submitted in conjunction with this revision request. The revision request expiration date, received once the request is cleared, will be updated on these materials prior to printing or otherwise distributing. Materials that are not part of this revision request will be updated with the April 30, 2026 date prior to printing/distributing.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2024-09-13 |