Common Assessment Sample Questions in the Kindergarten Longitudinal Study (ECLS-K:2011) by the Department of Education

 

Oh dear.  This poor boy will receive poor marks for his emotional state on his first day of kindergarten since he misses his mom.  The teacher must make a note of this on his ECLS-K:2011 survey.   

We recently wrote about the kindergarten study (class of 2010-11) to be done by the Federal Government that will ultimately start tracking the class in 5th grade.  

What does the study entail?  From the Institute of Education Sciences:

Information for Children, Parents, and Schools Participating in the ECLS-K:2011

The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 (ECLS-K:2011) is an exciting new study sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the Institute of Education Sciences of the U.S. Department of Education and conducted by Westat. The ECLS-K:2011 will provide comprehensive and reliable data about children's early learning and development, transition into kindergarten, and progress through school. The data collected over the years will allow researchers, policymakers, and educators to study how student, home, classroom, school, and community factors at various points in the child's life relate to cognitive, social, and emotional development, as well as physical growth.

For more information about the ECLS-K:2011 designed especially for study participants, including a study timeline, selected findings from the ECLS program, and a link to send us your questions about the study, please visit Westat's "myeclsk2011" website.

From Westat's site:

Welcome to the ECLS-K:2011!

The ECLS-K:2011 is the third in a series of early childhood longitudinal studies sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics. Like its predecessors, the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K) and the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort of 2001 (ECLS-B), the ECLS-K:2011 will provide comprehensive and reliable data about

• children's early learning and development,
• their transition into kindergarten, and
• their progress through school.

The data collected over the years will allow researchers, policymakers, and educators to study how student, home, classroom, school, and community factors in children’s lives relate to cognitive, social, and emotional development and physical health at various points.

The Questions We Will Answer Together

Thanks to you and your school, the ECLS-K:2011 will allow researchers and policy makers to answer such questions as:

• What do children know and what skills do they possess when they start school?
• How well do children do in their first encounter with formal schooling?
• How healthy are kindergartners? What percentage are considered overweight or underweight? How many have difficulty hearing?
• How do kindergartners behave? Do they pay attention to teachers, cooperate with other children, and display an eagerness to learn?
• How do children’s knowledge, skills, and behavior change over time? How do their school experiences change over time?
• How well do children’s kindergarten programs prepare them for the opportunities and challenges in later grades?

This explains how and what kindergarten  research questions will be gathered from parents, administrators, teachers and early childhood caregivers:

Example Research Questions

The ECLS-K:2011 has been designed to study the following sets of research questions, which are organized by the different study data collection instruments. While the questions below focus on the early years of the study, the ECLS-K:2011 is designed to follow the kindergarten cohort of 2010-11 through the 2015-16 school year (when most of the children will be in fifth grade). Additional study research questions will be added to this list as the study progresses.
Direct and Indirect Child Assessments

• What are children’s competencies in the cognitive, socioemotional, language, and executive function domains? How does children’s development of and growth in these competencies vary by child and family social, demographic, and contextual characteristics?
• What literacy, language, mathematics, science, and executive function skills do children exhibit as kindergartners, and how do these skills vary by demographic characteristics such as race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and family structure? How do these skills differ between children repeating kindergarten and those who are in kindergarten for the first time?
• To what extent and how do children’s executive functioning abilities (e.g., self-monitoring, impulse control, adaptability) change over time?
• How prevalent is obesity among young children? How do the rates of obesity vary for children with different characteristics and backgrounds? How do the rates of obesity change over the elementary years?

Parent Interview

• What is the status of children’s development (as defined by cognitive, social, and emotional development; behavior; and physical status measures) at entry to kindergarten and beyond? How does children’s development vary by child and family social, demographic, and contextual characteristics at the time of kindergarten entry? How do children’s experiences with transitioning to kindergarten (e.g., children’s adjustment to kindergarten) relate to children’s developmental status at entry to kindergarten? How do variations in children’s developmental status (as defined by ECLS-K:2011 cognitive, socioemotional, and physical measures) at kindergarten entry relate to later success in school?
• What are the associations between family sociodemographic and contextual characteristics and later success in school within and across developmental domains and across sex and racial/ethnic subgroups?
• How do family processes and parenting practices (e.g., home environment, family activities, and cognitive stimulation) relate to children’s school readiness, developmental status, and social and emotional adjustment? Are critical family processes and parenting practices associated with later success in school?
• What are parents’ definitions of school readiness—i.e., what beliefs and standards do they have for children’s behavior and academic performance at entry into kindergarten? How do definitions of readiness differ by parental socioeconomic status (SES) and race/ethnicity? What are parents’ assessments of individual children’s readiness for and adjustment to school?
• To what extent does parental involvement in children’s education relate to school performance over the course of the early grades? Do parental involvement levels differ by family social, demographic, and contextual characteristics? What forms of parent involvement are most highly correlated with children’s outcomes? What factors might influence the extent of parental involvement?
• What are children’s patterns of participation in early care and education? How do early care and education arrangements differ by family sociodemographic factors, socioeconomic status, and race/ethnicity? To what extent are these arrangements related to children’s progress through school? How does participation in early care and education in the year before kindergarten relate to participation in before- and/or after-school care during kindergarten (e.g., in what ways are these arrangements similar or different)? Does Head Start attendance relate to any differences in children’s readiness and progress in school relative to other early care and education experiences?

School Administrator Questionnaire

• To what extent does the length of the school year relate to children’s academic progress, especially cognitive gains, during the elementary years?
• How do differences in schools’ basic demographic characteristics, enrollment, resources, policies, and organizational characteristics relate to children’s academic and social development in the elementary school years?
• Do school practices to involve parents result in higher levels of parent involvement?
• Does the school or administrative climate, teachers’ opportunities for staff development, or school goals for teachers’ progress in the classroom relate to children’s academic development?
• What kinds of services or programs do schools provide to families, children, or community members? How do these relate to children’s academic and socioemotional development?
• How do schools respond to the needs of parents with little or no English proficiency?
• How do neighborhood or community differences relate to children’s cognitive and social development?
• What challenges associated with student behavior, attendance, teacher mobility, and school safety do schools face, and how do these relate to other school characteristics and children’s cognitive and social development?
• How do differences in principals’ background characteristics relate to other school characteristics and practices?

Teacher Questionnaires

• How do instructional practices, content coverage, classroom resources, and methods of providing feedback differ across classrooms or schools? Do those differences correlate with children’s academic and social development over the elementary grades?
• To what extent and how are children’s opportunities to learn in the elementary grades associated with family social background characteristics? To what extent and how are children’s opportunities to learn in the elementary school grades associated with later school success?
• How does diversity in the classroom regarding age, race/ethnicity, sex, and number of kindergarten repeaters relate to other classroom characteristics? How might these class-level characteristics interact with children’s own characteristics for the development of academic and social skills?
• How do teachers and schools handle the diversity of children’s skills? How are children with special needs (e.g., English Language Learners, gifted and talented students, students with Individualized Education Programs for children with disabilities) taught? How might instructional differences for these students relate to academic and social outcomes?
• Do teachers’ characteristics, including sociodemographic characteristics, views on school readiness, sense of efficacy, job satisfaction, perceptions of school climate, educational background, certifications, and teaching experience correlate with children’s outcomes either in isolation or interacting with children’s sociodemographic backgrounds?
• Do teachers’ practices to involve parents relate to higher levels of parent involvement?
• How do teacher's relationships with individual students differ? What might the consequences of those differences be for children's academic and social development during the elementary years?
• What academic and socioemotional skills and behaviors (including activity level) do teachers report children having as they enter and go through school? Do these vary by family social background characteristics? How do these skills and behaviors change over time?

Special Education Teacher Questionnaires

• How do teachers and schools handle the diversity of children’s skills? How are children identified for receipt of special education services? How are children with special needs taught? What are the types of service delivery models in place for special education? How do program variations relate to differences in children’s academic or social development?
• What is the prevalence of different types of disabilities among children in elementary school? What types of services, instructional strategies, and assistive devices are provided to children with different types of disabilities?
• Do children receive special education services before kindergarten?
• What transition activities take place from prekindergarten to kindergarten for children with special needs?
• What is the association between inclusion in the regular classroom and children’s progress through the early grades?

Before- and After-school Early Care and Education Provider Questionnaires

• What are the patterns of participation in before- and after-school care and education programs? Do children with different family sociodemographic factors, socioeconomic status, and race/ethnicity participate in different types of care and education programs? How are these arrangements related to children’s academic achievement and progress?
• To what extent do variations in before- and after-school care and education programs—including organization, sponsorship, and quality—relate to the achievement of children with varying backgrounds and needs during the kindergarten year and beyond?
• Does participation in before- and after-school care and education relate to academic and social outcomes experienced by children?
• To what extent are the characteristics, experience levels, educational backgrounds, and professional development of teachers/care providers related to children’s outcomes?

What will the kindergarten questions look like?   Westat provides example sample test questions:

Sample Test Questions

The assessment items children are asked to complete are age appropriate and fun. Here are some examples.

Example 1: Mathematics

SAY: Jacob has six teddy bears. Each teddy bear has two eyes. How many eyes are there in all?
POINT TO CORRESPONDING AREAS ON THE STIMULUS PAGE AS NUMBERS ARE BEING READ.
TAKE OUT PAPER AND PENCIL OR POINT TO THE PAPER AND PENCIL THE CHILD ALREADY HAS AND
SAY: You can use these to figure it out.
RECORD CHILD'S RESPONSE.
SCORE 1 = CORRECT (12)
SCORE 2 = INCORRECT

Example 2: Reading

MATERIALS NEEDED: EASEL.
POINT TO DOG.
SAY: What is this?
ENTER CHILD'S RESPONSE.

Example 3: Science

What most likely happens first to a tennis ball when it is hit hard by a tennis racket? (POINT TO AND READ EACH RESPONSE CATEGORY.)
RECORD CHILD'S RESPONSE
A. The ball slows down.
B. The ball changes direction.
C. The ball sticks to the racket.
D. The ball goes through the racket.

  

Are these questions really age appropriate for kindergartners?  Does a kindergartner have the ability to determine the answer to "6 x 2"?  Have all kindergartners seen a tennis racket or even played tennis?  Can the game of tennis be "fun" instead of being scientifically scrutinized by a 5 year old?  Would an  answer other than just pointing to "dog" be acceptable?  This exercise reminds me of a 3 year old who failed a Parents as Teachers question because she didn't answer it exactly how the teacher requested.  Instead of pointing to "yellow boots" she answered in "it's the girl with the boots".  She failed that question because she didn't follow the prompt correctly.   The mother withdrew her child from Parents as Teachers and did not use this group for her subsequent children.  She realized quickly her child's individuality and skills were not recognized and her time with these educators were of little benefit (and possible detriment) to her child.

This link provides information on the survey and note that active parent permission is not required.   These children will be surveyed again in 4th grade and subsequent tracking will begin in 5th grade.  More information will be gleaned from common academic assessments...which would be academic assessments via Common Core.  A valid national assessment couldn't exist without commonly coded data sets. 

Would you agree to have your child part of this survey and data gathering in future years?  Do you believe the USDOEd should have the right to this information?  More importantly, can you find anywhere in the notices and survey information who specifically has access to this data and how it is going to be used?  Who are the researchers and policymakers who will have data access?