The International Early Learning Study
(IELS), scheduled to be conducted in 2018, is a new study sponsored
by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD), an intergovernmental organization of industrialized
countries. In the United States, the IELS is conducted by the
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The IELS focuses
on young children and their cognitive and non-cognitive skills and
competencies as they transition to primary school. The IELS is
designed to examine: children’s early learning and development in a
broad range of domains, including social and cognitive skills; the
relationship between children’s early learning and children’s
participation in early childhood education and care (ECEC); the
role of contextual factors, including children’s individual
characteristics and their home backgrounds and experiences, in
promoting young children’s growth and development; and how early
learning varies across and within countries prior to beginning, or
in the early stages of primary school. In 2018, in the
participating countries, including the United States, the IELS will
assess nationally-representative samples of 5-year-old children
enrolled in public and private schools that offer kindergarten in
the United States through direct and indirect measures, and will
collect contextual data about their home learning environments,
ECEC histories, and demographic characteristics. The IELS will
measure young children’s knowledge, skills, and competencies in
both cognitive and non-cognitive domains, including language and
literacy, mathematics and numeracy, executive
function/self-regulation, and social emotional skills. This
assessment will take place as children are transitioning to primary
school and will provide data on how U.S. children entering
kindergarten compare with their international peers on skills
deemed important for later success. To prepare for the main study
that will take place in October-November 2018, the IELS countries
will conduct a field test in the fall of 2017 to evaluate newly
developed assessment instruments and questionnaires and to test the
study operations. The U.S. IELS field test data collection will
occur from November to December, 2017, with respondent recruitment
beginning in early September 2017. Recruitment activities for the
2017 field test were approved in April 2017 (OMB 1850-0936 v.1-2).
This request is to conduct 2017 IELS field test data collection as
well as recruitment for the IELS 2018 main study.
US Code:
20
USC 9453 Name of Law: : Education Sciences Reform Act of
2002
The apparent increase in burden
is due to the fact that the last approval was for field test
recruitment only, while this request includes burden associated
with field test recruitment, field test data collection, and main
study recruitment.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
Appendix A-B IELS 2018 MS Recruitment & Field Test Communication Materials.docx
International Early Learning Study (IELS) 2018 Field Test Data Collection and Main Study Recruitment