Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2022-23 (ECLS-K:2023)
Preschool Field Test
OMB# 1850-0750 v.20
National Center for Education Statistics
U.S. Department of Education
July 2019
revised August 2019
Contents
Part C – The ECLS-K:2023 Preschool Field Test Instrument Details C-1
C.2 The ECLS-K:2023 Preschool Household Screener C-1
C.3 The ECLS-K:2023 Preschool Parent Survey C-1
C.3.1 Preschool Parent Survey: Research Questions C-1
C.3.2 Parent Survey: Construct Coverage C-2
The design of the ECLS-K:2023 preschool round is guided by a conceptual framework of children’s development and learning that emphasizes the interaction among various environments that children experience prior to formal school entrance and into formal schooling, and the resources within those environments to which children have access. For this reason, information on a wide array of topics will be collected during the preschool round, including the characteristics of the child, the child’s family, and the child’s early care and education environments.
This section provides information about the general contents of the ECLS-K:2023 household screener, the preschool parent survey, and the follow-up survey for use in the field test. The survey instruments can be viewed in Attachment B1 (web survey), Attachment B2 (paper survey), and Attachment D contains the full catalog of items along with information about the role each item plays in addressing the research questions and theoretical constructs described below.
The ECLS-K:2023 will administer a household screener based on the 2019 NHES. The purpose of this screener (for both the field test and main national study) is to identify and sample eligible children to be the target of the preschool parent survey.
The household screener includes questions about:
Whether there are children in the household;
How many children are in the household (under the age of 10);
Each child’s name (or initials/nicknames, if the respondent prefers), age, and sex; and
Each child’s enrollment in school, current grade/equivalent (if applicable), and expected grade/equivalent the following fall.
In the field test, the web screener will have additional questions about where children age 10 or younger and in the third grade or below who were not eligible for the preschool parent survey attended kindergarten and questions about the mobility of the household. These questions will inform the national study design about the location of schools within selected catchment areas.
The children in the ECLS-K:2023 will come from a broad range of family and community backgrounds and enter formal schooling with widely differing abilities and levels of preparation for school. Understanding these variations and examining the ways in which home and school environments interact as children enter and progress through school is a key goal of the ECLS-K:2023. Conducting surveys with parents and guardians is vital to obtaining the information necessary in order to understand how child and family characteristics are related to school experiences over time. In respondent materials for the preschool screener, it will be requested that the household member who responds to the screener should be the parent, guardian, or adult who knows about the household children’s care and education. If a child is eligible for a parent to complete the parent survey, a web version of the parent survey will follow the screener and be conducted with the child’s parent or guardian in the household who responded to the preschool screener. In the parent survey, if the screener respondent does not feel knowledgeable enough about the child to continue with the parent survey, there will be an option to change the respondent to another household member who is more knowledgeable.
Research questions related to the ECLS-K:2023 spring preschool parent survey items are shown below.
1. Policy Issues
What is the early care and education (ECE) landscape for children during the year prior to kindergarten entry? How does it differ by child background characteristics such as SES, region, and other demographics?
What special education and related services are being made available to children through the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA)?
2. School Readiness
What skills and experiences do children have prior to kindergarten entry and how do these relate to development through elementary school?
What actions do parents take to prepare their children for school and to ease their adjustment to school? How do these actions relate to later experiences as children progress though elementary school?
3. Early School Experience and Academic Performance
What protective factors and/or difficulties do children experience prior to kindergarten entry?
How varied are children’s experiences in the year prior to kindergarten? In what ways does this variation relate to success at school entry?
How are parents involved in their children’s education before the elementary school years and how does this involvement relate to child development over this period?
How do ECE settings, schools, and teachers involve parents in their children’s education, or how do parents involve themselves in both ECE and the schooling process?
4. Transitions to Kindergarten
What kinds of transition patterns exist for children as they make the move from preschool (or no school) to kindergarten and later elementary school grades?
How much movement occurs across and within sectors (e.g., private school to public school) during and between preschool, kindergarten, and later elementary school? How do those children and families who change sectors compare to those who remain in the same sector?
5. Cognitive and Socioemotional Growth
How does socioemotional development differ by student and family characteristics? How is socioemotional development related to children’s difficulties and successes in school?
The preschool parent survey includes a question about the following child characteristics:
Child’s age;
Child’s gender; and
Child’s race and ethnicity.
Academic readiness, in addition to behavioral and social readiness both before and at school entry, is also linked to later school achievement. For example, prior to school entry, findings have shown that young children’s vocabulary is positively related to achievement and behavior at the beginning of kindergarten (Morgan et al. 2015). In addition, relationships between readiness at school entry and later academic skills and success have been found in the domains of literacy (La Paro and Pianta 2000), oral language (NICHD Early Child Care Research Network 2004; Scarborough 2001), and mathematics (Baroody 2003). Additionally, in a meta-analysis across six studies, Duncan et al. (2007) found that both mathematics and reading skills at school entry retained the greatest predictive power (in addition to attention skills) for later school achievement.
The ECLS-K:2023 preschool parent survey will provide information on the following data related to children’s academic school readiness in the year prior to kindergarten entry:
Ratings of child competence in literacy, language, and mathematics;
Child language use; and
Vocabulary.
There is research interest in determining how young children in homes where the primary language is not English become English proficient. One study found that children who started school classified as English language learners (ELL), but later were reclassified as English proficient in school, performed similarly on achievement tests compared to those who started school speaking English, and performed better on achievement tests compared to those who were never reclassified as English proficient (Flores, Painter, and Pachon 2009). The preschool parent survey will include questions about the primary languages spoken in the homes of the study children. Researchers can consider the language environment at home and potential relationships of this construct with school readiness skills and experiences prior to kindergarten entry. Researchers can also consider the language environment prior to school entry along with information from the school and teacher questionnaires collected in later study rounds, to better understand the interplay of factors related to the child’s instructional environment and ELL children’s academic progress.
The ECLS-K:2023 preschool parent survey will include a question about the primary language spoken in the home as well as follow-up to ascertain the language(s) used.
The environment parents create in the home and the activities in which they engage with their children represent a direct linkage between parental characteristics and the child’s development. The parenting practices of the mother are closely associated with the development of the child (Maccoby and Martin 1983), and the practices of the biological father and other parent figures in the household such as step-parents and grandmothers have also been shown to also play a role in children’s development (e.g., Dunifon and Kowaleski-Jones 2007).
Many parent-child activities, for example, with respect to literacy, have been linked to children’s achievement in school. ECLS-K data have shown that children’s literacy is positively correlated with the frequency with which parents read to their children (Almond and Holt 2005; U.S. Department of Education 2000; Sy and Schulenberg 2005) and also with nonliterary, social activities (e.g., teaching children about nature, doing arts and crafts, parents and children eating breakfast together) (Almond and Holt 2005). Other activities related to children’s reading achievement measured in the ECLS-K are the parent telling stories to the child, going to the library, going to museums, and the number of books in the home (Almond and Holt 2005). The amount of time children spend reading to themselves has also been related to reading achievement (Mullis, Campbell, and Farstrup 1993). The ECLS-K:2011 focused on different aspects of the home environment in different years of the study and these data may also be used to explore relationships to child achievement. In the ECLS-K:2023 preschool parent survey, the home environment will be measured by asking parents about home activities (e.g., reading, playing games or doing puzzles with the child).
The opportunity for mathematical activities within the home environment has also been linked to children’s early mathematics achievement. Home environments that are of high quality and include mathematical activities have been shown to relate to children’s early mathematical development (Blevins-Knabe and Musun-Miller 1996; Blevins-Knabe, Whiteside-Mansell, and Selig 2007). Although numeracy-related activities tend to be less prevalent in home environments as compared to literacy-related activities, home environments where such opportunities are offered have been found to relate to early numeracy skills for young children (Anders et al. 2012; Jacobs et al. 2005; LeFevre et al. 2009).
Engagement with technology is another valuable piece of information related to children’s home experiences. Questions about technological access (primarily access to computers) were included in ECLS-K. Because in later years computers became available in many different forms, including various handheld devices such as cell phones and tablets, as well as the development of social media, questions about technology use in the ECLS-K:2011 were modified to allow for other electronic devices and to include parent monitoring of social media. Currently, students have access to cell phones, smartphones, computers, tablets, and other electronic devices at increasingly younger ages. The ECLS-K:2023 will continue to ask questions about access and parental monitoring of use across more media options than in the ECLS-K:2011 in order to reflect growth in technology use. It will also add questions about children’s own devices, family rules about device use, and whether such devices are allowed in children’s bedrooms at night. The ECLS-K:2023 provides a unique opportunity to investigate children’s early use of media and technology and allow researchers to examine how screen time affects not just learning and achievement but also social relationships, emotional health, behavior, and physical health.
The amount of chaos in the home environment has also been related to children’s outcomes. A chaotic home environment may be characterized by low levels of order, predictability, and family routines, along with high levels of noise, crowding, and many persons coming and going (Johnson et al. 2008; Matheny et al. 1995). Household chaos has been associated with poor reading, vocabulary, and phonological awareness (Johnson et al. 2008), lower cognitive ability (Hart et al. 2007), and behavior problems (Coldwell, Pike, & Dunn 2006).
By contrast, aspects of the home environment that suggest predictability, safety, and family routines such as eating meals together, children being in a neighborhood where it is safe to play outside, and having a regular sleep schedule have been linked to positive outcomes for children. In the ECLS-K, children whose families ate fewer meals together and whose parents perceived the neighborhood as less safe to play outside were more likely to be overweight in elementary school (Gable, Chang, and Krull 2007). In addition, findings from the ECLS-K also showed a link between parents setting regular bedtimes and children’s kindergarten reading scores.
The ECLS-K:2023 preschool parent survey will also ask about the hours of sleep children generally get on average week night. Sleep has been related to many different children’s outcomes including achievement (Eide and Showalter 2012) and depression (Smaldone, Honig, and Byrne 2007).
The following information collected in the ECLS-K:2023 preschool parent survey will address research questions concerning how the home environment influences children’s cognitive and social development:
Home learning activities;
Language other than English used in the home for activities, reading, etc.;
Parents’ frequency of engaging with books (reading, looking at, etc.) with the child;
Math activities;
Amount of chaos in the home;
Media engagement and usage;
Children’s organized activities (sports, music, art, etc.);
Outings to zoos, concerts, museums, etc.;
Frequency with which the family eats meals together;
Hours of child sleep and whether child has regular bedtime; and
Outside play and perception of how safe it is for children to play outside.
Social skills have been found to be significant predictors of academic achievement (Clark, Gresham, and Elliot 1985). Problem behaviors, such as aggression or withdrawal, are consistently correlated with negative outcomes for children, including rejection by their peers (for a review of this research see Meisels, Atkins-Burnett, and Nicholson 1995). Based on work by Meisels and his colleagues, the ECLS-K:2023 includes items from two scales (Self-control and Social interaction) adapted from the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS) (Gresham and Elliot 1990).
The ECLS-K:2023 preschool parent survey also includes measures of approaches toward learning. Learning styles include intellectual openness and curiosity, task persistence and attentiveness, reflection and interpretation, and imagination and creativity. The ECLS-K:2023 social skills and approaches to learning behavior ratings from preschool parents are a useful complement to similar measures that will be provided, in later years, by the child’s teacher. Having two sources of information about the social skills of the children allows researchers to view children’s development in this area in both the home and school environments. In addition, the ECLS-K:2023 preschool parent survey includes items on attention and inhibitory control, which have both been found to relate to mathematics and literacy skills (Blair and Raver 2015; Fuhs et al., 2014; McClelland et al. 2015). For example, McClelland et al. (2013) found that attention span persistence at age 4 significantly predicted math and reading achievement at age 21 as well as the odds of college completion by age 25. Additionally, using a direct assessment of self-regulation (including inhibitory control, attention flexibility, and working memory), such skills have been found predictive of emergent literacy, vocabulary, and mathematics skills for young children (McClelland 2007; Ponitz et al. 2009).
The ECLS-K:2023 preschool parent survey also includes a measure of the child’s understanding of other people’s emotions, or affective empathy. Affective empathy has been found to be negatively relate to aggression in early childhood (Belacchi and Farina 2012; Noten et al. 2019). For example, Belacci and Farina (2012) investigating components of empathy in relation to prosocial and hostile roles within bullying situations with children ages 3-6. Results indicated a significant positive relationship between affective empathy and prosocial roles (defender, consoler, and mediator) and a significant negative relationship with hostile roles (bully, assistant, and reinforcer).
The ECLS-K:2023 preschool parent survey will provide information on the following data related to children’s school readiness in the year prior to kindergarten entry:
Approaches to learning;
Social interaction;
Self control;
Attention focusing;
Inhibitory control; and
Affective empathy.
Family structure is associated with the economic, social, and psychological resources available to the family for child rearing purposes. In 2010, 31.6 percent of families headed by a single mother were in poverty, compared to 6.2 percent of families with married parents (National Poverty Center n.d.). Research indicates that a wide range of outcomes for children under 18, including academic performance, mental health, behavior, and relationships with parents and peers are more optimal in families composed of two biological parents who interact with minimal conflict than for children who do not live with both biological parents (Dawson 1991; McLanahan and Sandefur 1994; Peterson and Zill 1986; Morrison and Cherlin 1992). Also, having the additional support of a second adult in the household appears to be beneficial to children without a second biological parent in their household. Dunifon and Kowaleski-Jones (2007) found that the presence of a residential grandmother in single-mother homes was associated with greater cognitive stimulation and higher reading scores, although this association was only found for White children.
Effects of family structure are not static. Structural conditions need to be looked at over time, because family turbulence—changing schools, residence, family composition, or even early care and education arrangements—can have a negative influence on children’s outcomes (Haurin 1992; Peterson and Zill 1986; Howes and Stewart 1987). However, there is evidence suggesting that after accounting for other parental factors, remarriage after divorce may have benefits for children’s academic achievement (Shaff et al. 2008). The longitudinal nature of the ECLS-K:2023 makes it ideal for investigating the impact of change in family composition prior to and during children’s elementary school years.
The ECLS-K:2023 preschool parent survey will gather data on the following aspects of family structure:
Current household roster;
Family relationship of key parent figures to the child (e.g., adopted);
Sex, age, and race/ethnicity of key parent figures; and
Marital status of the primary caretakers.
Children’s early care and education (ECE) experiences have been linked to positive short- and long-term outcomes for children (Campbell et al. 2012; Deming 2009; Yoshikawa et al. 2013). For example, in their review, Yoshikawa et al. (2013) concluded that preschool programs are related to short-term impacts on children’s academic school readiness and that gains are larger for children who attended higher quality programs. Additionally, the review conducted by Yoshikawa et al. (2013) concluded that existing benefit-cost studies also find positive results with respect to investment returns for early childhood programs when benefits are monetized.
The ECLS-K:2023 preschool parent survey will provide information on the following data related to children’s ECE experiences prior to kindergarten entry:
Participation in early care and education, by type of arrangement (i.e., relative, non-relative, and center-based);
Head Start attendance;
Attendance of state-sponsored preschool;
Characteristics of the ECE provider (i.e., the language the provider speaks most when caring for the child, whether the provider is 18 years old or older);
Time child spends in care arrangements;
Parent endorsement of the ECE setting;
Distance, time, and mode of transportation to ECE setting;
Parents’ reasons for selecting the ECE setting;
Improvements the parent would make in the ECE setting;
How behavior problems are handled in the ECE setting; and
Whether the child has ever been asked to leave ECE setting due to behavior.
Items on learning about and selecting a kindergarten school for the target child are included in the preschool parent survey to identify how parents learn about schooling options as well as their views of the most important factors to consider in selecting a kindergarten for their child. Previous literature focused on how parents make decisions about the school their child will attend show mixed results on what the most important factors are. While some evidence suggested academic quality as a determining factor (e.g., Witte 2001), others find searching for peer composition rises above academic quality in selection (e.g., Schneider and Buckley 2002). Other previous work has also identified demographic differences in the type of selection information to which parents respond (Hart and Figlio 2015).
The ECLS-K:2023 preschool parent survey will provide information on the following data related to children’s ECE experiences prior to kindergarten entry:
School where child is expected to attend kindergarten;
How respondent learned of the selected kindergarten; and
Reasons for choosing a kindergarten.
Items on child health and well-being are included in the preschool parent survey to identify children with the potential for developing disabilities or having an undiagnosed disability, as well as those who have been identified for services. The presence of disabilities is a significant risk factor for children’s outcomes and is related to children’s development and education in school. However, most children with disabilities have not yet been identified when they are of preschool age. For example, in 2013, only 3 percent of 3- to 4-year-olds had been diagnosed as having a learning disability while 8 percent of 5- to 11-year-olds and 9 percent of 12- to 17-year olds had been diagnosed as having a learning disability (Child Trends Databank 2014). Thus, questions in the preschool parent survey will focus on parent perceptions of the child’s skills compared to similar-aged children and whether a health, education, or early intervention professional have indicated that the child is at risk. There will also be questions about children who have been identified as having a disability. Questions will ask about whether the child has an Individualized Education Program (IEP), Individualized Family Services Plan (IFSP), or 504 plan. These items will provide the data to analyze the initial indications of potential service needs and how many children already have IEPs, IFSPs, or 504 plans in preschool.
The importance of children’s health for school success is well established. One health risk for children is being overweight. The proportion of U.S. children who are obese increased sharply from 5 percent in 1971-1974 to 19 percent in 2015-2016 (Child Trends 2018). Overall, 36 percent of U.S. children (40 percent of boys and 32 percent of girls) were in the combined category of at risk of overweight or overweight, representing an estimated 17 million children (Tudor-Lock et al. 2007). Health risk factors associated with being overweight or obese are high blood pressure, asthma, diabetes, stroke, and heart disease. One study utilizing ECLS-K data (Judge and Jahns 2007) found that while overweight third graders did not have more academic problems than normal-weight third graders, overweight girls in the third grade had less self-control and more problem behaviors such as arguing and fighting (called “externalizing” behaviors) and sadness or loneliness (called “internalizing” behaviors) than normal-weight girls.
However, immediate consequences of being overweight are often psychosocial (Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics 2007). An elevated body mass index (BMI) can have a significant impact on test scores and school success. Girls who became overweight between kindergarten and the end of third grade were significantly more likely to have a reduction in test scores, teacher ratings of social-behavioral outcomes, and approaches to learning during this period (Datar and Sturm 2006). Particularly in girls, appearance and weight gain are linked with perceptions of self-worth (Harter 1999).
The ECLS-K:2023 preschool parent survey will provide information on the following data related to children’s health status in the year prior to kindergarten entry:
Overall health;
Exercise/physical activities;
Parent report of the height and weight of the child;
Parent perceptions of child’s skills compared to other similar-aged children;
Emotional or psychological difficulties;
Whether a health, education, or early intervention professional has indicated child is at-risk; and
Whether the child has been diagnosed with a disability and has an IEP, IFSP, or 504 plan.
Warm, accepting behaviors from parents or guardians are positively linked to children’s intellectual and emotional development. Greater warmth and support predict more positive child outcomes, regardless of household income level (Moore et al. 1995; Gregory and Rimm-Kaufman 2008). Research has identified listening and communication as key aspects of parental warmth (Global Exchange, Inc. 1995). A study by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network (2004) found positive academic and social outcomes for children whose fathers are sensitive and supportive and whose mothers support self-directed child behavior.
Additionally, the use of harsh, controlling disciplinary techniques is negatively associated with children’s adjustment. For example, Hess and McDevitt (1984) found that mothers’ use of direct control tactics at age 4 negatively predicted children’s school-related abilities at ages 4, 5, 6, and 12 (Powell 1992). The ways in which parents discipline and interact with their children have also been related to behavior outcomes. Parents’ use of inconsistent discipline has been associated with children’s Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (Ellis and Nigg 2009) and found to be a mediator between mother’s distress and children’s aggression (Barry et al. 2009). Parent-child conflict has also been found to be a strong predictor of children’s aggressive behavior (e.g., Patterson, Reid, and Dishion 1992; Ingoldsby et al. 2006). In early childhood, one manifestation of potentially harsh disciplinary techniques is spanking. In a recent meta-analysis of studies on spanking with more than 111 effect sizes representing more than 160,000 children, the majority of effects were significantly and negatively related to multiple outcomes for children including aggression, internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors, and impaired cognitive ability (Gershoff and Grogan-Kaylor 2016). The ECLS-K:2023 preschool parent survey will provide an opportunity to examine how parental warmth and discipline, measured in the year prior to kindergarten, are related to concurrent development and future children’s outcomes.
Parenting stress has also been related to children’s outcomes both directly and through parenting behaviors (Deater-Deckard 2005). Although many studies have shown that parenting stress is negatively related to warm, supportive parenting and positive child outcomes, the relationship between parenting stress and parenting is not always in this direction. Some studies have found that low levels of parenting stress were related to parents being disengaged with their children, while other studies have found individual differences in reactions to stress, such that some caregivers under high stress cope well and have well-adjusted children (Abidin 1992; Deater-Deckard 2005). Whether parenting stress continues over long periods of time and how parents are able to use social support are also factors contributing to the effects of parenting stress. The ECLS-K:2023 preschool parent survey will provide an opportunity to examine how parenting stress, measured in the year prior to kindergarten, is related to concurrent child development and future children’s outcomes.
The ECLS-K:2023 will provide information about how the following constructs relate to both family background and children’s development:
Parental warmth;
Disciplinary practices; and
Parenting stress.
In addition to parenting stress, there are other life stressors experienced by parents (e.g., economic concerns, work stress, health, relationships) that may affect children. A recent report from the American Psychological Association (2017) showed an increase in the number of Americans who reported at least one symptom of stress in the past month. About a third of adults reported feeling tired, irritable, or angry, and nervous or anxious as symptoms of stress (American Psychological Association 2017). Parents with more stress may show less positive and more negative emotions with their children (Deater-Deckard, Li, and Bell 2016) and children may recognize that parents are stressed (American Psychological Association 2010). An earlier report from the American Psychological Association (2010) found that almost half of children reported feeling sad when their parent was stressed or worried, and a third recognized that their parents were stressed when they yelled. Children also recognized signs of stress in their parents such as being too busy to spend time with them and arguing with family members (American Psychological Association 2010).
The ECLS-K:2023 preschool parent survey will include one question about:
Parent life stress.
Parents’ education—especially mothers’ education—has a strong relationship with children’s cognitive abilities at the beginning of kindergarten (U.S. Department of Education 2000; Lee and Burkam 2002) and as children progress through school (Rathbun and West 2004). Studies have shown that maternal education is a strong predictor of the amount of time mothers spend playing with children, teaching them, and taking them on outings (Hill and Stafford 1980) as well as the time spent engaging in high quality home literacy experiences (Roberts, Jurgens, and Burchinal 2005; Storch and Whitehurst 2001). Lower parent education has also been related to children’s externalizing problems and maternal depression (Moore et al., 2006).
Educational attainment data will be collected for up to two parent figures in the household. The following data will be collected:
Diplomas or degrees parent has obtained.
Parental employment status affects the amount of material resources available to the child (Jackson, Bentler, and Franke 2006). Meta-analyses of several studies document that socioeconomic status (parent occupation and education) is positively associated with the quality of stimulation that parents provide their children (Gottfried 1984).
Parent employment data will be collected for up to two parent figures in the household. The following data will be collected:
Employment status.
Family income affects the family’s material standard of living, neighborhood and housing quality, opportunities for stimulating recreation and cultural experiences, and the stress and psychological well-being of the parents. Children from more economically advantaged households tend to be more successful in the primary grades compared to their less advantaged peers (Alexander and Entwisle 1988). Any behavior and learning problems the child exhibits in the early grades are more likely to persist for children from economically disadvantaged families than for children in families with more financial resources (Ackerman, Brown, and Izard 2003).
The preschool parent survey will include questions about the following:
Total family income for the year;
Whether tuition is paid for child’s early care and education setting; and
Whether child care subsidy vouchers are used for tuition.
In order to locate parents for future parent surveys, at the end of the parent survey, questions will be asked about whether parents plan to move as well as questions to collect parent contact information.
The preschool parent survey will include questions about the following:
Plans to move before the child begins kindergarten,
Confirmation of address (if the address was not confirmed by the same respondent in the screener),
Email address,
Telephone number, and
Permission to text.
In the fall of 2020, parents with (entirely or partially) completed preschool parent surveys will be asked to complete a brief follow-up survey on web or paper. This survey starts by confirming that the child still lives with the respondent. If the child still lives with the respondent, further questions are asked as described below. If the child does not still live with the respondent, the respondent is thanked and the survey is concluded. The purpose of this survey is to gauge the extent to which children attend the schools parents stated they would attend the previous year, determining how well parents are able to predict where children will go to school the following fall. The fall 2020 survey includes questions about:
Whether the child is currently in kindergarten;
Whether the child moved since the spring survey and, if so, the state and county or zipcode of the current residence.
Whether the child is attending the school named in the parent survey in the previous round (if the parent provided the name of a school); and
Whether the child is in public school, private school, homeschooled, or not in school.
If the child is not reported to be in kindergarten, the survey will also include questions about:
Whether the child is currently enrolled in school; and
Grade or grade equivalent of the child (if applicable).
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