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EspressoPundit Ruminations of an over-caffeinated political junkie |
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Here is the text that I have forwarded to several parties in AZ regarding the findings from the ECLS-K. I hope this is useful. -I have received several requests regarding Mr. Huppenthal's interpretation of findings from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99. While it is difficult to identify exactly the sources of the findings that Mr. Huppenthal cites in his article, I believe he has based his statements on two NCES reports, both of which are available on our Website (http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/getpubcats.asp?sid=024#010). I believe the third grade findings are from the report entitled, From Kindergarten Through Third Grade (NCES 2004 - 007). I would direct you to the results of the regression analyses and to our discussion in the Conclusions section of the report where we state very clearly, that the findings pertaining to full-day and half-day kindergarten and children's achievement are preliminary, pertain to public and private school children, and require more in-depth study. The same cautions are included in The Kindergarten Year (NCES 2001-023), which I believe is the source of the statements about children's social skills and problem behaviors at the end of kindergarten. A third NCES report (NCES 2004-078), Full-day and Half-day Kindgarten in the United States directly addresses the issue of the effects of full-day kindergarten on public school children's reading and mathematics achievement over the kindergarten year. A similar report has not yet been prepared for grade 3; however, we will be presenting some findings regarding this issue at AERA in the spring. As an employee of the Department of Education and the National Center for Education Statistics, I am not in a position to comment on the policy interpretations given to the data. Others who wish to do so can find the information they need in the reports themselves. Regards, Jerry West
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