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NCES Conferences, Workshop/Training & Technical Assistance
2013 Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD)

Description:

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) will be conducting a 1-day training seminar on its early childhood studies at the 2013 Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) in Seattle, Washington. This seminar will provide researchers access to some of the most comprehensive early childhood education and care data resources in the nation, focusing on three nationally representative early childhood studies conducted by NCES: the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998–99 (ECLS-K), the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), and the National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES). In addition, a new ECLS study that is being conducted by NCES with children who were in kindergarten in the 2010-11 school year (the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11, or ECLS-K:2011) will be described.

The ECLS-K permits the examination of the relationship between a wide range of family, school, classroom, and individual characteristics and children’s development, learning, and school performance from kindergarten through eighth grade. The ECLS-B provides detailed information on children's early development, health, care, and education from birth through kindergarten entry. Oversamples in the ECLS-B offer a unique opportunity to analyze the early learning experiences of low and very low birth weight, twin, Chinese, other Asian/ Pacific Islander, and American Indian/Alaska Native children. The NHES surveys consist of multiple cross-sectional surveys focusing on children’s early learning activities, school readiness, nonparental child care and early education arrangements, and parent and family involvement in education and allow analysts to study how these have changed since the early 1990s. The design of the NCES early childhood surveys enables researchers to use data from more than one source to examine early childhood issues. The SRCD seminar will provide information on the range of topics covered by each NCES study, the common measures used across the studies, and the limitations of each data source. 

During the seminar, study design information relevant to data use will be presented, and a computer demonstration of software that assists users in preparing data for analyses will be conducted. Various technical issues researchers must recognize to correctly analyze these data will also be highlighted.

NCES will provide participants with CDs that include copies of all slideshow presentations; handouts about the survey instruments; guides for using the datasets’ electronic codebook (ECB) software; links to the NHES, ECLS-B, ECLS-K, and ECLS-K:2011 websites; and tables providing information on sample sizes, weighting and variance estimation, and other technical issues related to the data. Participants will also receive the NHES and ECLS-K CD-ROMS, containing the public-use data files, ECB software, and electronic versions of the survey instruments and user’s manuals.

The seminar is scheduled for Wednesday, April, 17, 2013 from 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. in the Aspen Room of the Sheraton Seattle Hotel.

Type: Workshop/Training & Technical Assistance
Location: Sheraton Seattle Hotel
1400 Sixth Avenue
Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 621-9000
Dates: April 17, 2013
Organization: National Center for Education Statistics
Contacts: For more information or to register for this free seminar, please send an e-mail to:
  Contact ecls@ed.gov