Pre-Kindergarten in Eleven States: NCEDL's Multi-State Study of Pre-Kindergarten and Study of State-Wide Early Education Programs (SWEEP)

The National Center for Early Development and Learning (NCEDL) combined the data of two major studies in order to understand variations among state-funded pre-kindergarten (pre-k) programs and in turn, how these variations relate to child outcomes at the end of pre-k and in kindergarten. The Multi-State Study of Pre-Kindergarten and the State-Wide Early Education Programs (SWEEP) Study provide detailed information on pre-kindergarten teachers, children, and classrooms in 11 states. By combining data from both studies, information is available from 721 classrooms and 2,982 pre-kindergarten children in these 11 states. Pre-kindergarten data collection for the Multi-State Study of Pre-Kindergarten took place during the 2001-2002 school year in six states: California, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, New York, and Ohio. These states were selected from among states that had committed significant resources to pre-k initiatives. States were selected to maximize diversity with regard to geography, program settings (public school or community setting), program intensity (full-day vs. part-day), and educational requirements for teachers. In each state, a stratified random sample of 40 centers/schools was selected from the list of all the school/centers or programs (both contractors and subcontractors) provided to the researchers by each state's department of education. In total, 238 sites participated in the fall and two additional sites joined the study in the spring. Participating teachers helped the data collectors recruit children into the study by sending recruitment packets home with all children enrolled in the classroom. On the first day of data collection, the data collectors determined which of the children were eligible to participate. Eligible children were those who (1) would be old enough for kindergarten in the fall of 2002, (2) did not have an Individualized Education Plan, according to the teacher, and (3) spoke English or Spanish well enough to understand simple instructions, according to the teacher. Pre-kindergarten data collection for the SWEEP Study took place during the 2003-2004 school year in five states: Massachusetts, New Jersey, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. These states were selected to complement the states already in the Multi-State Study of Pre-K by including programs with significantly different funding models or modes of service delivery. In each of the five states, 100 randomly selected state-funded pre-kindergarten sites were recruited for participation in the study from a list of all sites provided by the state. In total, 465 sites participated in the fall. Two sites declined to continue participation in the spring, resulting in 463 sites participating in the spring. Participating teachers helped the data collectors recruit children into the study by sending recruitment packets home with all children enrolled in the classroom. On the first day of data collection, the data collectors determined which of the children were eligible to participate. Eligible children were those who (1) would be old enough for kindergarten in the fall of 2004, (2) did not have an Individualized Education Plan, according to the teacher, and (3) spoke English or Spanish well enough to understand simple instructions, according to the teacher. Demographic information collected across both studies includes race, teacher gender, child gender, family income, mother's education level, and teacher education level. The researchers also created a variable for both the child-level data and the class-level data which allows secondary users to subset cases according to either the Multi-State or SWEEP study.

国家早期发展与学习中心（NCEDL）将两项主要研究的数据进行整合，旨在探究州资助的学前教育（学前教育）项目之间的差异，以及这些差异如何关联到学前教育结束时和幼儿园阶段儿童的发展结果。多州学前教育研究（Multi-State Study of Pre-Kindergarten）与全州早期教育项目研究（SWEEP Study）提供了关于11个州学前教育教师、儿童和教室的详细信息。通过整合两项研究的数据，获得了来自这11个州721个教室和2,982名学前教育儿童的信息。多州学前教育研究的数据收集发生在2001-2002学年的六个州：加利福尼亚州、乔治亚州、伊利诺伊州、肯塔基州、纽约州和俄亥俄州。这些州是从对学前教育投入大量资源的州中选出的，旨在最大限度地实现地理、项目设置（公立学校或社区环境）、项目强度（全日制与半日制）以及教师教育要求的多样性。在每个州中，从由州教育局提供的所有学校/中心或项目（包括承包商和分包商）的名单中，选取了40个中心/学校进行分层随机抽样。总计有238个地点在秋季参与研究，春季又有两个地点加入。参与研究的教师协助数据收集人员将招募资料发放给所有在班上注册的儿童。在数据收集的第一天，数据收集人员确定了哪些儿童符合参与条件。符合条件的孩子是那些（1）2002年秋季将足够年龄上幼儿园，（2）根据教师说法，没有个性化教育计划，（3）根据教师说法，英语或西班牙语说得足够好，能够理解简单指令的孩子。SWEEP研究的数据收集发生在2003-2004学年的五个州：马萨诸塞州、新泽西州、德克萨斯州、华盛顿州和威斯康星州。这些州的选取是为了补充多州学前教育研究，通过包括具有显著不同资助模式或服务提供方式的项目。在每个州中，从由州提供的所有地点名单中随机选取了100个州资助的学前教育地点参与研究。总计有465个地点在秋季参与。春季有两个地点选择退出，导致春季参与的研究地点为463个。参与研究的教师协助数据收集人员将招募资料发放给所有在班上注册的儿童。在数据收集的第一天，数据收集人员确定了哪些儿童符合参与条件。符合条件的孩子是那些（1）2004年秋季将足够年龄上幼儿园，（2）根据教师说法，没有个性化教育计划，（3）根据教师说法，英语或西班牙语说得足够好，能够理解简单指令的孩子。两项研究收集的统计数据包括种族、教师性别、儿童性别、家庭收入、母亲的教育水平和教师的教育水平。研究人员还创建了儿童层级数据和班级层级数据的变量，以便后续用户根据多州或SWEEP研究对案例进行子集划分。