Chicago Longitudinal Study, 1986-1989

The Chicago Longitudinal Study investigates the educational and social development of a same-age cohort of 1,539 low-income, minority children (93 percent African American) who grew up in high-poverty neighborhoods in central-city Chicago and attended government-funded kindergarten programs in the Chicago Public Schools in 1985-1986. Children were at risk of poor outcomes because they face social-environmental disadvantages including neighborhood poverty, family low-income status, and other economic and educational hardships. Study Goals The CLS is guided by four major goals: To document patterns of school performance and social competence throughout the school-age years, including their school achievement and attitudes, academic progress, and psychosocial development. To evaluate the effects of the Child-Parent Center and Expansion Program on child and youth development. Children and families had the opportunity to participate in this unique Head Start type early childhood intervention from ages three to nine (preschool to third grade). To identify and better understand the educational and psychosocial pathways through which the effects of early childhood experiences are manifested, and more generally, through which scholastic and behavioral development proceeds. To investigate the contributions to children's educational and social development of a variety of personal, family, school, and community factors, especially those that can be altered by program or policy interventions to prevent learning difficulties and promote positive outcomes. Studies addressing the first two goals have been reported extensively. Participation in the Child-Parent Center Program for different lengths of time, for example, has been found to be significantly associated with higher levels of school achievement into adolescence, with higher levels of consumer skills, with enhanced parent involvement in children's education, and with lower rates of grade retention and special education, lower rates of early school dropout, and with lower rates of delinquent behavior (Reynolds, 1994, 1995, 2000; Reynolds and Temple, 1995, 1998; Temple, Reynolds, and Miedel, in press). Children's patterns of school and social adjustment over time (Reynolds and Bezruczko, 1993; Reynolds and Gill, 1994; Reynolds, 2000) as well as several methodological contributions (Reynolds and Temple, 1995; Reynolds, 1998a, 1998b) also have been reported elsewhere. Examples of studies addressing goals three and four are reported in a special issue of the Journal of School Psychology (Reynolds, 1999). The Chicago Longitudinal Study is particularly appropriate for addressing these and other goals for two reasons. First, the CLS is one of the most extensive and comprehensive studies undertaken of a low-income, urban sample. Data were collected beginning during children's preschool years and have continued on a yearly basis throughout the school-age years. Multiple sources of data have been utilized in this on-going study, including teacher surveys, child surveys and interviews, parent surveys and interviews, school administrative records, standardized tests, and classroom observations. Thus, the impact of a variety of individual, family, and school-related factors can be investigated. A second unique feature of the CLS is that although the project concerns child development, an emphasis is given to factors and experiences that are alterable by program or policy intervention both within and outside of schools. Besides information on early childhood intervention, information has been collected on classroom adjustment, parent involvement and parenting practices, grade retention and special education placement, school mobility, educational expectations of children, teachers, and parents, and on the school learning environment.

芝加哥纵向研究（Chicago Longitudinal Study，简称CLS）旨在探究一群1,539名低收入、少数族裔儿童（其中93%为非裔美国人）的教育和社会发展情况。这些儿童在芝加哥市中心的高贫困社区长大，并于1985-1986年参加了芝加哥公立学校政府资助的幼儿园项目。由于他们面临着包括社区贫困、家庭低收入状况以及其他经济和教育困难在内的社会环境劣势，这些儿童面临着不良结果的风险。研究目标：CLS以四个主要目标为指导：一是记录学龄期间学校表现和社会能力的发展模式，包括他们的学业成就和态度、学术进步和心理健康发展；二是评估儿童-家长中心扩展项目对儿童和青少年发展的影响。从三岁至九岁（学前班至三年级）期间，儿童和家庭有机会参与这种独特的学前干预项目；三是识别并更深入地理解教育和社会心理发展路径，通过这些路径，早期儿童经历的影响得以显现，更普遍地，学术和行为发展得以进行；四是研究个人、家庭、学校和社区因素对儿童教育和社会发展的贡献，特别是那些可以通过项目或政策干预来改变，以预防学习困难并促进积极结果的因素。针对前两个目标的研究已有广泛报道。例如，参与儿童-家长中心项目的时间长短与青少年时期更高的学业成就、更高的消费技能、增强的家长参与子女教育、更低的留级率和特殊教育率、更低的早期辍学率和更低的违法率显著相关（Reynolds，1994，1995，2000；Reynolds和Temple，1995，1998；Temple，Reynolds和Miedel，待出版）。儿童随时间变化的学校和社交适应模式（Reynolds和Bezruczko，1993；Reynolds和Gill，1994；Reynolds，2000）以及一些方法论贡献（Reynolds和Temple，1995；Reynolds，1998a，1998b）也在其他地方进行了报道。针对第三和第四个目标的研究在《学校心理学杂志》的特刊中进行了报道（Reynolds，1999）。芝加哥纵向研究特别适合解决这些和其他目标，原因有两点。首先，CLS是对低收入、城市样本进行的最广泛和最全面的研究之一。数据收集始于儿童学龄前，并在整个学龄期间每年持续进行。在这项持续研究中，利用了多种数据来源，包括教师调查、儿童调查和访谈、家长调查和访谈、学校行政记录、标准化测试和课堂观察。因此，可以研究各种个人、家庭和学校相关因素的影响。其次，CLS的第二个独特之处在于，尽管项目关注儿童发展，但该项目强调的是可由项目或政策干预改变的内外部学校因素和经验。除了早期儿童干预的信息外，还收集了课堂适应、家长参与和育儿实践、留级和特殊教育安置、学校流动性、儿童、教师和家长的学业期望以及学校学习环境的信息。