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The report draws on a wide array of surveys and administrative datasets to present statistics on high school dropout and completion rates at the state and national levels. The report includes estimates of the percentage of students who drop out in a given 12-month period (event dropout rates), the percentage of young people in a specified age range who are high school dropouts (status dropout rates), and the percentage of young people in a specified age range who hold high school credentials (status completion rates). In addition, the report includes data on the percentage of students who graduate with a regular diploma within four years of starting ninth grade (adjusted cohort graduation rates) and data on alternative high school credentials. This report updates a series of NCES reports on high school dropout and completion rates that began in 1988.

"The Condition of Education 2018" is a congressionally mandated annual report summarizing the latest data on education in the United States. This report is designed to help policymakers and the public monitor educational progress. This report contains indicators on the state of education in the United States, from prekindergarten through postsecondary education, as well as labor force outcomes and international comparisons. This year's report includes 47 indicators on topics ranging from prekindergarten through postsecondary education, as well as labor force outcomes and international comparisons. In addition to the regularly updated annual indicators, this year's spotlight indicators highlight new findings from recent the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) surveys: (1) The first spotlight indicator examines the choices and costs that families face as they select early childhood care arrangements; (2) The second spotlight describes the characteristics of teachers who entered the teaching profession through an alternative route to certification program; and (3) The third spotlight presents data on average student loan balances for students completing graduate degrees. "The Condition" includes an "At a Glance section," which allows readers to quickly make comparisons within and across indicators, and a "Highlights" section, which captures key findings from each indicator. The report contains a "Reader's Guide," a "Glossary," and a "Guide to Sources" that provide additional background information. Each indicator provides links to the source "data tables" used to produce the analyses. As new data are released throughout the year, indicators will be updated and made available on "The Condition of Education" website. [For the 2017 report, "The Condition of Education 2017. NCES 2017-144," see ED574257.]

Educators, policymakers, and parents alike are focused on ensuring the academic success of the nation's students. These efforts interact with the expanding use of technology, which affects the lives of students both inside and outside of the classroom. Thus, the role that technology plays in education is an evolving area of research that continues to grow in importance. While access to technology can provide valuable learning opportunities to students, it does not guarantee successful outcomes. Designing successful practices for student use of technology is but one piece of the puzzle in the continued effort to elevate the educational experiences of all students. Schools, teachers, communities, and families play a critical role in successfully integrating technology into teaching, learning, and assessment. Recent legislation acknowledges the growing role that technology plays in students' daily lives. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) provides guidance to state governments on how to receive supplemental federal funding for public education. ESSA requests that the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) conduct the following research: (1) An analysis of student habits related to DLR outside of the classroom, including the location and types of devices and technologies that students use for educational purposes; (2) An identification of the barriers students face in accessing DLR outside of the classroom; (3) A description of the challenges that students who lack home internet access face, including challenges related to student participation and engagement in the classroom, and homework completion; (4) An analysis of how the barriers and challenges such students face impact the instructional practices of educators; and (5) A description of the ways in which state education agencies, local education agencies, schools, and other entities, including partnerships of such entities, have developed effective means to address the barriers and challenges students face in accessing DLR outside of the classroom. This report draws upon the most recently available nationally representative data sources, existing research, and relevant state and local intervention efforts to examine the five research areas identified in ESSA, and to provide an overview of student access to DLR outside of the classroom.

"The Condition of Education 2017" is a congressionally mandated annual report summarizing the latest data on education in the United States. This report is designed to help policymakers and the public monitor educational progress. This year's report includes 50 indicators on topics ranging from prekindergarten through postsecondary education, as well as labor force outcomes and international comparisons. "The Condition" includes an "At a Glance" section, which allows readers to quickly make comparisons within and across indicators, and a "Highlights" section, which captures a key finding or set of findings from each indicator. The report contains a "Reader's Guide," a "Glossary," and a "Guide to Data Sources" that provide additional information to help place the indicators in context. In addition, each indicator references the data tables that were used to produce the indicator, most of which are in the "Digest of Education Statistics." In addition to the regularly updated annual indicators, this year's report highlights innovative data collections and analyses from across the Center: (1) The first spotlight indicator examines the relationship between student risk factors at kindergarten entry (poverty and low parent educational attainment) and academic achievement in early elementary school; (2) The second spotlight indicator draws on administrative data from the Center's EDFacts data collection and finds that 2.5 percent of students in U.S. public elementary and secondary schools were reported as homeless in 2014-15; (3) The third spotlight indicator draws on longitudinal data from the Beginning Postsecondary Students Study to examine the rates at which first-time college students persist toward completion of a degree or certificate; and (4) The fourth spotlight indicator examines how disability rates for U.S. adults vary by educational attainment, finding that 16 percent of 25- to 64-year-olds who had not completed high school had one or more disabilities in 2015, compared to 4 percent of those who had completed a bachelor's degree and 3 percent of those who had completed a master's or higher degree. In addition, two indicators provide insights from the Center's recent work on technology in education. The first previews key findings from the Center's upcoming report, "Student Access to Digital Learning Resources Outside of the Classroom." The second presents findings from the National Assessment of Educational Progress's 8th-grade Technology and Engineering Literacy (TEL) assessment. [For the 2016 report: "The Condition of Education 2016. NCES 2016-144," see ED565888.]

Young children experience various types of early care and education environments the year before they enter kindergarten. Some children attend center-based arrangements such as preschools, childcare centers, or Head Start programs, while others are cared for in relatives' or nonrelatives' homes or are normally cared for only by their parents. Prior research indicates that children's participation rates in specific types of primary care arrangements and their knowledge and skills at kindergarten entry differ in relation to certain characteristics of children and their families, including age at kindergarten entry, race/ethnicity, primary home language, and mother's educational attainment. This Statistical Analysis Report builds upon prior work by using the most recently available data to explore relationships between children's primary care and education arrangements the year before kindergarten and their academic skills and learning behaviors at kindergarten entry, after accounting for child and family background characteristics. In the report, ECE arrangements are classified into five groups: (1) center-based care (including day care centers, Head Start programs, preschools, prekindergartens, and other early childhood programs); (2) home-based relative care; (3) home-based nonrelative care; (4) multiple arrangements (i.e., children who spent an equal amount of time in each of two or more types of arrangements); and (5) no ECE arrangement on a regular basis (i.e., children who had no regularly scheduled care arrangement and mainly received care only from their parents). Information for this report comes from the nationally representative National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES) and the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 (ECLS-K:2011) data collections. Data from the NHES cross-sectional sample survey are used to describe trends in participation in ECE arrangements that children experience prior to kindergarten entry. The NHES Early Childhood Program Participation (ECPP) surveys gather information on children's participation in ECE programs and the characteristics of these arrangements. Parents reported information on their child's participation in different types of ECE arrangements in 1995, 2001, 2005, and 2012. This report compares estimates of 4- and 5-year-old children's primary ECE arrangements prior to kindergarten entry in 1995 and 2012. Estimates are presented overall and by children's race/ethnicity, their family's poverty status, and their mother's educational attainment. Data from the ECLS-K:2011 longitudinal sample survey are used to explore relationships between primary ECE arrangements the year before kindergarten and academic skills and learning behaviors at kindergarten entry. The ECLS-K:2011 collects detailed information on the school achievement and experiences of students from the 2010-11 kindergarten school year through the spring of 2016, when most of them are expected to be in fifth grade. In the fall of 2010 and spring of 2011, parents reported information on child and family characteristics and their child's participation in ECE settings the year before kindergarten; children were assessed in reading, mathematics, and cognitive flexibility; and kindergarten teachers reported on children's approaches to learning. The report describes the distribution of primary ECE arrangements that first-time kindergartners attended in the year before entering kindergarten in the fall of 2010, including differences in primary ECE arrangements by characteristics of children and their families. The report also describes differences in first-time kindergartners' academic knowledge, skills, and learning behaviors at kindergarten entry relative to their primary ECE arrangement, after accounting for children's sex, age at kindergarten entry, race/ethnicity, family type, primary home language, and socioeconomic status (SES). The following are appended: (1) Reference tables; and (2) Technical Notes and Methodology: (a) National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES); (b) Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 (ECLS-K:2011); and (c) Statistical Procedures.

The U.S. Congress has mandated that the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) produce an annual report to help inform policymakers about the progress of education in the United States. Using data from across the center and from other sources of education data, "The Condition of Education 2015" presents 42 key indicators on important topics and trends in U.S. education. These indicators focus on population characteristics, such as educational attainment and economic outcomes, participation in education at all levels, as well as aspects of elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education, including international comparisons. New to the report this year are three spotlight indicators that describe approaches to learning behaviors for first-time kindergartners, disparities in educational outcomes among male youth of color, and differences in postsecondary degree completion by socioeconomic status. This report also includes a new feature--The At a Glance--that allows readers to quickly make comparisons within and across indicators. This year's Condition shows that 91 percent of young adults ages 25 to 29 had a high school diploma or its equivalent in 2014, and that 34 percent had a bachelor's or higher degree. As in previous years, median earnings were higher for 25- to 34-year-olds with higher levels of education in 2013. Also, in 2014, the unemployment rate was generally lower for those with higher levels of education. A glossary of terms is included. ["The Condition of Education 2014. NCES 2014-083" can be viewed in ERIC at ED545122.]

As the number of schools changing from part- to full-day kindergarten programs increases, state and local education agencies need empirically-based evidence on ways that schools and teachers can best structure the additional instructional time of full-day programs to improve children's early reading skills. This brief uses nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K) to explore relationships between full-day kindergarten program factors and public school children's gains in reading scores from the fall to spring of the kindergarten year. Results from the study provide evidence that: (1) Children in kindergarten programs that devote a larger portion of the school day to academic instruction, and to reading instruction in particular, make greater gains in reading over the school year than children who spend less time in such instruction; (2) Children tend to make optimal gains in reading when teachers use an equal balance of discrete literacy skills and comprehension skills instruction; and (3) Class size interacts significantly with some instructional practices to increase or decrease children's average reading gains in kindergarten. In summary, this brief provides some of the first evidence on how full-day kindergarten programs might structure instructional resources and practices in ways that prepare children for first grade and later school success. (Contains 3 figures and 4 endnotes.) [This Research Brief is based on work conducted for the dissertation, "Making the Most of Extra Time: The Role of Classroom Factors and Family Socioeconomic Status on Full-Day Kindergartners' Reading Achievement and Academic Engagement" (Rathbun, 2007).]

This study compares various approaches for incorporating family risk factors in explanatory models of children's achievement over the first 4 years of school. Living in poverty, in a single-parent household, in a household whose primary home language is non-English, and having a mother with less than a high school diploma are well-known risk factors related to lower achievement in reading and mathematics. This study examined three analytic approaches for describing children's level of family risk factors: 1) a cumulative risk index; 2) the four individual risk factor variables; and 3) unique combinations of the four risk factors, represented by a set of dummy-coded variables. Findings are based on a nationally representative sample of 10,345 children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K) who were first-time kindergartners in the fall of 1998. Data come from parent interviews in the fall of kindergarten and individual child assessments in reading and mathematics in the fall and spring of kindergarten, spring of first grade, and spring of third grade. A series of hierarchical linear models (HLM) were conducted to compare the relationships between each of the three risk factor approaches and children's initial achievement status and growth over the first 4 years of school in reading and mathematics. Results indicate that the unique combinations of risk factors present at kindergarten entry yielded more specific information on the relationship between family risks and achievement outcomes than the other approaches of using a cumulative risk index or using the individual risk factors as predictors. Children from single-parent households and those whose primary home language was non-English began school, on average, with lower achievement than children with no risks; however, if they had no other risk factors they tended to have higher initial scores and make greater growth over the first 4 years of school than children who's mothers did not complete high school. This study also found that children whose only risk factor was living in a home where English was not the primary home language had lower initial scores in mathematics but made greater growth over the first 4 years, in essence narrowing the achievement gap. Furthermore, increases in the number of risk factors were not always associated with greater achievement differences. Findings indicate that researchers should account for the specific combinations of risk factors present when exploring relationships between family background and student outcomes. (Contains 5 tables and 16 footnotes.)

This study drew on data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 to examine whether children made gains in general knowledge over the summer following their first year of kindergarten, whether general knowledge gains were similar for all children, and whether participation in certain types of summer activities related to general summer knowledge gains. The analyses in this study used a subset of 3,718 children from the larger study who were first-time kindergartners in Fall 1998, who were administered a general knowledge assessment in English in both Spring and Fall 1999, and whose parents completed an interview in Fall 1999. Findings revealed that children gained an average of 3.2 points on general knowledge assessments over the summer. Children who repeated kindergarten in 1999-2000 showed smaller summer gains than children who moved to first grade. Higher family SES and lower general knowledge status at end of kindergarten were associated with greater summer gains. White children and those from high-SES groups had more involvement in all types of summer activities than some minority children and those from the lowest SES. Associations between summer experiences and general knowledge gains were detected only for children from the lowest general knowledge group after controlling for other factors in the model. For this group, greater exposure to literacy activities was related to additional summer knowledge gains. Low- knowledge children participating in summer school, camps, or day care gained more than low-knowledge children not attending summer education programs. For children from middle and high general knowledge groups, summer activities were not associated with summer general knowledge gains. (Contains 12 references.) (KB)

A study used data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K) to answer the following questions: Which of the various reading instructional activities do kindergartners do most often? Who has opportunities to participate in the various types of instructional activities? and Are the various instructional activities found in public school kindergarten classrooms associated with children's reading gains during the kindergarten year? A nationally representative sample of 22,782 children enrolled in 1,277 schools during the 1998-99 school year participated in the study. Children were administered a 2-stage individual assessment in the areas of reading, math, and general knowledge in the fall of 1998 and the spring of 1999. Also, kindergarten teachers were asked to complete a set of self-administered questionnaires about themselves, their students, and their classrooms. This paper analyzes data from the subset of 14,975 children who attended kindergarten for the first time in fall 1998 and were administered a reading assessment in English in both fall and spring of the kindergarten year and who has complete teacher questionnaire data. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the reading instruction children received in various kindergarten programs, and how instruction differed by the characteristics of the children and their schools. Next, linear regression analyses were used to examine the relationships of the child, family, and kindergarten program characteristics to the gains children made in reading during kindergarten. All results discussed in the paper are statistically significant at the .05 level. Findings suggest that kindergarteners were exposed to a variety of reading activities during the week, and that the frequency of exposure to the different sets of activities and the gain students made in reading were associated with child, family, and school characteristics. (Contains 15 references, 1 figure, and 7 tables.) (NKA)

As computers become more prevalent and computer skills more necessary, there continues to be a "digital divide" between those with computer access and skills and those without. These differences are less pronounced in skills where children's access to computers and the Internet are more prevalent. Noting that few studies have focused exclusively on kindergartners' and first-graders' access to and use of computers in different settings, this report details examination of data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K) to assess children's access to and use of computers in their schools, classrooms, and homes as they begin formal schooling. Data were drawn upon to answer 10 questions pertaining to access to and use of computer resources. Findings indicated that almost all young children had access to computers, either at home or in their classrooms, and schools. However, kindergartners' access differed by the types of school they attended: public schoolers had greater access to school and classroom resources, whereas private school children had greater access to home computer resources. For the most part, young children's access to school computer resources did not differ greatly by child and family characteristics. However, in kindergarten some minority children and those from lower-SES families were less likely to attend schools that provided Internet access. In first grade, children from the lowest SES group continued to have less access to the Internet in comparison to first-graders in the highest SES group. Kindergartners and first-graders in the lowest SES group were also less likely to have a computer area in their classroom. Socioeconomic status also predicted access to computers at home. Findings related to children's use of computers indicated that the majority of young children in public schools were in classrooms where computers were used for instructional purposes on a weekly basis. The most frequent classroom uses were to learn reading, writing, and spelling; to learn math; and for fun. Public school children with access to home computers used them an average of 3 to 4 days a week; frequency of use did not tend to differ by child or family characteristics. Over 86 percent used them for educational purposes. Finally, young children's classroom computer use in public schools did not differ based on whether children had home access. The report concludes by suggesting additional analyses and future research. The report's two appendices include standard error tables for the main text and supplementary tables and standard errors. (Contains 13 references.) (HTH)

Noting that the kindergarten year is important in establishing competencies critical to children's success and achievement in school, and the lack of information on how children make the transition to kindergarten, this study examined differences in parental reports of children's adjustment behaviors for a large, nationally representative sample of beginning public school kindergartners. The focus of the research was on the prevalence of parent-reported adjustment problems of first-time public school kindergartners and whether some groups of children experience these adjustment problems more than others. The adjustment behaviors examined were: complaining about going to school, being upset or reluctant to go to school, and pretending to be sick to stay home from school. Data were from a subset of 13,602 children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999 (ECLS-K). Parents reported that 72 percent of first-time public school kindergartners did not show signs of adjustment difficulty during the first 2 months of the school year. Thirteen percent showed one adjustment difficulty, and 15 percent exhibited two or more. Certain child, family, and kindergarten program characteristics were related to the percent of children who showed adjustment difficulties. Being male, having a disability, or living in a lower socioeconomic status family were associated with adjustment difficulties. Children attending full-day kindergarten programs and those in class sizes of 25 or more children were more likely to demonstrate adjustment difficulties even after controlling for other child and family characteristic differences. (Contains 6 data tables.) (KB)

This study identified the types of transition activities practiced by kindergarten teachers/schools around the country, the relation of various school characteristics to transition activities, and the relation between transition activities and parent involvement during kindergarten. The study sample was comprised of 2,826 public school and 417 private school kindergarten teachers participating in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99. Data were obtained from teacher and administrator questionnaires. Findings indicated that teachers used an average of three transition activities, the most common being phoning and sending information home about the program, inviting parents and children to visit the classroom prior to beginning school, and inviting parents to a pre-enrollment orientation. Teachers in schools with low proportions of at-risk children, minority children, or English language learners reported more transition activities than teachers in schools with higher proportions of these groups. Compared with teachers in public and other private schools, significantly higher proportions of teachers in Catholic schools reported telephoning or sending home information, hosting pre- enrollment visits by parents and children, and shortening school days at the start of the kindergarten year. Teachers in schools with lower proportions of low-income or minority families reported greater parent attendance at conferences, open houses, and art/music events. The proportion of parents volunteering regularly was associated with the proportion of low-income families. Regular parent volunteers were most prevalent in private schools. Several transition activities were associated positively with parent participation. Contains 10 references and 5 tables. (KB)

This longitudinal study examined the extent to which developmentally appropriate practices of teaching and evaluation are accepted and implemented in primary schools and the relationship of teacher educational background and experience with the use of these practices. Data were obtained from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study kindergarten class of 1998-1999. The research design was guided by an ecological systems perspective, in which the child's physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional development are considered across multiple contexts. The total sample was comprised of 3,047 kindergarten teachers from public and private schools. Findings revealed that half-day teachers spent 3.5 hours and full-day teachers spent 5 hours per day in instructional activities. Half- and full-day teachers spent similar proportions of time in different grouping arrangements, with teacher-directed whole-class grouping comprising the greatest portion of the instructional day. Numerous differences were reported between public and private elementary schools, including proportion of time in teacher-directed whole-class instruction. The majority of kindergarten teachers reported having several activity centers in their classrooms, with differences related to type of school (public versus private), teachers' education level, and teachers' certification area. Teachers were more likely to favor ratings that compared a child's performance with prior performance and that evaluated a child's effort over ratings that compared performance with peers or outside standards. Only type of school (public versus private) was related to type of student evaluation preferred by the teacher. (Contains 12 references.) (KB)