First-Time Kindergartners in 2010-11

First-Time Kindergartners in 2010-11: First Findings From the Kindergarten Rounds of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 (ECLS-K:2011), provides a snapshot of the 3.5 million kindergartners who were attending kindergarten in the United States for the first time in the 2010-11 school year. The ECLS-K:2011 is a longitudinal study that will follow students from their kindergarten year to the spring of 2016, when most of them are expected to be in fifth grade.

Key findings from First-Time Kindergartners in 2010-11 include:


• Most of the first-time kindergarten students in the cohort were born prior to September 2005 (7 percent of the cohort was born in September 2005 or later), meaning that most of these kindergartners were 5 years of age or older at the start of the school year.
• In the fall of kindergarten, reading and math assessment scores were lowest for first-time kindergartners in households with incomes below the federal poverty level and highest for those in households with incomes at or above 200 percent of the federal poverty level.
• In the fall of kindergarten, first-time kindergartners with a primary home language of English scored higher in reading and math than those coming from homes with a primary home language other than English.
• Kindergartners with parents whose highest level of education is a Bachelor’s degree or higher had a lower BMI (body mass index) than those whose parents’ highest level of education is a high school diploma/equivalent or lower.