Findings From the Third-Grade Round of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010–11

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has released Findings From the Third-Grade Round of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010–11 (ECLS-K:2011), providing a first look at the overall third-grade reading, math, and science achievement of the students who were attending kindergarten for the first time in the 2010-11 school year and were in third grade in the spring of 2014. The ECLS-K:2011 is a longitudinal study that is following students from their kindergarten year to the spring of 2016, when most of the students are in fifth grade.

Key Findings From the Third-Grade Round include:

• About 88 percent of children enrolled in kindergarten in 2010-11 were in kindergarten for the first time in that school year and were in third grade in the spring of 2014.
• No significant differences by child's sex were detected in children's reading and science knowledge and skills in the spring of third grade. In mathematics, males had higher average scores than females.
• In reading, math, and science, White students, Asian students, and students of Two or more races had higher average scores in the spring of third grade than did either Black students or Hispanic students. In math, Hispanic students had higher average scores on the spring assessment than did Black students.
• Third-grade scores in reading, math, and science were lowest for students in households with incomes below the federal poverty level when the students were in kindergarten and highest for students in households with incomes at or above 200 percent of the federal poverty level when the students were in kindergarten.