National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS)

National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS) Allen Johnston Overview       purpose funding and administration design applicability availability contact information Purpose  National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)  mandate to collect and disseminate statistics and other data related to education in the United States  development of young people    educational vocational personal Purpose   education and labor trends previous studies   National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 (NLS-72) High School and Beyond (HS&B)  NELS:88 was the third in the series Purpose   started in 1988 impact of various elements of the educational system on 8th grade students as they progress through high school, secondary school, and/or work force Purpose  impact elements:     student, teacher, parent attitudes and behaviors academic performance family school and community backgrounds Purpose  special attention:         math and science programs equity and access academic growth early dropouts language minority students disadvantaged students high school transition parental involvement Funding and Administration   NCES funded the study survey firm:  National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago (NORC) Westat Inc. Educational Testing Services Steven Ingels  subcontractors:    principal investigator:  Design  five rounds of data collection      1988: Base Year 1990: First Follow-up 1992: Second Follow-up 1994: Third Follow-up 2000: Fourth Follow-up Design  data collection instruments        student questionnaire (1988 – 1994) dropout questionnaire (1990 – 1994) achievement tests (1988 – 1992) parent questionnaire (1988 – 1992) school principal questionnaire (1988 – 1992) teacher questionnaire (1988 – 1992) transcripts (1992) Mode of Administration   primarily paper and pencil self-administered questionnaires and tests in group setting computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI)    hard to reach students parents all fourth follow-up data Base Year (1988)  sample:   1,032 schools selected through stratified sampling 1,052 participated (after replacing ineligible and nonparticipative) 26,432 eighth graders randomly selected 24,599 participated   Base Year (1988)  data collection components:     survey and tests of students survey of parents survey of teachers survey of school administrators Base Year (1988)  capture:     schoolwork aspirations social relations student development with regard to reading, mathematics, science, and social studies First Follow-up (1990)  sample:   21,474 students who were in the 8th grade in 1988 freshening process added 1,043 10th graders into the sample to reflect 1990 national population of 10th graders First Follow-up (1990)  data collection components:       survey and tests of students survey of teachers survey of school administrators dropout study base-year ineligible study school effectiveness study First Follow-up (1990)  capture:         student’s school and home environment course work extra-curricular activities employment education aspirations self-concept tenth grade achievement student development with regard to reading, mathematics, science, and social studies Second Follow-up (1992)  sample:  from the schools attended by the sample members, 1,500 schools with 12th grade were included in the school sample   1,374 schools completed all components 126 schools only completed the student and parent questionnaires  student sample was freshened to reflect the 1992 national population of 12th graders Second Follow-up (1992)  data collection components:          survey and tests of students survey of parents survey of teachers survey of school administrators dropout study base-year ineligible study school effectiveness study transcripts course offerings Second Follow-up (1992)  capture:     planning for postsecondary education and work student development with regard to reading, mathematics, science, and social studies reasons and circumstances for early graduation (supplement) demographic background data Third Follow-up (1994)  sample:   15,964 students does not include parents, teachers, or school administrators student questionnaire dropout questionnaire  data collection components:   Third Follow-up (1994)  conducted via:   computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI) follow-up in-person and cognitive interviewing Third Follow-up (1994)  capture:      employment access to post-secondary institutions and choice family formation secondary education opportunities for dropouts access to vocational training and post-secondary institutions for dropouts Fourth Follow-up (2000)  sample size:  15,237 members of the original 24,599 sample size insight and accomplishments of the 1988 8th grade cohort 12 years after the baseline survey  capture:   conducted via computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI) Applicability   develop and assess educational policy also addresses:       transitions of different types of students from eighth grade to secondary school transitions of secondary students to postsecondary education or work force influence of ability grouping and program type on future educational experiences and achievements dropout determinants changes in educational practices over time role of parents in education Availability   both public and restricted-use NELS:88 data are available on CD-ROMS each CD-ROM contains:     data directories document directories readme files electronic codebook directories Availability  Data Analysis System (DAS)    freely available for Microsoft® Windows platform provides public access to NCES survey data allows for generation of sample statistics via interaction with NCES DAS website Contact Information Peggy Quinn (202) 502-7268 peggy.quinn@ed.gov Jeffrey A. Ownings (202) 502-7423 jeffrey.owings@ed.gov References   Ingels, S.J., Scott, L.A., Taylor, J.R., Owings, J., Quinn, P. May 1988. National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) Base Year through Second Follow-Up: Final Methodology Report. Working Paper No. 98-06. U.S. Department of Education Office of Educational Research and Improvement: Washington, DC. Haggerty, C., Dugoni, B., Reed, L., Cederlund, A., Taylor, J., Carroll, C.D. March 1996. National Education Longitudinal Study: 1988-1994 Methodology Report. NCES 96-174. U.S. Department of Education Office of Educational Research and Improvement: Washington, DC. References     Quick Guide to Using the NELS:88/2000 Data. Taken from: Base-Year to Fourth Follow-up Data File User’s Manual: Appendix A (NCES 2002-323) Surveys Measuring Wellbeing. National Education Longitudinal Study, 1988. http://www.wws.princeton.edu/~kling/surveys/NELS88.htm http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/nels88/ http://ftp.cac.psu.edu/pub/people/cxl18/nels:88/ National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS) Allen Johnston