Extensive research has conclusively demonstrated that children's social class is one of the most significant predictors--if not the single most significant predictor--of their educational success. This three-part study combines a statistical analysis of early skills gaps among a recent cohort of children and changes in them over time with a…

Forty years ago, the National Center for Education Statistics initiated the national longitudinal studies program in response to congressional concern for policy-relevant information on school-to-work transitions. This program has grown substantially, and not unexpectedly, questions have arisen about its usefulness and present operation. This…

Information on opportunity to learn can be collected in national surveys primarily in terms of the written curriculum or the real curriculum (what is actually taught). Questions of this sort are asked in several national surveys, with the most comprehensive being in the National Education Longitudinal Survey of 1988. Other national surveys for…