The National Center for Rural Early Childhood Learning Initiatives at Mississippi State University, known as Rural Early Childhood, commissioned the nonpartisan research organization Child Trends to conduct such an analysis of the ECLS-K and ECLS-B baseline data, focusing on selected indicators related to child and family health and socioeconomic status and children's readiness for school. The authors of the agenda called for comparison of health and school readiness indicators in the federal Early Childhood Longitudinal Study for rural and non-rural American Indian and Alaska Native (AI-AN) children, and of the same indicators for rural AI-AN children and other rural children (Strang & Von Glatz, 2001). They indicated that the ECLS was "the most significant study.... underway" and predicted that findings concerning Native children would be "invaluable for Native researchers who seek to untangle the interrelationships among personal characteristics, family background, community, early childhood services, and success in making the transition to school" (p. 34). "Comparisons of educational outcomes within the population of American Indian and Alaska Native students may be very useful. [This report was produced by The National Center for Rural Early Childhood Learning Initiatives at Mississippi State University, known as Rural Early Childhood, in collaboration with Child Trends.]