Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort: A Welcome Addition to the Maternal and Child Health Field and Its Data Bases

Excerpt

In this issue of the Maternal Child health Journal, a series of seven articles are being published, all deriving from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (ECLS-B). The ECLS-B is a major, new, nationally representative longitudinal MCH data base––following over 10,000 children from birth through kindergarten––which will be of great potential research, practice and policy value for the MCH field. The majority of these articles were initially presented at a Department of Education-sponsored conference to highlight the new data base and some of its potential analytic uses. Dr. Donna Petersen, the MCH Journal Editor, learned of this and expressed interest in potentially publishing these presentations. After much editorial scrutiny, peer review and article revisions, this issue celebrates the new ECLS-Birth Cohort and its value to the MCH field through these publications. …