Assessing school readiness: The validity and psychometric properties of the Early Childhood Skills Inventory.

摘要

Over the last two decades there has been an increased focus on the preparation and education of young children as they begin to enter school. In 1990, the National Education Goals Panel (NEGP) was established, and its first national goal stated that “by the year 2000, all children in America will start school ready to learn.” Since that time, there have been varied and divergent conceptualizations of “school readiness” and appropriate models for assessing it. The NEGP has delineated several guidelines for school readiness tests. The current investigation was comprised of two studies with the goal of establishing the psychometric properties, reliability, and validity of the “Early Childhood Skills Inventory (ECSI),” a school readiness measure developed and used in two school districts in Tulsa County, Oklahoma. Study 1 (n = 1068) examines the characteristics of the ECSI based on a broad, single-administration of the test. This includes analyses such as normative data, factor analysis, and internal consistency. Study 2 (n = 85) supplements the results from Study 1 with a subsample of participants who received a more time-intensive battery to assess test-retest reliability and concurrent validity. Results indicate that the structure of the ECSI, following the NEGP guidelines, is not supported by factor analysis. However, measures of test-retest reliability, internal consistency, convergent/discriminant validity, and sensitivity to age produced moderate coefficients. Overall, indicators of reliability and validity for the ECSI are comparable to other similar, commercially available tests. The ECSI appears to function adequately for its intended purpose. Appropriate uses of the ECSI are discussed, as well as caution regarding uses for which the test was not designed.