Improving Measurement Efficiency of an Early Education Quality Monitoring Tool for Majority World Countries.
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| Title: | Improving Measurement Efficiency of an Early Education Quality Monitoring Tool for Majority World Countries. |
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| Authors: | Dormal, Marta1 (AUTHOR) martadormal@g.harvard.edu, Raikes, Abbie2 (AUTHOR), Charles McCoy, Dana1 (AUTHOR) |
| Source: | Early Education & Development. Apr2025, Vol. 36 Issue 3, p640-662. 23p. |
| Subject Terms: | *Item response theory, *Research personnel, *Classroom environment, *Educational quality, Psychometrics |
| Abstract: | Research Findings: New measures are being developed for quality monitoring of early care and education (ECE) programs in Majority World countries. However, limited psychometric work has identified items most indicative of quality or optimized the content of these tools. Therefore, the goal of this study was to showcase the empirical steps needed to streamline ECE quality monitoring measures and create more efficient, yet psychometrically robust, versions of these tools for Majority World countries. We used data on the Measuring Early Learning Environments (MELE) instrument that was administered to 250 ECE programs in one anonymous sub-Saharan African country. Findings from Item Response Theory techniques pointed to several items that should be retained for shorter versions of the MELE. Together with findings from correlational analyses with teacher/classroom characteristics and child outcomes, these results also showed that shorter versions of the MELE retained similar amounts of information on ECE quality and precision relative to the original instrument. Collectively, these results showed that it is possible to improve a quality monitoring measure's efficiency by retaining a subset of highly informative items that maintain the original instrument's psychometric adequacy. Practice or Policy: We recommend researchers and practitioners interested in optimizing similar tools for monitoring in their context to follow these empirical steps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| Database: | Education Research Complete |
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| Abstract: | Research Findings: New measures are being developed for quality monitoring of early care and education (ECE) programs in Majority World countries. However, limited psychometric work has identified items most indicative of quality or optimized the content of these tools. Therefore, the goal of this study was to showcase the empirical steps needed to streamline ECE quality monitoring measures and create more efficient, yet psychometrically robust, versions of these tools for Majority World countries. We used data on the Measuring Early Learning Environments (MELE) instrument that was administered to 250 ECE programs in one anonymous sub-Saharan African country. Findings from Item Response Theory techniques pointed to several items that should be retained for shorter versions of the MELE. Together with findings from correlational analyses with teacher/classroom characteristics and child outcomes, these results also showed that shorter versions of the MELE retained similar amounts of information on ECE quality and precision relative to the original instrument. Collectively, these results showed that it is possible to improve a quality monitoring measure's efficiency by retaining a subset of highly informative items that maintain the original instrument's psychometric adequacy. Practice or Policy: We recommend researchers and practitioners interested in optimizing similar tools for monitoring in their context to follow these empirical steps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| ISSN: | 10409289 |
| DOI: | 10.1080/10409289.2024.2423277 |
