Ready or Not? Recommendations for Reporting Results of a School Readiness Assessment

• In Event: Minding the Gap in Accountability Policy Implementation

Abstract

This study explored the factorial structure of the North Carolina Early Learning Inventory (NC ELI), a newly revised kindergarten entry assessment (KEA) developed as a subset of items from Teaching Strategies GOLD®. Although GOLD® offers extensive validity and reliability evidence, this study contributes to the validity of a short-form developed specifically for administration in NC. To examine the underlying structure of NC ELI, this study used exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and established measurement invariance across focal comparisons. NC currently reports scores as a single factor of “school readiness”. However, findings from this study indicated a two-factor model offered significant improvement. Recommendations include changing reporting practices to a multidimensional model with two latent factors: Social-emotional skills and academic skills.

Authors

• T. Scott Holcomb, Duke University
  Presenting Author

• Kristin Villanueva, University of North Carolina - Charlotte
  Presenting Author

• Leonardo Herrera-Mosquera, University of North Carolina - Charlotte
  Presenting Author

• Hannah Luce, University of North Carolina - Charlotte
  Presenting Author