학술논문

Measuring Being 'Developmentally on Track': Comparing Direct Assessment and Caregiver Report of Early Childhood Development in Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar
Document Type
Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Author
Rao, Nirmala (ORCID 0000-0002-5695-3156); Chan, Stephanie W. Y. (ORCID 0000-0001-8779-1164); Su, Yufen (ORCID 0000-0002-9423-5753); Richards, Ben (ORCID 0000-0002-8809-9097); Cappa, Claudia (ORCID 0000-0003-4636-7652); De Castro, E. FilipaPetrowski, Nicole
Source
Early Education and Development. 2022 33(6):1013-1035.
Subject
Bangladesh
China
India
Burma
Language
English
ISSN
1040-9289
1556-6935
Abstract
Assessment of progress toward UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 requires measurement of the proportion of children aged 24 to 59 months developmentally on track in health, learning, and psychosocial well-being (Indicator 4.2.1). UNICEF's methodological work culminated with the development of the Early Childhood Development Index 2030 (ECDI2030) to measure on track status. To compare direct assessment and caregiver report of early child development, a measure aligned to ECDI2030 -- the Early Childhood Development Assessment Scale-Direct Assessment (ECDAS-DA) -- was developed and administered to 510 preschoolers aged 36- to 59-months from Bangladesh, China, India, and Myanmar. Their caregivers completed the Early Childhood Development Assessment Scale-Caregiver Survey (ECDAS-CS) containing items based on the ECDI2030. Research Findings: The two measures correlated with each other and were associated with child age, maternal education, and family wealth. ECDAS-DA showed more variability by child age and provided more fine-grained analyses of emerging developmental competencies than ECDAS-CS. Practice or Policy: Given the dearth of pan-culturally appropriate tools, ECDAS-DA can be deployed in longitudinal studies and impact evaluations in low- and middle-income countries.