Assessing Approaches to Learning in School Readiness - Comparing the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment to an Early Learning Standards-Based Measure

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Stanley

Study psychometric properties of two measures of children’s approaches to learning for school readiness: the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA) and a 13-item approaches-to-learning rating scale (AtL) derived from Arizona Early Learning Standards. Parent/guardian questionnaires from 1,145 first-time kindergarteners were followed by confirmatory factor analysis with parceling to avoid model convergence issues. Findings show 55%–72% variance overlap across instrument domains and support the AtL scale as an easily administered alternative to DECA.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages15

Reading Time38 min

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Assessing Approaches to Learning in School Readiness

Measurement comparison: DECA vs. AtL

Development of State Standards for Early Childhood

AERA Open July-September 2015, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 1–15 DOI: 10. 1177/2332858415593923 © The Author(s) 2015. [http://ero.sagepub.com](http://ero.sagepub.com) Assessing Approaches to Learning in School Readiness: Comparing the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment to an Early Learning Standards-Based Measure Otilia C. Barbu David B. Yaden Jr. Deborah Levine-Donnerstein Ronald W. Marx University of Arizona This study examines the psychometric properties of two assessments of children’s approaches to learning: the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA) and a 13-item approaches to learning rating scale (AtL) derived from the Arizona Early Learning Standards (AELS). First, we administered questionnaires to 1,145 randomly selected parents/guardians of first-time kindergarteners. Second, we employed confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with parceling for DECA to reduce errors due to item specificity and prevent convergence difficulties when simultaneously estimating DECA and AtL models. Results indicatedan overlap of 55% to 72% variance between the domains of the two instruments and suggested that the new AtL instrument is an easily administered alternative to the DECAfor measuring children’s approaches to learning. This is one of the first studies that investigated DECA’s approaches to learning dimension and explored the measurement properties of an instrument purposely derived from a state’s early learning guidelines. Keywords: readiness, approaches to learning, DECA, EFA/CFA, parceling A substantial body of recent research suggests that the level of school readiness is an important and even a critical indicator of whether an entering kindergarten child will succeed in school (Haskins & Barnett, 2010; Magnuson, Rohm,& Waldfogel, 2007; K. Snow, 2006, 2011) . Several longitudinal analyses of high-quality early childhood programs over the past decade demonstrate that considerable benefits accrue to both individuals and society when children have positive experiences with well-trained caregivers prior to school entry (Heckman, Moon, Pinto, Savelyev, & Yavitz, 2010; Rolnick & Grunewald, 2003) . Conversely, when children’s high-quality early experiences are absent, lower school performance in the early grades is likely, reducing the possibility of greater success as children advance in school (Pianta, Barnett, Burchinal, & Thornburg, 2009). Thus, educators, child development specialists, researchers, and policy makers could gain knowledge about children at risk atthe start of kindergarten (K. Snow, 2011) by examining school readiness factors, and subsequently, they could design policies and programs to ameliorate these risks (cf. also Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, 2011) . Approaches to learning is a key construct in many policybased definitions of school readiness, although insufficient research exists on how to measure this construct efficiently and accurately. We address this gap in the research by evaluating the psychometric properties of two assessments of approaches to learning using data from parent and guardian ratings. We compare findings from the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment, a widely used instrument for assessing emotional intelligence in preschool settings (Chain, Dopp, Smith, Woodland, & LeBuffe, 2010) with findings from a researcher-developed, 13-item instrument designed specifically to assess approaches to learning behaviors based on the Arizona State Early Learning Standards (AELS) . In this comparison, we examined the psychometric validity of this shorter instrument and its potential efficiency and usefulness for classroom assessment. Development of State Standards for Early Childhood Despite definitional differences regarding the nature of school readiness (Graue, 1993, 2006; Kagan, 1990; ScottLittle, Kagan, & Frelow, 2006), an effort to develop early learning standards for pre-kindergarten to third-grade children has arisen among regional and national policy ma

FAQs

What two assessments are compared in the study?

The study compares the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA) with a 13-item approaches-to-learning (AtL) rating scale derived from the Arizona Early Learning Standards.

How was the data collected?

Questionnaires were administered to 1,145 randomly selected parents/guardians of first-time kindergarteners.

What analytical method was used to evaluate DECA and AtL?

Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with parceling for DECA was used to reduce errors from item specificity and prevent convergence difficulties when estimating both instruments’ models.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Stanley