1. Measuring Being "Developmentally on Track": Comparing Direct Assessment and Caregiver Report of Early Childhood Development in Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar.
- Author
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Rao, Nirmala, Chan, Stephanie W. Y., Su, Yufen, Richards, Ben, Cappa, Claudia, De Castro, E. Filipa, and Petrowski, Nicole
- Subjects
CHILD development ,CAREGIVERS ,PRESCHOOL children ,MIDDLE-income countries ,SUSTAINABLE development ,LONGITUDINAL method - 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
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