To what extent do the three
assessments measure the same key
developmental areas?
1)
Teaching Strategies Gold
2)
Work Sampling System
3)
High Scope Child Observation Record
Assessment
DecisionMaking,
Action
Reporting
Data
Collection
Data
Analysis
COR
[34 Items]
Initiative
GOLD
[66 Items]
WSS
[55 Items]
Social-Emotional
Personal and Social Development
Physical
Social Relations
Language and Literacy
Language
Mathematical Thinking
Creative Representation
Literacy
Scientific Thinking
Movement and Music
Mathematics
Social Studies
Science and Technology
Language and Literacy
Social Studies
Mathematics and Science
The Arts
The Arts
Physical Development and Health
•WSS-Personal and Social Development
Social Emotional
•GOLD-Social Emotional
•COR-Social Relations
Approaches to
Learning
Language and
Literacy
Cognitive and
General Knowledge
•WSS-Approaches to Learning
•GOLD-No similar domain
•COR-Initiative
•WSS-Language and Literacy
•GOLD-Language, Literacy
•COR-Language and Literacy
•WSS-Mathematical Thinking, Logic and Reasoning, Social
Studies, The Arts
•GOLD-Mathematics, Cognitive, Social Studies. The Arts
•COR-Mathematics and Science, Creative Representation
Physical
Development and
Health
•WSS-Physical Development and Health
•GOLD-Physical
•COR-Movement and Music
Personal and Social Development N=1653
Language and Literacy N=1155
WSS
Initiative N=258
COR
Social Relations N=261
Language and Literacy N=244
COR
Social Emotional N=13,979
GOLD

Incomplete or partially entered records.
 WSS: 25% missing (on average)
 GOLD: 47% missing (on average)
 COR: 28% missing (on average)

Demographic information.
 Race and ethnicity, date of birth, first and last
name.
 Over 60% of records were missing at least one
demographic field.

This information is needed to match and
track children across instruments and years.

Items require high level of inference:
 EG: “Demonstrates Knowledge About Self”




“Just fill something in” approach to satisfy
requirements, thus creating errors.
Quality Control: Check for completeness
Non-standardized data definitions
Know the meanings of key words for each tool
 Age-Appropriate/Developmentally-Appropriate
 Emergent Skills
 Self-Efficacy
 Approaches to Learning

Provide demographic information accurately,
including first and last names, race, ethnicity,
and child’s date of birth.
 Enter first name and last name in separate fields.

Complete assessments before entering data.
 No missing or deleted items

Consider the meaning of assessment
definitions versus professional “buzzwords”
 Need for good training, agreement on what each
item in the tool means and what it is measuring




Each of the three assessments has been
developed independently based on instructional
process according to a particular curriculum
BUT there is a great deal in common and
agreement on what the tools assess
There are at least thirty separate item areas
creating a “common core”
The common core indicates there is agreement in
the early childhood development field of the
multiple skills and behaviors children need to
acquire in the early learning years


To determine whether or not a common
metric can be constructed
Factor analyses
 Statistically tests the extent to which items group
together across all three assessments.
 Are the assessments comparable in terms of major
underlying factors they are actually measuring?
 Identify items with the strongest factor (matching)
scores and those with the weakest factor scores.
 Analyses will utilize new data, so make sure data
are complete.