[Amadou Tidjani Moustapha Abass]

i think for the refusal question it’s treated separately in the analysis, but the skipped response are scored and use in the calculation of domain. Because to skip a question it must have a relevant to do this, it’s why it’s use in the calculation.

[Amadou Tidjani Moustapha Abass]

i think for the refusal question it’s treated separately in the analysis, but the skipped response are scored and use in the calculation of domain. Because to skip a question it must be relevant to do this, it’s why it’s use in the calculation.

[Lauren Pisani]

Great question! We do generally recommended that users score these items in the same manner as the other item scores (total score achieved/total score possible). There are other versions of these items that use different scoring methodologies, but scoring procedures are tied to the specifics of how an item was administered (for example, see Cameron, McClelland, Matthews, & Morrison (2009) on the scoring for the original head-shoulders-knees-toes item from which ours was adapted).

If desired, you could combine the two scores into one ‘executive function’ score. However, take care to note that two items are not enough to represent the entire domain of executive functioning. We are hoping to add more items to this domain in the future so that it more completely represents this domain of development so stay tuned for more on this!

[Sarah Strader]

With regard to engaging parents, we find that parents are very interested in how to support their child’s development. That said, parents have limited time and resources to devote to new activities. To make it easy for parents to engage, we offer simple ways to get involved, like telling stories with children at home. To attract parents to support the community preschool, we have found that they are very motivated by the gains their children make in preschool, so we create opportunities for them to see their children’s progress.

With respect to local government, we worked closely with local inspectors, who seek ways to boost quality early education in their districts. We position ourselves as partners in increasing access, trying out new approaches, and sharing learning. IDELA was a perfect tool for us to do that, so our government counterparts were favorable to our doing the training and assessment.

[Victoria Brown]

Have you shared this data with Government as way of buy-in for government support to Pre- primary education?

The data is being shared at the district and national level with key government officials and other stakeholders in the education sector. We hope it will be used to inform the design and implementation of other early childhood development programmes and help the government to better understand how to effectively measure early learning – and clearly communicate results.

What are you doing around engaging government? Have you had a platform where this data has been shared and appreciated by the key ministries?

The implementing partner is part of a network of organisations implementing ECD programming in the country. The results and findings are shared via that platform for learning and advocacy, as well as national-level technical working groups under the Ministry of Education and Sports for early primary and basic education, which our research organisation also sits on. Data-sharing, and learning from the study’s findings, is an ongoing process that will continue in the months ahead as engagement opportunities arise and policy ‘windows of opportunity’ open up for additional learning and sharing.

[Andrés Moya]

Thank you Lauren. We are think about similar issues and would be interested in collaborating.

In the past two years, we have been running a psychosocial support program for families with children 0-5 residing in communities torn by violence.

We are first concerned about how the pandemic is affecting ECD and whether it will widen existing socioeconomic gaps. There are many channels here including loss of school meals, financial stress, and increased stress within the households and domestic violence, which directly affect children and the capacity of caregivers to respond.

Thus, we are discussing how to investigate these challenges and potentially devastating effects, and also how to respond quickly once the pandemic subsides in order to restore childhood development.

We are also concerned that the pandemic may attenuate our program’s impact and even cancel out the positive impacts observed on our earlier cohorts. Or perhaps, some wishful thinking here, our program enabled families to better cope and navigate in this crisis. So we also plan to assess this once we can head back to the field.

[Lauren Pisani]

Dear Andres,

It’s great to hear from you. We have a number of project teams who are thinking along similar lines in terms of the specific channels or factors influencing learning loss for young children, and potential attenuation or support from programming that families have received. I’ll follow up with you directly via email to discuss this further.

Best,
Lauren

[Ema Kasapi]

Hi Laurel, this is a pressing question also in my country and part of discussion in our program. Ministry of Education is focused to close the academic year through on line learning and children 6-17 will not return to school. Instead there are discussions that but yet confirmed the children 3-6 will return in June. As we are using IDELA instrument as a monitoring tool in our ECCD program I need you advice in regard of conducting the assessment on-line. This idea is proposed by MEAL as they consider period of conducting follow up baseline very important for data analyzing. So the though is to conduct assessment online. But I’m a little resistant on that since I think that this is a face to face interaction with child without the presence of parent. Anyhow I need to have your perspective on that.
meanwhile we have conducted a need assessment to better understand situation of Save the Children’s in Albania Programs target groups, and beneficiaries at community level, through the rapid assessment of the situation as a result of COVID-19.
Children 3-6 were represented by their parents so I think it will be very useful to use IDELA findings as a way to understand the impact of pandemic lockdown on these target

[Lauren Pisani]

Hi Ema,

It’s great to hear from you! I’m happy to talk about options for online data collection with IDELA, and also how the data you have collected in the past could inform the understanding of COVID-19 effects in your target areas. We’ll follow up via email to discuss in more detail.

Best,
Lauren

[Elizabeth Girdwood]

Please could you indicate what your caregiver/parent/child consent process is and what is required/advised?

[Frannie Noble]

Hi Elizabeth, Thanks for your question.

IDELA guidance requires caregiver and child consent before proceeding with the assessment.

Parental consent is gained in writing and IDELA offers a template consent form in the IDELA toolkit. Sometimes consent is given by caregivers in advance of data collection as local teachers will obtain consent for their students. Other times consent is given just before the assessment. In either case, caregivers are given a full explanation for what is being assessed and how the data will be used.

Child assent is gained before starting the assessment. The IDELA administration guide provides a script for explaining the assessment to the child. The child is free to give or not give their assent; no pressure should be used.

To see the full IDELA toolkit, including these consent resources, please sign up to become an IDELA partner my completing the IDELA MOU.

MOU Form

[Frannie Noble]

Hi Caylee,

This is a great question, and an important one as well as anyone who has worked with young children knows that they can be unpredictable!

Because IDELA was design specifically for the 3-6 year age range, we find that overall children are able to complete the 25-30 minute assessment. The tasks include games, puzzles, sorting and movement and each only lasts a minute or two. This tends to keep the children engaged.

Two items from the IDELA toolkit would be good places to start in understanding engagement during the assessment.
1. The Administration guide talks about finding the right space to do the assessment, getting assent from the child to go the assessment and keeping the child focused.
2. The training videos are a supplementary item that demonstrate administration and also provide tips on managing the child and their engagement.

If you do not yet have access to the full toolkit, please email [email protected]. We’d be happy to get you access.

[Lela Chakhaia]

I would add that 3-4 years is within the recommended IDELA age range. So it should be fine. IDELA has been frequently used in resource-poor areas with children who do not attend any type of preschool or early education center (you can click IDELA Data button and check out results of children by age in various datasets).

[Frannie Noble]

Thanks for checking CCook. No, the words do not need to rhyme 🙂

best,
Frannie

[Akira Suzuki]

The age range, as in the front page, is 3.5-6 and not 3. Am I missing something?

“The International Development and Early Learning Assessment, IDELA, is a free, easy-to-use, rigorous global tool that measures children’s early learning and development. IDELA provides ECCD programs, donors, and government partners with clear evidence on the status of children from 3.5 to 6 years. “

[Author]

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