MEASURING QUALITY OF PRESCHOOL EDUCATION IN LOW- AND MIDDLE-INCOME COUNTRIES: ANALYSIS OF THE VALIDITY OF THE EARLY CHILDHOOD ENVIRONMENT RATING SCALE-REVISED IN COLOMBIA

In recent years, governments and international organizations have turned to preschool programs to address child poverty and related problems in low and middle income countries (LAMI). As preschool attendance has spread across the globe from 22% in 1999 to 45% in 2010, attention has shifted from preschool access to program quality, and researchers and policymakers have turned to the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ECEERS-R) to assess the quality of preschool experiences in their countries. However, important questions exist about the reliability and validity of this measure in LAMI countries. Colombia is among the countries that have expanded access to preschool programs in recent years, and have started to use the ECERS-R for assessing program quality. This study examines the reliability and validity of ECERS-R for preschool settings in Colombia, finding no evidence that the original scale structure is valid in the Colombian context. Additionally, it considered whether items on the ECERS-R could be used to generate a measure with stronger psychometric properties in Colombia. Evidence indicated that some items of the scale are not valid in the Colombian context but that others form three different factors related to routines, interactions and availability of materials for learning. Finally, analysis of predictive validity indicated that the routines factor significantly predicts children’s gains in execute function and language skills over the kindergarten year. This evidence suggests that only some items of the ECERS-R consistently measure meaningful variability early education quality in Colombia, but that even low scores in routines are associated with gains in cognitive and social development