Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

The Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA) was developed to assess the social-emotional functioning of preschool children. The developers of the DECA report initial validity and reliability evidence in support of the use of the instrument with 2- to 5-year-old children across the United States. There is further need to collect independent validity and reliability evidence in support of the use of the DECA for its intended uses. DECA data collected from the parents and teachers of 780 kindergarten students (age 5.0 to 5.11) from a rural Midwestern area of the United States were analyzed. The resulting internal consistency, interrater reliability, and factor structure estimates were generally consistent with what was reported by the DECA authors.

L'évaluation Devereux sur la Petite Enfance (Devereux Early Childhood Assessment [DECA]) a été conçue pour évaluer le comportement socio-émotionnel des enfants en âge préscolaire. Les auteurs de DECA fournissent les preuves de la validité et la fiabilité de l'utilisation de l'instrument d'évaluation avec les enfants de 2 à 5 ans dans l'ensemble des États-Unis. Il est néanmoins nécessaire d'obtenir indépendamment des preuves de sa validité et sa fiabilité afin de soutenir son utilisation par DECA. Des données de DECA recueillies auprès des parents et enseignantes de 780 enfants de maternelle (âgés de 5.0 à 5.11 ans) dans les régions rurales du Midwest des États-Unis, ont été analysées. Les résultats obtenus montrent la cohérence interne, la fiabilité entre évaluateurs, ainsi que les estimations de structures factorielles, qui sont d'une manière générale en accord avec ce que les auteurs de DECA ont montré.

Keywords

Devereux Early Childhood Assessment school readiness protective factor scales psychometrics

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Buhs, E.S. (2004). Review of the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment . Mental Measurements Yearbook, 15.

Chittooran, M.M. (2004). Review of the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment . Mental Measurements Yearbook, 15.

Crane, J. , Winsler, A. , & Mincic, M. (2008). Assessing the social-emotional protective factors of ethnically diverse preschoolers in poverty: Parent-teacher agreement on the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA). Unpublished manuscript, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA.

Gorsuch, R.L. (1983). Factor analysis (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

LeBuffe, P.A. , & Naglieri, J.A. (1999a). Devereux Early Childhood Assessment. Lewisville, NC: Kaplan Press.

LeBuffe, P.A. , & Naglieri, J.A. (1999b). Devereux Early Childhood Assessment: Technical manual. Lewisville, NC: Kaplan Press.

Mayor's Commission for Children. (2007). Readiness for kindergarten: A study conducted by the Mayor's's Commission for Children. Springfield, MO: Author. Retrieved April 13, 2009, from http://www.ci.springfield.mo.us/children_commission/schoolreadinessfinal.pdf

Rosas, S. , Chaiken, L. , & Case, J. (2007). Devereux Early Childhood Assessment ratings from parents and teachers in Delaware (Research Brief). Retrieved February 7, 2008, from http://static.nemours.org/www.-filebox/nhps/deca.pdf

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ( 1999). Mental health: A report of the Surgeon General. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

10.

Winsler, A. , Tran, H. , Hartman, S.C. , Madigan, A.L. , Manfra, L. , & Bleiker, C. (2008). School readiness gains made by ethnically-diverse children in poverty attending subsidized childcare programs. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 23, 314-329.

Replication Evidence in Support of the Psychometric Properties of the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References