A form of criterion keying was used to examine alternative scales for cognitive development facilitation. Two cause indicator models linking the items of the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment-Short Form (HOME-SF) to the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R) were hypothesized. The first model was based on all of the HOME-SF items, and the second was based on the HOME-SF items comprising the Cognitive Stimulation scale of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY). Evaluation proceeded with data from two waves of children, under 3 years of age, assessed in the NLSY. The two proposed models were evaluated on the first wave of data using structural equation modeling. A third model was then empirically developed by making modifications to improve model fit. The three models were reevaluated on the second wave of data. The model developed empirically fit the second wave of data relatively well.
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