Abstract
This study examined a 13-item instrument measuring approaches to learning (AtL) as a component of school readiness in the context of early childhood socio-emotional development. Few instruments, limited to preschool teacher ratings, measure AtL among kindergarteners with short easy-to-use questionnaires. We investigated psychometric properties of the instrument designed to provide practical measures of AtL behaviours identified in the Arizona Early Learning Standards with teacher (n = 205) and guardian (n = 1025) samples. We found a one-factor structure via exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The multi-group CFA for combined teacher and guardian models indicated a good fit, which demonstrated the structure validity of the AtL instrument. This finding, combined with evidence of reliability of the instrument, supported the educational utility of the AtL as a new tool for measuring school readiness among kindergarteners in Arizona.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 698-714 |
Number of pages | 17 |
Journal | Education 3-13 |
Volume | 44 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Nov 1 2016 |
Keywords
- CFA
- EFA
- approaches to learning
- readiness
- structural validity
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Education
- Life-span and Life-course Studies