Parent–Teacher Agreement and Reliability on the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA) in English and Spanish for Ethnically Diverse Children Living in Poverty

Abstract

Research Findings: Social-emotional competence is especially important for children living in poverty, and effective assessment of social-emotional skills is critical. This study examined parent–teacher agreement and reliability of the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA; P. A. LeBuffe & J. A. Naglieri, 1999) English and Spanish forms in a large (n = 7,756) sample of impoverished, ethnically diverse preschoolers. Both forms were reliable. Parents reported greater social-emotional protective factors and behavioral concerns than teachers. Parent–teacher agreement was moderate (rs = .20–.28) and consistent with previous research. Parent–teacher agreement was higher when both informants completed the survey in the same language. Agreement was highest for average-functioning children, according to a standardized assessment of cognition, language, and motor skills that was also administered. Parents rated low-functioning children more favorably than did teachers; teachers rated high-functioning children more favorably than did parents. Practice or Policy: The English and Spanish DECA forms demonstrate reliability for examining social-emotional skills and behavioral concerns for impoverished, ethnically diverse preschoolers.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This project was supported by funding from the Early Learning Coalition of Miami-Dade/Monroe. We would like to thank all of the community partners involved in the Miami School Readiness Project, including Miami-Dade County Public Schools and Miami-Dade County Child Development Services.

Notes

Note. Correlations above the diagonal are from parent forms, and those below the diagonal are from teacher forms. All correlations were significant at the p < .01 level.

^a Significant difference between teacher and parent scores at p < .01.

Note. DECA = Devereux Early Childhood Assessment.

Note. DECA = Devereux Early Childhood Assessment; T1 = Time 1; T2 = Time 2.

^a Three-year-old children were only assessed at T1, so for the overall group and for the 3-year-olds only group, only T1 correlations are given.

*p < .01.

Note. DECA = Devereux Early Childhood Assessment.

^a All correlations were significant at p < .01.

^b,c Groups with different superscripts were significantly different from one another at p < .05.

Note. LAP-D = Learning Accomplishment Profile–Diagnostic; DECA = Devereux Early Childhood Assessment.

*p < .01.