Measuring indicators of Sustainable Development Goal Target 4.2.1: factor structure of a direct assessment tool in four Asian countries

ABSTRACT

Sustainable Development Goal Target 4.2.1 is monitored by determining the proportion of children aged 24 to 59 months who are developmentally on track in the domains of health, learning, and psychosocial well-being. UNICEF has developed a caregiver report measure, the Early Childhood Development Index 2030 (ECDI2030), to measure progress towards this target. This paper examines whether a newly developed tool, the Early Childhood Development Assessment Scale-Direct Assessment (ECDAS-DA) can add value to the measurement of Target Indicator 4.2.1 by complementing UNICEF’s ECDI2030, and explores the psychometric properties of the ECDAS-DA. A total of 956 children (476 girls) aged 3 to 5 years from Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar were administered the ECDAS-DA in individual sessions. Caregivers provided responses to a survey based on UNICEF’s ECDI2030. Confirmatory Factor Analyses indicated that learning, health, and psychosocial well-being domains of the ECDAS-DA were three component parts of one underlying construct of early child development. Significant correlations between the ECDAS-DA and the caregiver-reported ECDI2030 survey were found in the learning and health domains but findings were mixed for the psychosocial well-being domain. Multiple measures of early development could be important in measuring SDG Target 4.2.1 and the ECDAS-DA has the potential to complement UNICEF’s ECDI2030.

KEYWORDS:

• Early childhood development
• SDG Target 4.2
• assessment
• developmentally on track

Acknowledgments

The work described in this paper was substantially supported by a grant from the Research Grants Council of the HKSAR, China to Nirmala Rao (Project No. HKU 37000217).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2022.2093844

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Research Grants Council, University Grants Committee [37000217].

Notes on contributors

Ben Richards

Ben Richards is a Lecturer at the Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong. His research interests include social and educational policy, socio-demographic inequalities, and applied social research methods. His recent work has focused on socio-demographic inequalities in the education and development of young children, and the measurement and evaluation of policy interventions aimed at improving children’s outcomes.

Nirmala Rao

Nirmala Rao is Serena H C Yang Professor in Early Childhood Development and Education and Chair Professor of Child Development and Education, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong. Her research on early childhood development and education in Asian cultural contexts has been recognised internationally. Professor Rao has published widely; serves on the Editorial Board for premier scholarly journals; has participated in high-level international meetings; written advocacy materials, and undertaken consultancies for international organisations.

Stephanie W. Y. Chan

Stephanie W. Y. Chan is an Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong. With her background in education and psychology, her research interests include early childhood development and second language acquisition. Her work includes promoting language development of non-native speaking children in Chinese contexts, developing assessments for young children, and policy evaluation.