Prior research suggests that linguistic complexity may impede mathematics word problem solving by English Learners, but results have been inconsistent. The present study employed an experimental design to investigate the effects of linguistic complexity and mathematics difficulty on word problem solving by middle school English Learners.  Results were consistent with predictions from Cognitive Load Theory: Performance was poorer for word problems written in more complex language compared to the same problems in easier text, and the weakest performance was observed for problems that were both linguistically and mathematically challenging. A Confirmatory Factor Analysis suggested a model including a latent factor, hypothesized to be working memory, provided a good fit to the data.  Additionally, linguistic complexity had a significant influence on students’ perceptions of the mathematical difficulty of the problems.  The results are consistent with recent suggestions that English Learners’ lower performance in math reflects the additional cognitive demands associated with text comprehension.

This study examined reliability and validity of the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA), based on samples of parents and teachers’ ratings of 1,145 entering kindergartners in the Southwest. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that DECA presented good reliability and validity for manifest variables, corroborating previous findings. Three latent variables (initiative, self-control, and attachment) substantiated reliability estimates but showed insufficient discriminant validity because of multicollinearity among latent variables. We recommended caution in interpreting and applying results of DECA assessments in practice because of a lack of discriminant validity. Thus, these findings addressed the need for researchers, educators, and policy makers to consider alternative instruments for early identification of social and emotional problems in young children until new research and a revised DECA model show evidence for the validity of outcomes.

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This study examines the psychometric properties of two assessments of children’s approaches to learning: the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA) and a 13-item approaches to learning rating scale (AtL) derived from the Arizona Early Learning Standards (AELS). First, we administered questionnaires to 1,145 randomly selected parents/guardians of first-time kindergarteners. Second, we employed confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with parceling for DECA to reduce errors due to item specificity and prevent convergence difficulties when simultaneously estimating DECA and AtL models. Results indicated an overlap of 55% to 72% variance between the domains of the two instruments and suggested that the new AtL instrument is an easily administered alternative to the DECA for measuring children’s approaches to learning. This is one of the first studies that investigated DECA’s approaches to learning dimension and explored the measurement properties of an instrument purposely derived from a state’s early learning guidelines.