Investigating the Validity of the Australian Early Development Index

The Early Development Instrument: An Examination of Convergent and Discriminant Validity

“…These include examination of the EDI in relation to direct, child-based assessments (as opposed to other adult ratings) and other indicators of school readiness. The need for such data is highlighted by the current widespread use of the EDI in Canada (e.g., Guhn et al 2007;Kershaw et al 2007), Australia (e.g., Brinkman et al 2007;Sayers et al 2007) and around the world (see Janus 2006) and attendant questions concerning the validity of EDI scores at various levels (child, classroom, community, etc.). This paper describes research on the validity of the EDI aimed at addressing these issues.…”

“…The only way to determine the extent to which inherent bias is a problem for the EDI itself is to examine it in relation to direct, child-based measures of the same constructs the EDI purports to assess. Direct, child-based assessments have been addressed in the published validity work on the EDI, but only in the language domain and primarily with the PPVT (e.g., Brinkman et al 2007). Given that the EDI is intended to assess five developmental domains, all believed to be important to school readiness, it behooves researchers to examine EDI scores in all domains in relation to analogous direct, childbased assessments to the degree that such assessments exist.…”

“…In a sample of 642 Australian, 4-5-year-olds, Brinkman et al (2007) assessed the validity of the EDI by correlating EDI subscales with a variety of conceptually-similar measures of early learning and development collected contemporaneously, including four parent reports, two teacher reports, and two direct, child-based measures of receptive vocabulary (Peabody Picture Vocabulary, PPVT, Dunn and Dunn 1981) and writing/ copying tasks. Overall, the EDI correlated reasonably well with other measures (r's ranged from .10 to .69), the strongest correlates being other teacher-reports of similar constructs.…”

Validation of Multilevel Constructs: Validation Methods and Empirical Findings for the EDI

“…EDI validation studies (e.g., Duku and Janus 2004;Forget-Dubois et al 2007;Janus 2001;Janus 2002;Janus et al 2001;Janus et al 2004;Brinkman et al 2007) have typically been conducted at the individual child level of analysis. In contrast, studies that have examined functional aspects of the EDI (e.g., how EDI scores correlate with neighbourhood characteristics) tend to use aggregated scores (e.g., Kershaw et al 2005).…”

Planned Birth Before 39 Weeks and Child Development: A Population-Based Study

“…22,24,26,59 Developmental outcomes were collected independently and prospectively of gestational age and mode of birth, and missing data were minimal. Follow-up through record linkage provided a cohort covering >80% of all children assessed in NSW in 2009 and 2012, with the remainder having been born outside NSW.…”