Establishing reliability and construct validity for the revised emotional social screening tool for school readiness (E3SR-R)

Loading...
Thumbnail Image

Date

2024

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

South African Journal Of Education

Abstract

School readiness assessments in South Africa still predominantly focus on the assessment of cognitive skills. The Emotional Social Screening Tool for School Readiness (E3SR) was developed to bridge the perceived gap in assessing emotional-social skills as a domain of school readiness. An emerging body of research reports exists on the psychometric properties and factor structure of the E3SR. An initial validation study recommended a 6-factor solution instead of the theoretical 9-factor model that was proposed in the development of the E3SR. The E3SR (Revised) was also reduced in length. We report here on a pilot study of which the aim was to establish the reliability and construct validity of the E3SR (Revised). A cross-sectional survey design was used to gather data from 9 pre-schools in Cape Town, South Africa. Pre-school teachers (n = 24) constituted the respondent group who completed the E3SR (Revised) screening questionnaires on Grade R learners (n = 394). Analysis was conducted on 321 completed screening questionnaires. With the data analysis we aimed to: a) summarise sample characteristics of teachers and children; b) establish reliability estimates; and c) establish construct validity and confirming the factor structure

Description

Keywords

construct validity, emotional competence, Emotional Social Screening Tool for School Readiness (E3SR), pre-schoolers, reliability

Citation

Koopman, L., Munnik, E., Wagener, E. and Smith, M., 2024. Establishing reliability and construct validity for the revised Emotional Social Screening Tool for School Readiness (E3SR-R). South African Journal of Education, 44(2).