IELS Study Components

In this first pilot cycle, a highly trained assessor provided each child with a tablet to use and worked with each child one-on-one during the session. On the tablet, the child met Tom and Mia, two children their age who wanted to play with them. Together with Tom and Mia, the children moved through the assessment at their own pace, with the assessor providing guidance as needed. Tom, Mia, and a narrator explained the activities in English to the children. Practice activities ensured that children could comfortably work with the tablet before the assessment began.

The assessment was administered over 2 days, during which activities were presented in four domains: emergent literacy, emergent numeracy, self-regulation, and empathy (emotional identification and emotional attribution). Children moved through two domains on the first day and the other two domains on the second day. Children could take breaks as needed but were also offered a break between domains. Each day’s session took approximately 30 minutes, depending on how quickly the child moved through the activities on the tablet.

The assessment included three skills related to later reading achievement: listening comprehension, vocabulary, and phonological awareness. As this is an assessment of emergent literacy, no reading was required. A narrator read aloud all the questions and response options, which were distinguished from one another with colorful pictures. The children, along with Mia and Tom, listened to the story and then answered comprehension questions by touching their choice on the tablet. They were also asked to choose the best synonyms for the presented words to indicate their vocabulary knowledge. Lastly, the children demonstrated their knowledge of beginning, middle, and ending sounds.

The assessment covered five aspects of emergent numeracy: numbers and counting, working with numbers, measurement, shape and space, and patterns. The activities on the tablet were designed for 5-year-olds and did not require any formal instruction. For example, in the measurement subdomain, children were not required to measure things but rather to show an understanding of concepts, such as larger, smaller, and more and less. The children interacted with the tablet to demonstrate their knowledge and skills by touching colorful pictures and dragging and dropping objects.

Three basic self-regulation skills were assessed. The first self-regulation task assessed the child’s working memory. Working memory involves remembering and manipulating information. The second self-regulation task gauged how well a child can switch rules when playing a game, a skill known as mental flexibility. The final self-regulation task assessed the child’s ability to inhibit action. Each of these tasks took just a few minutes to play and were designed to be fun for the children.

Empathy refers to the ability to understand how others feel. It is a skill that allows us to respond to others in appropriate ways. In an innovative new task based on Strayer’s 1993¹ work, children were presented with different stories and then asked to indicate on the tablet how the characters in the stories feel (emotional identification). They were also asked to report how they themselves feel about each situation presented in the stories and why (emotional attribution).

Parents were asked to report on their child’s skills and competencies. They were also asked to describe their family’s demographic characteristics and home learning activities.activities. In addition, they answered questions about their child’s early childhood education and care (ECEC) and extracurricular activities. The information that parents provide helps us to understand children’s everyday experiences and relate them to their current skills and development.

The first part of the teacher survey was brief and asked the teacher to report on his/her background and professional training. The second part of the survey had to be completed for each study child. The teacher was asked to rate each study child’s skills and development, using many of the same questions asked of parents to obtain a comprehensive picture of the skills evidenced by the child in different settings.