Principal Investigator
Marcus Waldman – University of Colorado
Project Description
Researchers assessed KMT’s validity using a sample of 5,001 parents and caregivers of children ages birth to five years, beginning with pilot data from parents in Nebraska in 2020-21, a small follow-up with 70 pilot parents after about 16 months, validity data from parents in Nebraska in 2022-23, and item response data throughout the U.S. in 2023.
Research Questions
- What is the validity evidence of a new parent-report measure of child development for children birth to age five living in the United States called the Kidsights Measurement Tool (KMT)?
Key Findings
Through multiple tests of the KMT’s content, convergent validity with other validated measures of children’s development, discriminant validity with tests of non-related aspects of development, and measurement invariance, researchers found strong evidence that the KMT can detect disparities in children’s development. Researchers also found that KMT is aligned with gold-standard direct assessments and can provide valid, population-level estimates of early developmental differences using parent report.
Study Citation
Waldman, M. R., Hepworth, K., Johnson, J., Tourek, K. M., Jones, K. J., Garcia, Y. E., … & Raikes, A. (2025). Validation of the Kidsights Measurement Tool: A parent-reported instrument to track children’s development at the population level. PloS one, 20(6), https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0324082.
The Key Findings above were reproduced from the published report and do not necessarily reflect interpretation of Overdeck Family Foundation staff.
