Dr. Michal Perlman

Dr. Michal Perlman

Professor, University of Toronto and Director, Dr. R.G.N. Laidlaw Research Centre, University of Toronto

416-978-0596

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE)

University of Toronto

252 Bloor Street West
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M5S 1V6

Caregiver cognitive sensitivity: Measure development and validation in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) settings

Journal article

Sharon Pauker, Michal Perlman, Heather Prime, Jennifer Jenkins
Early Childhood Research Quarterly, vol. 45, Elsevier {BV}, 2018, pp. 45--57
DOI: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2018.05.001
Cite

Cite

APA
Pauker, S., Perlman, M., Prime, H., & Jenkins, J. (2018). Caregiver cognitive sensitivity: Measure development and validation in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) settings. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 45, 45–57.

Chicago/Turabian
Pauker, Sharon, Michal Perlman, Heather Prime, and Jennifer Jenkins. “Caregiver Cognitive Sensitivity: Measure Development and Validation in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) Settings.” Early Childhood Research Quarterly 45 (2018): 45–57.

MLA
Pauker, Sharon, et al. “Caregiver Cognitive Sensitivity: Measure Development and Validation in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) Settings.” Early Childhood Research Quarterly, vol. 45, Elsevier {BV}, 2018, pp. 45–57.

Abstract

Cognitive sensitivity refers to a person’s ability to create a cognitively stimulating environment when interacting with a less experienced partner while being attuned to this partner’s emotional state. We developed the Educator Cognitive Sensitivity (ECS) scale to measure the quality of individual educator’s interactions with children in Early Childhood Education and Care settings (ECEC). The ECS scale was designed to be easy to train and quick to administer. Three hundred and fifty educators from 135 classrooms in 69 ECEC providers in Toronto were observed and coded using the ECS scale. Results show that it has excellent internal consistency with all items loading onto a single factor. In terms of concurrent validity, it was moderately correlated to the different subscales of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System and a short form of the Infant/Toddler Environmental Scale-Revised. Variance Component Analysis revealed that the majority of variance in ECS scores is explained by differences between educators, calling into question the practice of assessing quality of interaction at the classroom level. The relatively efficient ECS scale is a promising new measure of interaction in ECEC settings.


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