TY - JOUR
T1 - Adaptation and Application of the Measuring Early Learning Quality and Outcomes (MELQO) Framework to Early Childhood Education Settings in Colombia
T2 - Implications for National Policy and the Sustainable Development Goals
AU - Ponguta, Liliana Angelica
AU - Maldonado-Carreño, Carolina
AU - Kagan, Sharon Lynn
AU - Yoshikawa, Hirokazu
AU - Nieto, Ana María
AU - Aragón, Carlos Andrés
AU - Mateus, Angy
AU - Rodríguez, Ana María
AU - Motta, Andrés
AU - Varela, Lucero Ramirez
AU - Guerrero, Paola Andrea
AU - Escallon, Eduardo
N1 - Funding Information:
We first highlight four key enablers to our process. The first was the political commitment and leadership provided by the Ministry of Education and the support of the Commission. The process was initiated, led, and sustained by national leaders, which offered an enabling set of conditions to develop, disseminate, and sustain the initiative. Second, although national and international partners collaborated in the process, the Colombian government and local academic partners took ownership and led the design and implementation of the assessment, including the commitment of funds to support each phase of the work. Although the Government provided the majority of resources, particularly for the field test and regional study, ancillary support from multilateral partners (World Bank and IDB) supported the financing of international advisers, for example, pointing to the importance of pursuing broad partnerships. Third, the design and generation of a proactive communication and buy-in strategy were crucial to the acceptance and implementation of the process, including input from service providers, not just leaders. Fourth, a robust procedure to train data collectors to the standard of interrater reliability and to obtain information from their experiences during the application process was key to secure the quality of data in a context with a limited number of experienced data collectors with knowledge in ECE. The data collectors, who were all college/graduate students on related disciplines, provided feedback on the instruments and were crucial co-constructors of the IMCEIC.
Funding Information:
The Government of Colombia primarily funded the work, and we are grateful for additional resources granted by the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. L. A. Ponguta’s work was partially supported by the Jacobs Foundation and H. Yoshikawa’s work was partly supported by funding from the New York University Abu Dhabi Research Institute to the Global TIES for Children Center.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Hogrefe Publishing.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - In Colombia, the national law De Cero a Siempre (DCAS) provides a framework for holistic and integrated early childhood development and education for all children. Against the backdrop of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals and the DCAS policy objectives, Colombia set out to apply a comprehensive measure to track the quality of early childhood education programs that would inform pedagogical, programmatic, and policy strategies. Our study describes the process whereby key stakeholders selected, adapted, validated, and applied the Measuring Early Learning Quality and Outcomes (MELQO) framework to characterize the quality of early childhood education at scale in the country. We describe the phases that led to the application of the different instrument modules, and the key enablers and challenges to the process. The paper includes implications for policy, practice, and research in Colombia and discusses lessons learned with relevance to the Latin American and global contexts.
AB - In Colombia, the national law De Cero a Siempre (DCAS) provides a framework for holistic and integrated early childhood development and education for all children. Against the backdrop of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals and the DCAS policy objectives, Colombia set out to apply a comprehensive measure to track the quality of early childhood education programs that would inform pedagogical, programmatic, and policy strategies. Our study describes the process whereby key stakeholders selected, adapted, validated, and applied the Measuring Early Learning Quality and Outcomes (MELQO) framework to characterize the quality of early childhood education at scale in the country. We describe the phases that led to the application of the different instrument modules, and the key enablers and challenges to the process. The paper includes implications for policy, practice, and research in Colombia and discusses lessons learned with relevance to the Latin American and global contexts.
KW - Measuring Early Learning Quality and Outcomes (MELQO)
KW - Sustainable Development Goals
KW - assessment instruments
KW - early childhood education
KW - quality assessment
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U2 - 10.1027/2151-2604/a000361
DO - 10.1027/2151-2604/a000361
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85067349797
SN - 2190-8370
VL - 227
SP - 105
EP - 112
JO - Zeitschrift fur Psychologie / Journal of Psychology
JF - Zeitschrift fur Psychologie / Journal of Psychology
IS - 2
ER -