Developing and Testing a Model for the
Use of Meaningful Outcome
Measures for Infants and Toddlers

With the recent emphasis on outcome-oriented accountability, States, programs, and Early Childhood Special Educators are now required to define, measure, and report results for infants and toddlers. There is growing awareness that the quality of programs must move beyond how well they comply with regulations and address instead how children benefit – how they make progress toward stated goals. Responding to this initiative, OSEP has required Part C of IDEA programs to report annual progress of children in services toward “functional skills outcomes.” Outcomes and indicators/measures for this purpose have been developed and validated by the authors over the past 7 years as part of the Early Childhood Research Institute for Measuring Growth and Development (ECRI-MGD: H024560010 ). These completed measures are based on published, peer-reviewed reports showing that they are sensitive and psychometrically sound and that they can be used for a range of purposes including early identification, intervention problem solving/decision making, and program evaluation and improvement. Unfortunately, the necessary infrastructure for taking these measures to wide-scale application does not yet exist and remains to be developed. The purpose of this project is to develop and test the effectiveness of an outcomes measurement model including the measures, materials, media, professional development, and web data services that can be used for this purpose. This work directly addresses national needs and mandates for improvements in approach and tools for early identification and monitoring of intervention results for this, the youngest group of children at risk for and with developmental delays and disabilities. The aim is to improve results for infants and toddlers by developing a model for national replication and dissemination of these proven measures making them accessible to and usable by a wide range of early interventionists serving children with disabilities, birth to 3 years. The model is comprised of 3 major components. Core Components are the measures themselves (early communication, social skills, movement, and cognitive development) available within a “Bobby-approved”, web-based system of information, professional development, and data services to guide decisions about interventions for individuals, programs, and state Part C systems. Support Components are training activities and materials that promote high quality implementation of the assessment model. These include print and web-based training in conducting and scoring assessments, in the use of the web-based data system, and the provision of training and technical support through project staff, and local site coordinators. Dissemination Components are those activities that promote future replication. The project will test the model used by early interventionists in 3 Centers of Excellence in Year 1-3, and 4 more Centers in Year 3. Impact data will be collected yearly to determine the quality of implementation of the assessment model after random assignment of programs to web-based or in-person training, the adaptations made in the assessment practices at each site, the numbers of children, families, and professionals who are served by model activities, the outcomes of their involvement in model activities, and satisfaction/feedback regarding services received from the project. The benefits of this project will be the wide-scale implementation of this proven model of assessment practices to at least 360 interventionists and more than 6500 infants and toddlers. The expected result and will be a model ready for national-wide replication and scaling-up through (1) packaging of print materials and expansion of a web-based data system; (2) development and experimental testing of web-based system for training interventionists in the use of the assessment procedures; and (3) coordination dissemination activities to promote the establishment of future replication sites.