Table 1 Young lives study achievement tests[44]

Mathematics

A mathematics test was administered in rounds 2 and 3 while a single multiplication item was used in round 1. Test items consisted of questions related to: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, problem solving, measurement, data interpretation, and basic geometry. Psychometric characteristics of the mathematics scores were examined resulting in some score corrections from deletion of items with poor indicators of reliability and validity.

PPVT

The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT), which uses stimulus words and accompanying pictures to test receptive vocabulary, has been used extensively to demonstrate correlation between the PPVT and cognitive and intellectual ability (Walker 2000; Walker 2005). The PPVT (204 items) was used in Ethiopia, India, and Vietnam while the Spanish PPVT (125 items) was used in Peru. Young Lives researchers in each country followed a standard process for adaptation and standardization of the PPVT. This was followed by a thorough analysis of psychometric properties to establish reliability and validity.

Cloze

The Cloze test was developed to measure verbal skills and reading comprehension. Children were given 24 items that increased in difficulty. Each item consisted of a sentence or short paragraph that lacked one or more words. Children were asked to identify a word that completed the meaning of the sentence or paragraph. Similar to other tests, a process of adaptation and translation into the local language was conducted. Finally, psychometric characteristics were examined to establish reliability and validity of the test.