Using longitudinal data from the Early Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey 2009 (Baby FACES 2009), this study examines the psychometric properties of infant and toddler measures of language and cognitive development and social-emotional competence collected from multiple sources, including parent and Early Head Start staff reports and direct assessments from trained assessors. We examined the validity and reliability of parent/staff ratings and observational measures derived from adult/child play-based interactions using independently administered standardized measures from direct assessments as the criteria or comparison measures. Participants included 846 children and families with low incomes enrolled in Early Head Start in spring 2009 who were followed from ages 1 to 3, drawn from a nationally representative sample of programs. The results suggest adequate internal consistency reliability for most of the measures. We found stronger rater effects for staff-reported measures compared with assessor effects for direct child assessment and observational measures. Moreover, the rater effects in the staff-reported measures varied by staff characteristics. There was some evidence of validity for the staff- and parent-reported measures at ages 2 and 3, but little evidence of validity for the age 1 measures. We discuss the implications of these findings for research on infants and toddlers from families with low incomes. It is important to consider the purpose of the assessments and their psychometric properties for the particular group of children with whom the assessments will be used when selecting assessment tools.

本研究使用来自 2009 年早期启蒙家庭和儿童体验调查（Baby FACES 2009）的纵向数据，检查从多个来源收集的婴幼儿语言和认知发展以及社会情感能力的心理测量特性，包括父母和早期Head Start 员工报告并由受过培训的评估员进行直接评估。我们使用来自直接评估的独立管理的标准化测量作为标准或比较测量，检查了父母/员工评级和基于成人/儿童游戏互动的观察测量的有效性和可靠性。参与者包括 2009 年春季参加 Early Head Start 的 846 名低收入儿童和家庭，他们从具有全国代表性的项目样本中抽取 1 至 3 岁的儿童和家庭。结果表明，大多数测量具有足够的内部一致性可靠性。我们发现，与直接儿童评估和观察措施的评估者效应相比，工作人员报告的措施的评估者效应更强。此外，工作人员报告的措施中的评估者效应因工作人员特征而异。在 2 岁和 3 岁时，工作人员和家长报告的测量有一些有效性的证据，但对于 1 岁测量的有效性几乎没有证据。我们讨论了这些发现对低收入家庭婴幼儿研究的影响。在选择评估工具时，重要的是要考虑评估的目的及其对特定儿童群体的心理测量特性，这些儿童将使用这些评估工具。