Measurement invariance of early development instrument (EDI) domain scores across gender and ESL status

Abstract

The Early Development Instrument (EDI) is a widely used teacher rating tool to assess kindergartners' developmental outcomes in Canada and a number of other countries. This paper examines the measurement invariance of EDI domains across ESL status and gender by means of multi-group confirmatory factor analysis. The results suggest evidence of measurement invariance for physical health and well-being, social competence, emotional maturity and language and cognitive development domains. Moreover, the communication skills and general knowledge domain did not show acceptable fit in terms of RMSEA. The results and potential explanations are discussed.