The IEP Data Collection Intentions Scale (IDCIS): Scale Development and Validation for Intended Score Interpretation and Use in Early Childhood

Abstract

There is evidence to suggest a research-to-practice gap exists in regard to Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) teachers’ collection of data highlighting students’ progress toward meeting their Individualized Education Program (IEP) goals and objectives (i.e., IEP data collection). Due to the negligible amount of research in this area in addition to the limitations present in the literature, however, it is unclear what factors are responsible for causing and maintaining this gap. Given that teachers are ultimately responsible for deciding whether and how to engage in IEP data collection, a focus on better understanding teachers’ intentions to collect IEP data is a logical first step. With an emphasis on enhancing the measurement techniques employed in previous studies, this application of a cross-sectional survey design aimed to validate the intended interpretations and uses of scores resulting from administration of a newly developed scale—the IEP Data Collection Intentions Scale (IDCIS). Following survey completion by 368 ECSE teachers across the state of Minnesota, confirmatory factor analysis, item analysis, and item response modeling were performed to support scale development. Results indicated that following minor adjustments, the IDCIS can be used to produce precise measures of teachers’ attitudes, subjective norms, self-efficacy, controllability, and intentions related to the collection of IEP data. Furthermore, the scores produced by IDCIS administration can be used to make valid and reliable inferences about teachers’ levels of each construct in order to inform the creation and modification of future implementation supports, thus decreasing the gap between what is known and what is practiced in today’s classrooms related to data collection.