Validation study of the Early Childhood Educators’ Spiritual Practices in the Classroom (ECE-SPC) instrument using Rasch

ABSTRACT

Three validity evidence sources (test content, internal structure, and relationships to other variables) from the responses of 365 educators, purposely sampled from 36 US states, are presented to explore the use of the instrument, Early Childhood Educators' Spiritual Practices in the Classroom (ECE-SPC). Findings show expert panel agreed items accurately represented the desired construct and recommendations for revising multidimensional items were made by a psychometrician. The Rasch measurement analysis recommended collapsing the five-point frequency scale to four-point and removing two reverse-scored items. The revised instrument demonstrated excellent item fit, person and item reliability, separation, and practical unidimensionality. Relationships to other variables were established through no significant differences based on educator demographics. Differences were found based on school setting and educator values of spirituality, which aligned with expected differences. ECE-SPC is recommended as a self-report instrument, to determine to what extent early childhood educators nurture children’s spirituality in secular educational settings.

KEYWORDS:

• Validation study
• Early childhood educators
• Nurturing children’s spirituality
• Rasch
• Classroom practices

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/1364436X.2023.2218590

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jennifer Mata-McMahon

Jennifer Mata-McMahon, Ed.D., is an associate professor of early childhood education and director of the Sherman Center for Early Learning in Urban Communities at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A. Her research interests focus on children’s spirituality and teacher preparation to nurture spirituality in secular educational settings. She is co-author of Ambiente en Acción (Environment in Action) (Unimet, 2006), author of Spiritual Experiences in Early Childhood Education (Routledge, 2015), co-editor of Spirituality: An Interdisciplinary View (Inter-Disciplinary Press, 2016), and The Bloomsbury Handbook of Culture and Identity from Early Childhood to Early Adulthood: Perceptions and Implications (Bloomsbury, 2021). As well as the author of many book chapters and journal articles on children’s spirituality.

Michael Haslip

Michael J. Haslip, Ph.D., is an early childhood education assistant professor at Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. His research interests include how to develop the character strengths of teachers and children, including spirituality. He also investigates how teachers use positive guidance strategies to improve children’s social-emotional learning. He is the director of the McNichol Early Childhood Education Lab at Drexel University.

Lance Kruse

Lance Kruse, Ph.D., is the CEO of Invontics, LLC., a research company specializing in program evaluation, survey design, and psychometric and statistical analysis. His research interest includes instrument development, validation studies, and program evaluation within STEM education. As an interdisciplinary researcher, Dr. Kruse has conducted research in education, architecture, health care, and non-profit industries.