Assessing school readiness domains in a large cohort of refugee children: Validation and links with family factors

Despite the growing global presence of refugee populations, few validated tools exist to assess early learning and development in these contexts. This study examined the use of the International Development and Early Learning Assessment (IDELA) with a large sample of 1033 refugee children aged 4–6 years living in Malaysia, a non-resettlement, low- to middle-income country. Using Rasch modelling, we evaluated the psychometric properties of IDELA and found strong person and item reliability, acceptable item fit, and good evidence of unidimensionality, although some item redundancy was observed. Further, children's school readiness scores were significantly associated with child gender and age, as well as maternal and paternal demographic characteristics (age, education, literacy), but not father employment or occupation type. These findings provide preliminary validation for IDELA’s use in refugee settings and underscore its potential as a culturally adaptable, low-cost tool for assessing development in underserved populations. • Psychometric properties of the International Development and Early Learning Assessment (IDELA) tool was examined with a large sample of refugee children. • Rasch modelling demonstrated excellent person and item reliability and separation. • Item fit statistics confirmed IDELA’s good unidimensionality and construct validity, with some redundancy noted among items. • Correlational analyses indicated significant associations between Rasch person’s measures with key parent and child variables.