Multidimensionality and hierarchical data structure are common in assessment data. These design features, if not accounted for, can threaten the validity of the results and inferences generated from factor analysis, a method frequently employed to assess test dimensionality. In this article, we describe and demonstrate the application of the multilevel bifactor model to address these features in examining test dimensionality. The tool for this exposition is the Child Observation Record Advantage 1.5 (COR-Adv1.5), a child assessment instrument widely used in Head Start programs. Previous studies on this assessment tool reported highly correlated factors and did not account for the nesting of children in classrooms. Results from this study show how the flexibility of the multilevel bifactor model, together with useful model-based statistics, can be harnessed to judge the dimensionality of a test instrument and inform the interpretability of the associated factor scores.

In March 2020, COVID-19 dramatically and indelibly altered the U.S. educational landscape. Drawing on data from interviews with 30 Michigan preK teachers, Bethany Wilinski, Alyssa Morley, and Jamie Heng-Chieh Wu describe the centrality of family engagement in their pandemic preK education and the practices that contributed to stronger home-school relationships. They consider how the family engagement practices that emerged during the pandemic might be carried forward by thinking of family engagement as an improvisational practice that is co-constructed by teachers and families.

Scholars have argued against a post-COVID return to normality on the grounds that the pandemic offers an opportunity to break with the past and imagine a different, more just future. In this analysis of pre-kindergarten teachers’ reflections on teaching during COVID-19 in the state of Michigan, we take up the notion of the pandemic as a portal to consider how practices that emerged during the pandemic might be carried forward post-pandemic. Through a qualitative interview study with 25 public pre-K teachers in Michigan, we sought to understand how the pandemic altered the nature of family-teacher engagement. Our analysis led us to conceptualize teaching as an improvisational practice that was highly responsive to the circumstances and needs of families. We identified three central themes that animated pre-K teachers’ work during the pandemic: supporting families through new types of “offers” (a term from improv theory), making learning accessible, and fostering collectivity by partnering with families. Teachers’ practices during the pandemic reveal new avenues for conceptualizing family engagement as an improvisational practice. We draw on the principles of improv theory to outline a framework for this approach.

This paper reports an investigation into the psychometric properties of the COR-Advantage1.5 (COR-Adv1.5) assessment tool, a criterion-referenced observation-based instrument designed to assess the developmental abilities of children from birth through kindergarten. Using data from 8534 children participating in a state-funded preschool program for disadvantaged 4-year-olds, we employed a multilevel bifactor model to show that CORAdv1.5 has some potential as an unbiased assessment tool for tracking developmental progress in pre-kindergarten children, under a bifactor model parameterization, with fewer dimensions than were proposed by the test developer, HighScope. Examination of factor adequacy indices revealed that, despite the multidimensional structure, CORAdv1.5 items overwhelmingly reflect variance due to the general factors at the child and classroom levels. Evidence for multilevel reliability, response process validity, predictive validity, longitudinal measurement invariance, and generalizability of the items are also reported. The findings of this study have important implications for the use of COR-Adv1.5.

This paper aims to provide strategies for youth-serving organizations to maximize opportunities for youth to develop leadership skills within the out-of-school time program context. The sample includes 5 youth-serving agencies who participated in the Youth Driven Spaces initiative led by a Midwest program. Data for this project included observations of youth–adult meetings, field notes from youths’ reflections on key model activities, and interviews with adult staff to identify common challenges and supportive solutions. We identified 6 emergent themes for supporting youth leadership: (a) engage youth in meetings, (b) create opportunities for youth to learn how to be leaders, (c) recognize resistance to youth voice, (d) encourage youth and adults to share constructive feedback, (e) navigate youth–adult boundaries, and (f) practice intentional strategies to retain youth and to onboard new youth and staff. Results provide concrete strategies for practitioners and researchers to empower youth with the skills and resources they need to be effective leaders.