after controlling for the same variable at the individual level. For further details see Harker
(2001).
‘Confidence’ At entry to the study, pre-school workers rated the social behaviour of EPPE
children using the ASBI. A factor analysis of the 30 items resulted in the extraction of 5
underlying factors. Entry to study factor 3 measures the child’s apparent confidence in his/her
own ability and is termed ‘Confidence’.
Confidence intervals at the 95% level A range of values which can be expected to include the
‘true’ value in 95 out of 100 samples (i.e. if the calculation was repeated using 100 random
samples).
Contextualised models Cross-sectional multilevel models exploring children’s
social/behavioural development at entry to primary school, controlling for child, family and home
learning environment characteristics (but not prior social behaviour). These models are
equivalent to the cross-sectional multilevel models in Section 2 of EPPE Technical Paper 8a
exploring children’s cognitive attainment over the pre-school period, controlling for significant
child, parent and home learning environment characteristics.
Controlling for Several variables may influence an outcome and these variables may
themselves be associated. Multilevel statistical analyses can calculate the influence of one
variable upon an outcome having allowed for the effects of other variables. When this is done
the net effect of a variable upon an outcome controlling for other variables can be established.
‘Co-operation & Conformity’ At primary school entry, teachers rated the social behaviour of
EPPE children using the CSBQ. A factor analysis of the 45 items resulted in the extraction of 6
underlying factors. Primary school entry factor 2 measures the child’s co-operative behaviour
and conformity to group norm and is termed ‘Co-operation & Conformity’. Similarly, a factor
analysis of the ASBI (rated by a pre-school worker at entry to the study) resulted in the extraction
of 5 underlying factors with entry to study factor 1 measuring ‘Co-operation & Conformity’.
CSBQ The Child Social Behaviour Questionnaire (CSBQ) is an extension of the ASBI and has
45 items concerning a child’s social behaviour rated by teachers at entry to school. The items
can be combined to produce factors that are measures of different aspects of the child’s’ social
behaviour.
Duration In terms of the value added models, the duration of pre-school covers the time period
between date of BAS assessment at entry to the EPPE study until entry to primary school. Note
that the number of months of pre-school attended before the child entered the EPPE study is not
included in this duration measure. A separate ‘duration’ measure of amount of time in pre-school
prior to entering the study was tested but was not found to be significant (note that this ‘duration’
measure is confounded with prior attainment). In the contextualised models, duration of pre-
school refers to the time period between entry to the target pre-school until entry to primary
school. These duration measures provide a crude indication of length of pre-school experience.
ECERS-R and ECERS-E The American Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS-R)
(Harms et al, 1998) is based on child centred pedagogy and also assesses resources for indoor
and outdoor play. The English rating scale (ECERS-E) (Sylva et al, 1999d) was intended as a
supplement to the ECERS-R and was developed specially for the EPPE study to reflect the
Desirable Learning Outcomes (which have since been replaced by the Early Learning Goals),
and more importantly the Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage which at the time was in
trial stage.
Educational effectiveness Research design which seeks to explore the effectiveness of
educational institutions in promoting a range of child / student outcomes (often academic
measures although in the case of EPPE, both cognitive and social/behavioural) while controlling
for the influence of intake differences in child / student characteristics.
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