Glossary of terms
Age standardised scores Assessment scores that have been adjusted to take account of the
child’s age at testing. This enables a comparison to be made between the performance of an
individual pupil, and the relative achievement of a representative sample of children in the same
age group throughout the country or, in this case, the relative achievement of the EPPE sample.
Birth weight Babies born weighing 2500 grams (5lbs 8oz) or less are defined as below normal
birth weight, foetal infant classification is below 1000 grams, very low birth weight is classified as
1001-1005 grams and low birth weight is classified as 1501-2500 grams (Scott and Carran,
1989).
British Ability Scales (BAS) This is a battery of assessments specially developed by NFER-
Nelson to assess very young children’s abilities. The assessments used at entry to the EPPE
study and entry to reception were:
Block building - Visual-perceptual matching, especially in spatial orientation (only entry to EPPE
study)
Naming Vocabulary - Expressive language and knowledge of names
Pattern construction - Non-verbal reasoning and spatial visualisation (only entry to reception)
Picture Similarities - Non-verbal reasoning
Early number concepts - Knowledge of, and problem solving using pre-numerical and numerical
concepts (only entry to reception)
Copying - Visual-perceptual matching and fine-motor co-ordination. Used specifically for
children without English
Verbal comprehension - Receptive language, understanding of oral instructions involving basic
language concepts.
Centre/School level variance The proportion of variance in a particular child outcome measure
(i.e. Pre-reading scores at start of primary school) attributable to differences between individual
centres/schools rather than differences between individual children.
Child background factors Child background characteristics such as age, gender, ethnicity.
Contextualised models Cross-sectional multilevel models exploring children’s cognitive
attainment at entry to primary school, controlling for child, parent and home learning environment
characteristics (but not prior attainment).
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.
Correlation A correlation is a measure of statistical association that ranges from + 1 to -1.
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., 2003) was intended as a
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