IDELA: Fostering Common Solutions for Young Children

Evidence about the importance of learning opportunities in early childhood has been mounting in recent years, culminating with the inclusion of pre-primary education in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Despite the known benefits, global investment in Early Childhood Education (ECE) remains limited. A key constraint to investment is the lack of data on which ECE programs work for children and why. Save the Children’s International Development and Early Learning Assessment (IDELA) is a tool aimed at plugging this data gap, with a view to ensuring appropriate ECE programs are in place globally.

IDELA is a direct child assessment that spans four developmental areas: motor functioning, language and early literacy, numeracy, and socioemotional development. The assessment can be used with children aged 3-6 years and takes ~30 minutes to administer. The majority of the assessment is done through tasks and games, for example on letter and number identification or measurement and comparison.