Cognitive and achievement tests in the Young Lives Study

With the aim of investigating the drivers and impact of childhood poverty, since 2001 Young Lives has collected a wealth of quantitative and qualitative data on many dimensions of children’s development in four low- and middle-income countries: Ethiopia, India (the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana), Peru and Vietnam.

Since the study began, Young Lives has used different instruments to test children’s intellectual and cognitive abilities. These provide estimates of ability that work both as outcomes and predictors for later outcomes. This technical note provides an overview of these instruments, in order to guide and support researchers using these data.

Specifically, this note aims to:

• bring together and summarise the information available on cognitive and achievement tests administered to children at different ages.
• provide basic information on the instruments, what they measure, their development, adaptation and administration, scoring, and changes over time.
• direct the reader to other sources of information.