Research Proposal. Developing culturally relevant assessments of child development.

The Tusome Pamoja Preschool Program in Tanzania uses the Measuring Early Learning Quality and Outcomes (MELQO) assessment, which was developed with consideration of universally critical domains of child development. However, this assessment may not be optimal for the Tanzanian context due to cultural differences. Research has shown that people in Western countries are not representative of the species as a whole, and their behavior is often an outlier on the spectrum of human behavior. Assessments of human behavior, including child development, are often based on generalizations from Western populations. This may lead to assessments in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) needing to be adapted to context, as domains of development may differ in importance or manifestation across contexts. The first aim of this research is to identify domains of development that are important for children's development in Tanzania and are underrepresented in current assessment batteries. The second aim is to develop new assessments in the identified domains. The research focuses on non-academic domains of development, such as socio-emotional learning, and skills and traits required for successful adaptation to school. Literature review highlights cultural differences in non-academic domains of child development, particularly in executive function and self-regulation, attention, social responsibility, cognitive ability, and speed. Research in rural sub-Saharan Africa suggests that children perform at or above Western norms in attention and delayed gratification tasks. However, these traits may manifest differently in different contexts and require different methods to assess them. In traditional farming communities, children have attention that is "wide-angled and abiding" rather than focused and fleeting. Personal observations suggest that children in Kenya perform at or above Western norms on tests of sustained attention. This may have implications for active engagement with what the teacher is saying in school. Social responsibility is valued differently across cultures, with intelligence being seen as less about cognitive alacrity and more about social responsibility in African cultures. Research from Zambia found that social responsibility was a better predictor of long-term success in school than cognitive ability for girls. There is a clear need to investigate further the domains of development that help children to succeed in school in LMICs. Cognitive ability and speed are also perceived differently across cultures, with the Western notion of cleverness being considered an aspect of intelligence in some implicit theories of African parents, but not always socially valuable. In Uganda, villagers associated intelligence with being slow, careful, and active, whereas teachers associated intelligence with speed. Differences between home and school environments have been identified as a challenge for children from non-Western societies when entering school. Studies in the Gambia and Mexico found that children who attended government primary schools had higher cognitive ability but were judged to have less social responsibility compared to children who attended Madrassas or had mothers who had not been to school. Anthropological studies reveal striking differences between traditional farming communities and Western societies. In traditional farming communities, learning is by observation with little explicit instruction, and children are frequently taught by their siblings. Parents do not see a role for themselves in their child's education, and learning involves little verbalization and few "why" questions. These traits may affect how success is perceived and achieved in school.