Assessing Individual-Level Quality in Early Childhood: Psychometric Evidence with Quality Exposure Index

Early childhood education and care quality is typically assessed at the classroom or program level, yet developmental theory emphasizes that individual children’s experiences are key drivers of development. This study presents an exploratory validation of the Quality Exposure Index (QEI), an individual-level observation tool designed to capture what each child experiences in early childhood classrooms. Using video-based observations of 175 children in 26 Pre-K classrooms, we examined the psychometric properties and conditions required for reliable measurement, addressing three validity challenges: scoring, generalization, and extrapolation. Research Findings: Rescaling informed by descriptive statistics and item response theory refined item functioning to improve discrimination and interpretability. Theoretically conceptualized subscales were tested with confirmatory factor analysis to assess alignment with child-level proximal processes. Generalizability and decision studies decomposed variance components and identified designs for reliably differentiating children’s experiences. Results provide initial evidence that individual-level quality measurement is psychometrically feasible, though feasibility is subscale-specific and design-dependent. Practice or Policy: The QEI offers a foundation for more precise and equitable assessment of what each child experiences, complementing classroom-level measures that can mask within-classroom variation. Several subscales reach acceptable reliability under current conditions, whereas others require expanded item coverage, additional raters, or purposeful selection of observation contexts.