DATA TOOLS

High quality preschool assessment tools, designed for affordable use at scale. Read more about the ELOM user journey if your organisation is interested in using the tools.

WHAT ARE THE TOOLS?

The Early Learning Measurement (ELOM) tools accurately measure a range of developmental outcomes in young children, and provide an indication of the quality of the early learning environment in home and programme settings. Locally developed in South Africa, the tools are user-friendly, fair and affordable. They have been tested with thousands of children and are psychometrically valid and standardised The tools take into account diverse socio-economic backgrounds and are available in all 11 official South African languages.

There are currently six tools in the ELOM suite.

4 & 5 Years Assessment Tool

Assesses the performance of children aged 50 to 69 months, in five important developmental domains.

4 & 5 Years Targeting Tool

Helps identify individual children aged 50 to 69 months who are falling far behind the expected standard and need additional support.

6 & 7 Years Assessment Tool

Assesses the performance of children aged 70 to 89 months, in early literacy and numeracy, and underlying cognitive skills.

Social-Emotional Rating Scale

Assesses preschool children’s social and emotional functioning.

Learning Programme Quality Assessment Tool

Assesses the quality of group learning programmes targeting children aged 3 to 5 years.

Home Learning Environment Tool

Assesses the quality of the learning environment in the home for children aged 3 to 5 years.

interested in Using the elom assessment tools?

Meet our
agents for change

Brinthia Dawood is a trained ELOM assessor who has collected data in two research studies, including the largest survey of preschool child outcomes ever attempted in South Africa - the Thrive by Five Index 2021.

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Meet our
agents for change

Papama Mateza was one of the first trained ELOM assessors in South Africa and remains a dedicated advocate for equal early learning opportunities for all children.

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TESTIMONIALS

“The ELOM results showed us that our children were not doing well in numeracy. We looked to other organisations for ideas on how to strengthen our programmes. We now have more numeracy modules incorporated into our progaramme and we expect the endline assessment to reflect a better numeracy result.”

“ELOM has shown us what is possible for children to achieve despite their socio-economic background.”

“DataDrive2030 has been very helpful in preparing the assesment outputs and we use those data insights in our fundraising proposals, which are stronger as a result.”

"The ELOM is a major asset for the South African ECD sector. The more high-quality feedback we have on our children's learning and development, the better equipped we are, as practitioners, to support their progress. The ELOM team has been wonderful to work with. They helped us at every step of the way to ensure our first round of assessments went off without a hitch. Based on how efficient the whole process has been and how useful the insights are that we've gained, we intend to repeat it on an annual basis."

"The ELOM, as a South African normed tool, has been such an incredible addition to the early learning sector in South Africa. And the large-scale studies that have been conducted, like Thrive by Five, provide the sector with such a valuable resource in reference groups that enable comparison, and allow future tracking of South Africa’s progress. The ELOM team's input and guidance on how to effectively use the tool, has been instrumental in improving the rigour and quality of our evaluations and programme learning. This has provided vital support to SmartStart in our goal of increasing access to quality early learning for all South Africa’s children".