The COS-KC Technical Report describes the development, field testing, and validation of the Child Outcomes Summary Knowledge Check (COS-KC) assessment. The report showed that the tool is effective for measuring whether a practitioner has sufficient knowledge to meaningfully participate in the COS process and participate on a team to produce accurate ratings for child outcomes measurement.

The report describes the item development process and a field test with 352 participants that occurred in 2021 resulting in validation of six 30-item versions of the assessment (three for those working with Birth to 3 years and three for those working with children 3 through 5 years). Analysis of the field-test data substantiated that the COS-KC is a valid assessment tool that can identify individuals with sufficient knowledge to meaningfully participate in the COS process and provide accurate ratings. Together, the fit statistics, reliability, difficulty distributions, targeting evidence, and validation analyses support the final item sets for all six COS-KC forms.

The report also describes a pilot study with early adopter states throughout 2022-2024. State feedback supported the development of procedures for onboarding states to the COS-KC, communicating about the COS-KC to local programs and practitioners, improving COS-KC resources and guidance manuals, improving reports produced by the system, finding technical bugs or confusing images within the system, and testing out the help desk system. They also helped the team think through the variety of ways that states may adopt the tool, including different levels of involvement in the statewide rollout and different choices about whether or not the tool would be required.  

As one additional check on validity, early adopter states reported that the numbers of people who passed as well as the specific individuals who passed and did not pass seemed correct given their familiarity with the people and regions. States reported that areas of the state where more COS training had occurred performed better on the assessment.   

Read the full COS-KC Technical Report