An exploratory study of the structure and validity of pediatric examination of educational readiness (PEER) factors.

The Pediatric Examination of Educational Readiness (PEER) is an assessment instrument specifically designed for use by pediatricians in assessing the development of preschool children. The present study investigated the psychometric properties of the PEER. Specifically, factor analyses of items from the Developmental Attainment and Associated Observation components of the test were performed. The PEER was administered to 69 preschool children. Three major factors were identified as making up the Developmental Attainment portion of the test: perceptual-motor, verbal-cognitive, and gross motor. The Associated Observations component was found to be composed of only one factor, attention. Children's performance on only two of these four factors was associated with their performance on the McCarthy Scales, the Woodcock-Johnson skills cluster, and the Minnesota Child Development Inventory. Discussion focused on the validity and utility of the PEER.