The Verification of the Reliability and Validity of Inclusive Education Assessment Tool (IEAT)

Abstract

Han, Yano & Yonemizu (2015) also developed the Inclusive Education Assessment Tool(IEAT) to understand the establishment of inclusive education system. This tool was developed based on the understanding of the current state of inclusive education and the relationship between inclusive education and special needs education in Japan. IEAT is the first tool to evaluate the current state of inclusive education system, but its reliability and validity have not been verified yet. Therefore, this study aimed to verify the reliability, content validity and construct validity of IEAT. Content Validity; When over 80 percent of the respondents answered that the tool is valid, it is determined that this tool is verified to be valid. Reliability; Reliability of IEAT was estimated using the internal consistency method. The internal consistency of IEAT was assessed with Cronbach’s α. A minimum Cronbach’s α co-efficient of 0.7 was considered satisfactory for group-level comparisons. Construct Validity; Construct validity was verified using structural equation modeling (SEM). Goodness of fit index (GFI), comparative fit index (CFI) and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) are the suitability indices of SEM; researchers may choose which index they would use for the verification of SEM. A model is considered acceptable, when two or more fit indices are met including RMSEA. For adequately fitting models, these fit indices should meet the following criteria: GFI>0.95, CFI>0.90 and RMSEA<0.1. As the result, Over 90 percents of respondents answered that this tool is valid in all the items and domains, guarantee of rights(α=0.848), improvement in environment(α=0.752) and reform in curriculum(α=0.775); GFI=0.953; CFI=0.952; and RMSEA=0.068. The validity was verified because the values of GFI, CFI and RMSEA were within the goodness-of-fit range. Inclusive education, IEAT, Verification of the Reliability and Validity, Changwan HAN (hancw917@gmail.com) Asian J Human Services, 2015, 9:63-72. © 2015 Asian Society of Human Services Received