Early Years Measures Database

A review of measures for children aged 0 – 6 in communication and language, literacy, mathematics, personal, social and emotional development, physical development, expressive arts and design, understanding the world, early learning environments and digital technology.

Last updated: October 2026

View the Early Years Measures Database

Introduction

The EEF Early Years Measures Database (EYMD) is a searchable database of assessment tools used to measure young children’s (0−6 year olds) development and learning. The EYMD helps you identify valid, practical assessment tools for early learning research and practice. It supports the EEF’s broader aim of strengthening the evidence base for early years (EY) practice by helping researchers and practitioners choose high-quality, appropriate measures for evaluation and improvement. The EYMD applies a rigorous, education-focused review framework to assess tools’ psychometric quality, feasibility, and relevance to early learning outcomes.

The database is organised using a taxonomy of developmental domains, which groups measures into broad domains (e.g. literacy, physical development), finer sub-domains, and specific skills within each. Users can also identify measures that target more than one area by selecting multiple domains when searching.

Where to find more information?

The EYMD user guide explains how to navigate the database, interpret the ratings, and use the information to select appropriate tools, while the EYMD report details the methodology, evidence standards, and review processes used to develop the database. You can explore the full database here.

Domains

132 measures
43 measures for Communication
89 measures for Language

40 measures for < 3 years old
54 measures for 3-5 years old
3 measures for ≥ 6 years old
Illustrationcommunication and language 1

Communication and Language

74 measures
52 measures for Reading
22 measures for Writing

12 measures for < 3 years old
44 measures for 3-5 years old
1 measure for ≥ 6 years old
Illustrationliteracy 1

Literacy

124 measures
42 measures for Number
29 measures for Operations
24 measures for Measurement
29 measures for Geometry and Spatial Thinking

12 measures for < 3 years old
33 measures for 3-5 years old
3 measures for ≥ 6 years old
Illustrationmathmatics 1

Mathematics

343 measures
42 measures for Personal Development
60 measures for Social Skills
66 measures for Emotion Skills
84 measures for Self-Regulation
91 measures for Executive Functioning

49 measures for < 3 years old
79 measures for 3-5 years old
6 measures for ≥ 6 years old
Illustrationpersonal social and emotional development 1

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

63 measures
31 measures for Gross Motor Skills
32 measures for Fine Motor Skills

28 measures for < 3 years old
9 measures for 3-5 years old
0 measures for ≥ 6 years old
Illustrationphysical development 1

Physical Development

22 measures
10 measures for Performing Arts
6 measures for Visual Arts
6 measures for Design and technology

4 measures for < 3 years old
7 measures for 3-5 years old
1 measure for ≥ 6 years old
Illustrationexpressive arts and design 1

Expressive Arts and Design

32 measures
11 measures for Past and Present
11 measures for The Natural World
10 measures for People, Culture and Communities

3 measures for < 3 years old
12 measures for 3-5 years old
1 measure for ≥ 6 years old
Illustrationunderstanding the world

Understanding the World

0 measures
Illustrationdigtal technology 1

Digital technology

35 measures
18 measures for Home Learning Environment
17 measures for Early Years Setting Learning Environment

21 measures for < 3 years old
10 measures for 3-5 years old
0 measures for ≥ 6 years old
Illustrationearly learning enviroments 1

Early Learning Environments

Introduction

Back in 2014 EEF expanded our remit to include three and four year olds as there is evidence of an attainment gap in school readiness between disadvantaged pupils and their peers even at these young ages. In addition, there is also evidence suggesting that high quality early years education can be effective in determining later academic outcomes.

We have now commissioned six projects working specifically in the nursery and reception years or Early Years Foundation Stage and plan to continue to expand this work. As testing children in this age group has its own set of challenges and complexities we commissioned the Institute of Education, UCL to carry out a review of measures to assess 0 – 6 year old children. The review covered language, literacy, numeracy, social and emotional development as well as the home and early years learning environments.

These resources are being launched as a first version and will be updated based on feedback from users, and as more is learnt about the best approaches to evaluating these outcomes in the early years. We welcome advice and suggestions on how these resources can be improved. This is an initial attempt to identify measures that are most relevant to EEF trials – it is not intended to be a definitive answer to how Early Years outcomes should be measured.

As the accompanying guidance document sets out, it is also important to be cautious at this stage. At the moment there is a not a lot of information about predictive validity of these measures. Hopefully over time EEF evaluations will be able to help add to the knowledge in this area within the context of wider information.

In 2025, the EEF commissioned an update to expand and improve EEF’s Early Years Measures Database to make it more comprehensive, user-friendly and better aligned with frameworks like the Early Years Foundation Stage. This update to the database will be complete in Spring/​September 2026. More information about this update is available here.

Further reading