The aim of the present study is to determine what teacher variables are predictive of preschool teacher self-efficacy in an urban school district. A total of 83 preschool teachers participated in the study. Teacher variables, such as years of teaching experience, job satisfaction, location of employment, age, and self-efficacy were included in a series of ANOVA analyses. Linear regression modeling reported years of teaching experience outside the birth-2nd grade setting (β=-.232, t(1,79) =-2.124, p< .05) and job satisfaction (β = .294, t(2,78) = 2.793, p< .01) were statistically significant predictors of preschool teacher self-efficacy. This study found that teachers with a greater amount of teaching experience outside of the birth-2nd setting feel less efficacious about themselves and their abilities to positively influence student achievement and outcomes in the preschool classroom. Further policy implications, such as hiring practices are discussed.
This research study investigated the effects of preschool dosage on kindergarten readiness in an urban school district (n= 1,464). This study was guided by one research question: do children who attend two years of structured early childhood education programming (3-year-old and 4-year-old pre-k) demonstrate stronger academic skills than their peers who only attend one year of pre-k programming (4-year-old pre-k only)? Implementing univariate and multivariate logistic regression models, we found that children who attend two years of programming were 34% more likely to make a successful transition to kindergarten compared to their peers who only attended pre-k as 4-yearolds. Black students who attended two years experienced a greater benefit, with a 53% increased likelihood of being kindergarten-ready.Public funding for early childhood education (ECE) for 3and 4-year-old children in the United States has seen an increased amount of spending and resources provided for the enhancement of programming over the past decade (Friedman-Krauss et al., 2018). Previous research has shown that children attending high-quality early learning programs can improve school readiness in transitioning to kindergarten (Duncan & Magnuson, 2013;Yoshikawa et al., 2013). Recent proposals from the state level have initiated efforts to expand ECE to allow more children to enroll in full-day programming before transitioning to kindergarten (New York State Education Department [NYSED], 2020). These initiatives aim to serve not just more children but also younger children, addressing a need to provide quality ECE programming to children at-risk and those living in poverty (Jenkins et al., 2016). This expansion includes individual state increases in programming for 3-and 4-year-olds provided at the district level. The primary goal of these public preschool expansions is to ensure that more children living in poverty have access to high-quality ECE programming (Bassok et al., 2016).
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