Teachers' Education, Classroom Quality, and Young Children's Academic Skills: Results From Seven Studies of Preschool Programs

Early, Diane M.; Maxwell, Kelly; Burchinal, Margaret; Alva, Soumya; Bender, Randall; Bryant, Donna; Cai, Karen; Clifford, Richard M.; Ebanks, Caroline; Griffin, James A.; Henry, Gary T.; Howes, Carollee; Iriondo-Perez, Jeniffer; Jeon, Hyun‐Joo; Mashburn, Andrew J.; Peisner-Feinberg, Ellen; Pianta, Robert C.; Vandergrift, Nathan; Zill, Nicholas

doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.01014.x

Cited by 647 publications

(331 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Because simply increasing the overall level of caregiver education does not appear to be sufficient (Early et al, 2007), the next step in child care research is to examine how training programs can target specific types of caregiver behaviors in order to improve caregiving quality. A number of multi-site, random-assignment evaluations of intensive caregiver training programs are currently underway.…”

Section: Implications For Policy and Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural and process features in three types of child care for children from high and low income families

Dowsett

Huston

Imes

et al. 2008

Early Childhood Research Quarterly

218

122

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We use observations from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD) to compare structural and process characteristics of child care centers, family child care homes (nonrelative care in a home setting) and care by relatives for 2, 3-and 4 ½-year-old children. Type of care differences in structural and caregiver characteristics were consistent across ages: centers had higher child-to-adult ratios and bigger groups; centers had caregivers with better education, more training in early childhood, and less traditional beliefs about child rearing. Children in centers experienced more cognitive stimulation, less frequent language interactions with adults, less frequent negative interactions with adults, and less television viewing than did those in other types of care. In centers and family child care homes compared to relative settings, children engaged in more positive and negative interactions with peers and spent more time in transition and unoccupied. Curvilinear associations were found between structural features of care and family income, particularly for caregiver education and training. In contrast, process measures of caregiving rose monotonically with family income. Children from high-income families experienced more sensitive care, more cognitive stimulation, and fewer negative interactions with adults than did those from low-income families. We interpret the findings by linking the structural features and caregiver training to the cognitive and social processes observed in different types of care. Future research designed to understand the influences of child care on children's behavior might benefit from using this more nuanced description of child care experiences.Child care quality is a well-documented predictor of children's intellectual and social development, but recent evidence indicates that type of care may be important independently of "global" ratings of quality. A recurrent finding in the literature is that children who participate in center-based arrangements-including Head Start-during their infant and preschool years perform better on cognitive and language development and show better preacademic skills than children who spend an equivalent amount of time in child care homes or relative care of comparable quality (Garces, Thomas, & Currie, 2002; NICHD Early Child Care Research Network [ECCRN], 2000a; NICHD ECCRN & Duncan, 2003).The relations of type of care to children's social behavior are more uncertain. Two longitudinal studies of large, national samples have shown that children with more center care experience were rated by caregivers and elementary school teachers as having more behavior problems and less self control than those who had not experienced center care (Magnuson, Ruhm, & Waldfogel, 2007; NICHD 2002;2003a). Most longitudinal investigations of children from Contact author Chantelle Dowsett, Human Development & Family Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station/A2700, Austin, TX 78712; 512-471-3141; E-mail: dowsettcj@mail.utexa...

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Section: Implications For Policy and Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural and process features in three types of child care for children from high and low income families

Dowsett

Huston

Imes

et al. 2008

Early Childhood Research Quarterly

218

122

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…A teacher's awareness of children's academic skills and progress is likely to develop not only with teaching experience but also with knowledge of the individual children in the classroom and additional inservice training (Early et al, 2007;LaParo et al, 2009). This is possibly the case in light of the fact that Teacher D, who had the least teaching experience of the four teachers observed, often failed to respond to children's initiatives and academic needs.…”

Section: __________________________mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies have suggested that there is no systematic link between teachers' background characteristics (e.g., education) and the quality of their teaching practices (Early et al, 2007;Whitehurst, 2002). Interestingly, it seems that teachers' self-reported goals and aims are more precise predictors of their actual teaching practices and the quality of their teaching than their traditional background characteristics (LaParo et al, 2009;Stipek & Byler, 1997) as teachers' attitudes and beliefs often direct their actual practices within the classroom (Pajares, 1992).…”

Section: The Importance Of Teachers' Self-reported Educational Goalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Descriptive Case Analysis of Instructional Teaching Practices in Finnish Preschool Classrooms

Salminen

Hännikäinen

Poikonen

et al. 2013

Journal of Research in Childhood Education

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The present study aimed to examine the diversity of teaching practices and to illuminate the qualitative variety of instructional teaching practices among preschool teachers. Further, teachers' self-rated educational goals were explored to complement the multifaceted nature of preschool teachers' instructional teaching practices. The study was carried out as a case study. The cases were used to describe the qualitative variety of Finnish preschool teachers' instructional practices in authentic classroom situations among groups of six-year-old children. Our previous study (Salminen et al., 2010) revealed four distinct latent profiles of teaching practices in preschool classrooms based on 49 observed preschool teachers, using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS, Pre-K; Pianta, LaParo, & Hamre, 2008). In the present study, the cases represent each of the latent profiles. Based on the qualitative content analysis, we could elucidate the variety of observed instructional practices and identify how they varied among the teachers. The observed instructional practices occurred in different combinations, creating ample opportunities for learning in preschool classrooms. It was also discovered that teachers' selfreported educational goals reflected their observed practices quite well.The findings suggest pedagogical implications for the development of preschool education and teacher training.

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“…Konstantopoulos, 2006). Indicators of teacher preparation and certification are between the stronger predictors of students' achievement in reading and mathematics, even when controlling student families' socio-economic status (DarlingHammond, 2000), and are associated to classroom quality and children's academic skills (Early et al, 2007) The fact that teachers perceived their initial training as the dimension they felt less difficulties should be explored by futures studies, namely studies evaluating teachers perceptions about their needs at the level of social and emotional skills promotion in teachers in their first years of work, in order to understand how their perception of their initial training may depend on their orientation for the present rather than the past (because present needs may become more relevant to teachers perceptions than past needs).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development and evaluation of psychometric properties of an inventory of teachers' perceptions on socio-emotional needs

Moreira

Pinheiro

Gomes

et al. 2013

Psicol. Reflex. Crit.

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The objective of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of an assessment instrument on teachers' perceptions regarding the development of socio-emotional skills. Results revealed a consistent four-factor structure (School/teachers' needs for socio-emotional skills promotion; Needs regarding teaching-learning process; Difficulties in dealing with students' socio-emotional deficits, Socio-emotional needs related to teacher's initial training) with internal consistency values above .79. Confirmatory analyses revealed a good fit of the model to the data. Teachers reported having more needs at the school/ teachers conditions for the promotion of social and emotional needs, and less needs at the level of their Teachers' initial training. The instrument also showed to be sensitive in capturing teachers' perception of schooling social and emotional needs in terms of teachers' gender, pedagogic group and school level. Keywords: Instrument development, teachers perceptions, social and emotional skills, social and emotional learning. ResumoO objectivo deste estudo foi avaliar as características psicométricas de um instrumento de avaliação das percepções dos professores acerca das suas necessidades na promoção das competências sociais e emocionais. Os resultados revelaram uma estrutura de quatro factores (Necessidades ao nível da escola/ professor, necessidades ao nível do processo de ensino-aprendizagem, Dificuldades em lidar com défices sócio-emocionais dos alunos e Necessidades ao nível da formação inicial), com valores de consistência interna acima de 0,79. As análises confirmatórias revelaram bom ajustamento do modelo aos dados. Os professores revelaram sentir maiores dificuldades ao nível das condições da escola/ professores e menores ao nível da formação inicial. O instrumento revelou-se também sensível às diferenças de percepções em termos do género, grupo pedagógico, e nível de ensino. Palavras-chave: Desenvolvimento de instrumento, percepção dos professores, competências sociais e emocionais, aprendizagem sócio-emocional.

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Teachers' Education, Classroom Quality, and Young Children's Academic Skills: Results From Seven Studies of Preschool Programs

Cited by 647 publications

References 33 publications

Structural and process features in three types of child care for children from high and low income families

Structural and process features in three types of child care for children from high and low income families

A Descriptive Case Analysis of Instructional Teaching Practices in Finnish Preschool Classrooms

Development and evaluation of psychometric properties of an inventory of teachers' perceptions on socio-emotional needs

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