Children’s academic and social-emotional competencies and the quality of classroom interactions in high-needs urban elementary schools

Abstract

Teachers are often viewed as being primarily responsible for the quality of their classroom environment and teaching practices. Yet, the aggregate skills and competencies of children within classrooms may affect teachers’ ability to engage in emotionally and instructionally supportive interactions and maintain an organized classroom. The objectives of this study were to (1) identify common types of classrooms based on children’s academicand social-emotional competencies, and (2) examine the relation between classroom compositional profiles and the observed quality of classroom interactions across three domains, while accounting for the quality of interactions in teachers’ classrooms assessed during the prior school year. Participants included 117 third-grade teachers and their 1803 children from 53 urban public elementary schools, in the United States, composed of mostly Black and Latinx children from low-socioeconomic backgrounds. Data were collected as part of a randomized-controlled trial of a social-emotional learning intervention and included assessments of children’s English language arts test scores, social competence, aggressive behaviors, depression, and anxiety, and the observed quality of classroom-level emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support. Latent profile analysis revealed three distinct profiles: (1) academically and behaviorally high-risk classrooms (9%), (2) academically and emotionally at-risk classrooms (48%), and (3) academically and behaviorally low-risk classrooms (43%). Classrooms in the high-risk profile had significantly lower levels of emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support, while accounting for teachers’ prior year interactional quality and a set of key teacher and classroom demographic and compositional covariates. Implications for teacher accountability and school tracking practices within high-needs urban public schools are discussed.