Public School Prekindergarten Research Articles

Patterns of preschool educators' beliefs and practices over the course of a coaching intervention

This study used person-centered approaches to examine whether educator beliefs and practices transformed as a result of a randomized coaching intervention focused on the quality of teacher-child interactions. It also considers whether educators' beliefs and practices at the end of the intervention were in turn jointly associated with children's development. Latent profile analysis with a sample of 281 preschool educators working primarily in public school prekindergarten and Head Start programs across nine U.S. cities revealed three profiles of educators with distinct patterns of beliefs and practices: Average, Strong, and Mixed. Random assignment to coaching increased the likelihood that educators belonged to a profile defined by strong beliefs and practices at the end of the intervention. Latent transition analysis suggested that this positive effect was concentrated among a small proportion of educators who either built or maintained strong beliefs and practices. Few differences were found in children's language, literacy, and executive function skills based on educator profiles at the end of the intervention. Implications of this work for educational leaders designing and offering individualized supports for classroom educators are discussed.

An ecological perspective on early educator well-being at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic

Early educator well-being is increasingly understood as a critical ingredient of high-quality early education and care. The COVID-19 pandemic has threatened educator well-being by exacerbating existing stressors and introducing novel stressors to all aspects of early educators’ lives, and early educators have had differential access to resources to cope with these new circumstances. Using survey data collected between April and June 2020 with a sample of 666 early educators in community-based center, family child care, Head Start, and public school prekindergarten programs across Massachusetts, we document the pandemic's initial influence on educators’ sense of well-being. Adopting an ecological perspective, we consider educator-, program-, and community-level factors that may be associated with reported changes in well-being. Most educators indicated that their mental and financial well-being had been affected. These changes were not systematically associated with most contextual factors, although there was clear evidence of variability in reported impacts by provider type. These findings underscore the need to support educator well-being, as well as to create policy solutions that meet the heterogeneous needs of this essential workforce.

Young children’s ideas about environment: perspectives from three early childhood educational settings

Many efforts have been made around the globe to advocate for and encourage environmental sustainability education (ESE). As many as 15 fields can serve as ‘currents’ on the greater field of environmental education, including environmental education and education for sustainability. We acknowledge that each is a separate and distinct field of inquiry, but choose not to limit our perspective to any one field or the other. Thus, we have elected to use the term ESE to refer to work that falls into any or all of these categories throughout this manuscript for learners of all ages. Yet, there is a dearth of information at the early childhood level, defined as toddlers through eight-year-olds. Our exploratory study focused on better describing young children’s understandings of ESE. Young children (ages three-eight) from three different suburban early childhood education settings (public school pre-kindergarten, church-based cooperative preschool, and private daycare center) participated in focus group interviews before and one week after a brief ESE learning activity. Findings revealed that children were able to describe nature in more sophisticated ways after the intervention than before, suggesting that learning in early childhood ESE is possible and fruitful.

Making the Intentional Decision to Use an Effective Curriculum to Promote Children’s Learning

This study investigated the extent to which early education classrooms across Indiana implemented evidence-based practices and how well the classrooms of different types of early education programs in our state compared with one another. Evidence-based effective curricula increase children’s learning compared to those that are not effective. This article addresses the question: “Are the curricula used by the teachers effective?” The 81 participating classrooms included 28 in licensed child care centers, 27 in Head Start, and 26 in public school prekindergarten. Of the 81 classrooms, 80 teachers responded to the question: “What curriculum or curricula do you use in your classroom?” We used a three-step process to determine whether each response named a curriculum based on the Head Start definition; whether studies of the curriculum met the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) guidelines for being evidence-based; and if the WWC reviews identified the curriculum as effective in increasing children’s learning. Findings revealed that only 2 of 80 responding teachers used a curriculum determined by WWC to be effective. Other teachers used curricula that did not meet the Head Start definition, used curricula that did not meet the WWC standards for evidence, or used curricula with evidence but that were ineffective. These findings suggest that administrators and teachers should opt for a curriculum determined to be effective and to choose whether the curriculum will be math- or literacy-based since no comprehensive curriculum has been determined to be effective. A challenge for implementation is that the WWC has shown only five curricula to be effective.

Changes in Parent Involvement Across the Transition from Public School Prekindergarten to First Grade and Children's Academic Outcomes

Between- and within-family changes in 4 dimensions of parent involvement in children's learning were examined from prekindergarten to kindergarten and from kindergarten to first grade. Children's literacy, language, and mathematics skills were individually assessed at prekindergarten entry and end of first grade. Parents' provision of cognitive stimulation decreased overall from prekindergarten to kindergarten (d = −.26) and from kindergarten to first grade (d = −.53), and variety of out-of-home experiences increased from kindergarten to first grade (d = .30). A substantial percentage of the sample increased or decreased their participation in home-based or school-based activities. The degree of change in parent provision of cognitive stimulation from kindergarten to first grade and variety of out-of-home experiences from prekindergarten to kindergarten predicted children's first-grade mathematics skills. Increases in home learning resources from prekindergarten to kindergarten were associated with higher first-grade mathematics outcomes of children with lower prekindergarten-entry mathematics skills.

Child, family, and childcare predictors of delayed school entry and kindergarten retention among linguistically and ethnically diverse children.

Concern about kindergarten retention is on the rise within the current climate of high-stakes testing and escalating kindergarten expectations. Kindergarten retention has been linked in previous research to various risk factors such as poverty, low maternal education, single parent status, minority status, English language learner (ELL) status, and male gender. However, these factors are also associated with poor school readiness and low kindergarten performance--the very reasons children are retained in the 1st place. This study teases apart unique and combined predictors of delayed entry into kindergarten and kindergarten retention with a large (n = 13,191) ethnically diverse, at-risk sample of children. Delayed kindergarten entry was rare for this sample but more likely among boys, native English speakers, those with poorer school readiness, less maternal education, and greater resources, and those who attended childcare rather than public school prekindergarten (pre-K) at age 4 years. Boys were more likely to be retained in kindergarten, but only because of their poorer school readiness. After strong effects for age 4 school readiness were controlled, only poverty, ELL status, and preschool program attendance predicted retention. ELL students were less likely to be retained than were native speakers, and those who attended public school pre-K programs were less likely to be retained, compared with those in childcare at age 4 years. After controlling for children's actual performance in kindergarten their 1st time, Caucasian children and children with lower language and social skills at age 4 years were more likely to repeat kindergarten.

Head Start, Public School Prekindergarten, and a Collaborative Potential

Head Start likely will need to evolve in response to the dramatic growth of state-funded prekindergarten programs during the past two decades. A potential role for Head Start in the context of widespread public school involvement in prekindergarten would be to collaborate with state prekindergarten systems to provide the comprehensive services often missing from state early education models. Data from a nationally representative survey of lead teachers in a sample of 3898 randomly selected prekindergarten classrooms (81.0% response rate) are used to explore the strengths and challenges of implementation in Head Start, public school prekindergarten, and collaborative models. Although there exists considerable overlap in the quality of Head Start and public school prekindergarten classes, findings suggest that Head Start programs excel in providing comprehensive services and small class sizes and low student-teacher ratios; public school prekindergarten employs teachers with higher levels of education, and the collaborative model appears to represent most of the strengths and relatively few of the weaknesses of both models. Head Start and public school prekindergarten systems should explore creative ways to blend education and comprehensive services into a collaborative program greater than the sum of their respective components.

Employment of Related Service Personnel in Preschool Programs: A Survey of General Early Educators

This report describes a mail survey of general early childhood educators to determine the extent to which representatives from various disciplines, commonly found on early childhood education teams, are employed by general early education programs. Randomly selected respondents were from four types of programs: Head Start, public school prekindergarten, public school kindergarten, and community preschool/child care. Of the 893 mailed questionnaires, 483 (54.1%) were returned and coded. Respondents indicated that programs that enrolled at least one child with disabilities tended to employ higher percentages of personnel in related service disciplines than did programs with no children with disabilities. Among other results, surveys indicated that relatively few programs reported having sufficient related service personnel to form basic team constellations.

Classroom Activities and Areas: Regularity of Use and Perceptions of Adaptability by General Early Educators

This report describes a mail survey of general early educators from Head Start, public school pre-kindergarten, public school kindergarten, and community preschool/child care programs. The purposes were to secure information about the availability of classroom activities and areas, and to obtain the respondents' perceptions of the ease with which activities and areas could be adapted to accommodate children with disabilities. Of the 893 mailed questionnaires, 483 (54.1%) were returned and coded. The respondents reportedly used a wide range of classroom activities and areas, and they rated those activities and areas as moderately easy to adapt. Also, respondents from mainstreamed programs used slightly more activities and perceived the activities as easier to adapt than did respondents from non-mainstreamed programs. The findings appear to indicate that placement of children with disabilities in segregated programs cannot be justified on grounds that integration will restrict the range of activities availa...

Employment of Educators in Preschool Mainstreaming

This report describes a mail survey designed (a) to identify the extent to which various types of educators (paraprofessionals, early childhood educators, elementary school educators, and special educators) were employed in early education programs, and (b) to describe patterns in that employment Respondents represented a variety of programs (Head Start, public school prekindergarten, public school kindergarten, and community preschool/child care) and were selected randomly from the nine U.S. Bureau of the Census regions. The results indicate that (a) higher percentages of programs employed full-time rather than pan-time paraprofesslonal and professional staff; (b) higher percentages of Head Start programs employed paraprofessionals, particularly Child-Development-Associate-degree staff, than did other program types, and the lowest percentage of employment of paraprofessionals occurred in public school kindergarten programs; (c) more mainstreamed programs employed paraprofessionals than did nonmainstreamed programs, but the differences were slight; (d) higher percentages of programs employed bachelor's-degree teachers; (e) nearly equal percentages of programs employed elementary teachers as employed early childhood teachers, and fewer programs employed special education teachers; and (f) about three fourths of the main-streamed programs did not employ special education teachers.

A Survey of the Extent to Which Speech-Language Pathologists Are Employed in Preschool Programs

This report describes a mail survey of general early childhood educators to determine the extent to which they employ speech-language pathologists. Respondents represented a variety of programs, including Head Start, public school pre-kindergarten, public school kindergarten, and community preschool/child care. Participants were selected randomly from the nine U.S. Bureau of the Census regions. Of the 893 mailed questionnaires, 483 (54.1%) were returned and coded. The respondents indicated that (a) with the exception of the community preschool/child care programs, a majority of the other program types enrolled children with speech-language impairments; (b) mainstreamed programs were more likely to employ speech-language pathologists than non-mainstreamed programs; (c) the employment of speech-language pathologists was not distributed evenly across the four program types; and (d) more programs enrolled children with speech-language disorders than employed speech-language pathologists, even on a part-time, consultant basis. The implications of these findings for policy and practice are discussed.

Perceived Problems of Public School Prekindergarten Teachers

Abstract The purpose of this study was to identify and validate the work-related problems of public school prekindergarten teachers. The study was designed to answer two questions: (a) what problems are perceived to be most bothersome and occur most frequently, and; (b) what global areas of concern can be inferred from these teachers' perceptions of their problems? The results identified 37 problems that occurred significantly more frequently than others and 36 problems that were significantly more bothersome. The global areas perceived to be of most concern were: (a) parent relationships and home conditions, (b) control and discipline, (c) program, (d) student success, (e) time, (f) classroom personnel, (g) affiliation, and (h) facilities.

The Extent and Nature of Preschool Mainstreaming

This article describes a mail survey of general early childhood educators to determine the extent to which they are and have been engaged in preschool mainstreaming. Four groups of early childhood educators were surveyed: those employed by Head Start, public school pre-kindergarten, public school kindergarten, and community preschool/ child care programs. Participants were randomly selected from the nine U.S. Bureau of the Census regions. Of the 893 mailed questionnaires, 483 (54.1%) were returned and coded. The results indicated that (a) nearly three-fourths (74.2%) of the responding programs reported enrolling a child with a diagnosed disability, (b) the percentage of mainstreamed programs increased across the five years studied, (c) children from all diagnostic categories listed on the survey were enrolled in some programs, (d) the diagnostic category of speech/language impaired was the most frequently reported category followed by developmental delays and behavior disorders, and (e) the ages of enrolled children with diagnosed disabilities varied by program type. The limitations of these findings and their implications for preschool mainstreaming are discussed.

How Much Do Good Early Childhood Programs Cost?

Although elementary schools have firmly institutionalized programs for children aged 5 and older, the United States is still developing operating public definitions for programs for children below age 5. These programs include public school prekindergarten programs, Head Start programs, and child care homes and centers. This article estimates the per-child and aggregate costs of providing good programs to the populations of young children who need them, specifically: (a) full public funding for part-time programs for 3- and 4-year-olds in poverty with parents who are not in the labor force; (b) full public funding for full-time programs for children under 5 in poverty with employed parents; and (c) both public and private funding for full-time programs for non-poor children under5 whose parents are employed. The article does not estimate program costs for non-poor families of children under 5 whose parents are not employed. It appears that the United States now spends only half of the public and private d...