Quality In Early Childhood Programs Research Articles

Coaching and Coursework Focused on Teacher–Child Interactions During Language/Literacy Instruction: Effects on Teacher Outcomes and Children’s Classroom Engagement

ABSTRACT A sample of 496 early childhood teachers was assigned randomly in two phases to a series of professional development (PD) interventions. Phase I intervention was a 14-week course on effective teacher–child interactions. Participants were then re-randomized into Phase II intervention, which consisted of individual, interactions-focused coaching. Impacts of the course, coaching, and their combination were evaluated relative to business-as-usual controls on knowledge of effective interactions, skill in detecting effective interactions, observed teacher–child interactions, beliefs about intentional teaching, and children’s classroom engagement. Research Findings: Teachers exposed to the course demonstrated greater knowledge of and skills in detecting effective teacher child-interactions, and displayed higher quality instructional support in their interactions with children during the year following the course. Teachers who received coaching were also observed to display higher levels of instructional support and children in their classrooms displayed more positive engagement with adults. However, neither teachers nor children appeared to gain additional benefit from the combination of the course and coaching. Practice or Policy: The results have important implications for efforts to systematically and efficiently improve the quality of early childhood programs through the delivery of PD that is directly aligned with teachers’ classroom interactions.

Paths 2 play: teacher’s play facilitation in Colombia

IntroductionThe quality of early childhood programs is essential for improving outcomes for children, and play-based practices are a vital component. However, the field is still trying to understand the role of teachers in facilitating play and their beliefs and practices related to play, as well as how to best support these practices.MethodsData was collected remotely between June and December 2021 using surveys from 55 teachers and video observations and interviews with directors, teachers, and parents at two aeioTU centers in Cartagena, Colombia. The study aimed to comprehend teachers’ understanding and practices of learning through play within a Reggio Emilia inspired program and its professional development supports.ResultsThe study found that trainers, teachers, and parents generally viewed learning through play as a joyful, engaging, and socially interactive activity with a natural component. However, the study identified a misalignment between the sophisticated language on play used by trainers and teachers and the examples they provided for learning through play. Additionally, the study revealed a gap between the aeioTU curriculum’s comprehensive conceptualization of play and how teachers practice and self-report learning through play in their classrooms. The COVID-19 pandemic and limited policy definitions of play may have contributed to these findings.DiscussionThe study recommends that professional development programs focus on building teachers’ knowledge of play facilitation, helping them develop a nuanced understanding of play and its full spectrum and how it maps to their role in classrooms, and tracking the connection between playful experiences and children’s learning.

Predictors of Chinese early childhood program quality: Implications for policies

This study explores the relationship between structural variables and program quality in early childhood programs across economic, sociocultural, and policy contexts in Zhejiang, China. Using the Chinese Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (CECERS), researchers collected data in 162 randomly selected classrooms representative of the sociocultural and economic conditions of Chinese early childhood programs. The findings showed that a set of program structural variables accounted for 60% of the variance in overall program quality. Similar findings were shown for two specific program quality indicators: structural quality (‘Provisions for Learning’) and process quality (‘Teaching & Interaction’). Results suggest that policy makers in early childhood education in China should offer more benefits and training for teachers, recognize teachers' professional qualifications, and maintain lower child-to-teacher ratio to improve Chinese ECE programs.

Chinese Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (trial) (CECERS): A validity study

The Chinese Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (trial) (CECERS) is a new instrument for measuring early childhood program quality in the Chinese socio-cultural contexts, based on substantial adaptation from the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised Edition (ECERS-R). This paper describes the development and validation process of CECERS. Empirical data were collected from a stratified random sample 178 classrooms, from which a random sample of 1012 children was measured for child development outcomes. Guided by the framework of broad conceptualization of validity and validation as advocated by Messick (1989), evidence in a variety of forms is presented and discussed, including content validity considerations (e.g., measuring socially and culturally relevant domains), measurement reliability considerations (e.g., internal consistency reliability, inter-rater reliability), and measurement validity considerations (concurrent validity, criterion-related validity, internal structure based on exploratory factor analysis). The empirical findings for CECERS compare very favorably with the validation outcomes of ECERS-R. The body of evidence accumulated in the validation process supports the use and interpretation of CECERS scores as quality indicators of early childhood education program in the Chinese social and cultural contexts. Limitations and future directions are also discussed.

The Educare Chicago Research-Program Partnership and Follow-Up Study: Using Data on Program Graduates to Enhance Quality Improvement Efforts

Early childhood education programs that have succeeded in raising the quality and outcomes of their programs have done so, oftentimes, by championing a culture of continuous improvement. This includes comprehensive formative evaluation and routines of data feedback and discussion that support teaching staff to use child growth and classroom quality data to inform daily instructional decisions and interactions with families. This article provides a case illustration of how leaders and staff at 1 high-quality early childhood education program (Educare Chicago) use data and feedback from graduate children and families to inform and drive continuous quality improvement through a Research-Program Partnership, which is a dynamic interchange between researchers, program leadership, and practitioners. Research Findings: This article focuses on the utilization of longitudinal Follow-Up Study data obtained from Educare Chicago children and families as they transitioned into the elementary school system to inform early childhood program quality enhancement efforts. Quantitative data on school type, school quality, and teacher ratings of children and parents are included. The utilization of findings from qualitative data obtained from parents and Educare program staff are also discussed. Practice or Policy: Follow-Up Study key findings and program responses are described, in addition to the role of the Research-Program Partnership in fostering both these exchanges and a deeper understanding of how to use data from program graduates and their families. Implications for program practices specific to children and families’ transition to kindergarten, early mathematics instruction, and family engagement are discussed.

Investigating the Psychometric Properties of the ACEI Global Guidelines Assessment (GGA) in Four Countries

The ACEI Global Guidelines Assessment (GGA) was developed to provide an international assessment tool that can be used by early childhood educators to develop, assess, and improve program quality worldwide. This pilot study was conducted in four countries to investigate the psychometric properties of the GGA within and across different countries. A total of 168 programs and 336 early care and education professionals participated in this study from communities in the People’s Republic of China, Guatemala, Taiwan, and the United States. The results show strong internal consistency for each subscale and the total GGA as well as moderate interrater consistency for the five subscales. A comparison of item ratings and the qualitative evidence suggests moderately acceptable congruence between the ratings and evidence to support the ratings. Patterns of program practices were identified within and across the participating sties and countries that reflected both unique and common practices. These results suggest that the GGA has potential as a useful and effective tool both for understanding early childhood program quality within and across countries and as a means of helping practitioners to establish and/or improve the quality of their services.

A Course on Effective Teacher-Child Interactions

Among 440 early childhood teachers, half were randomly assigned to take a 14-week course on effective teacher-child interactions. This course used the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) as the basis to organize, describe, and demonstrate effective teacher-child interactions. Compared to teachers in a control condition, those exposed to the course reported more intentional teaching beliefs and demonstrated greater knowledge of and skills in detecting effective interactions. Furthermore, teachers who took the course were observed to demonstrate more effective emotional and instructional interactions. The course was equally effective across teachers with less than an associate’s degree as well as those with advanced degrees. Results have implications for efforts to improve the quality of early childhood programs through the higher education system.

Preparing Early Childhood Teachers to Work With Young Dual Language Learners.

Teacher preparation is clearly linked to the quality of early childhood programs. In order for young dual language learners (DLLs) to be academically successful, teacher preparation should focus on those skills and abilities relevant to students' particular needs. This article reviews the content of professional preparation for early educators working with young DLLs and briefly discusses the importance of developing the cultural and linguistic diversity of the early childhood workforce. It identifies 6 content areas: (a) understanding language development, (b) understanding the relationship between language and culture,

New Service Delivery Models: Connecting SLPs with Teachers and Curriculum

New Service Delivery Models: Connecting SLPs with Teachers and Curriculum

Program Quality and Early Childhood Inclusion

This article advocates for the need to link early childhood program quality and professional development, with a particular focus on how this topic relates to early childhood inclusion. There is consensus in the early childhood field about various components of program quality for young children in general, and a number of states now have program quality improvement systems in place to guide professional practice in this regard. However, there is a need to reach consensus on dimensions of program quality that define high quality inclusion and to reflect these dimensions in both program standards and professional development efforts. This article provides recommendations for how components of quality inclusion can be incorporated into professional development to ensure that practitioners are highly effective in serving every child and family, including those with disabilities.

Scaling Up Quality in Early Childhood Programs: New Jersey's Story

Preschool systems changed significantly in New Jersey in 1998 when the State's Supreme Court required the poorest school districts to implement high quality, intensive preschool programs for all three- and four-year-olds. Since the first year of implementation in 1999, New Jersey's Abbott districts have been providing preschoolers with access to quality early childhood programs defined by state certified teachers, class size of 15 with two teachers, master teachers who serve as mentors, professional development opportunities, and state contracted facilities. As ordered by the Court, the State has adequately funded program implementation. This article discusses the steps New Jersey took to scale up the quality of these programs within a short four-year time frame; and presents remaining challenges to quality which include maintaining a diverse teaching force, fostering collaboration between school districts and community-based programs, aligning early childhood pedagogy across the P–3 range, and upgrading facilities.

A Developmental Approachto Early Childhood Program Quality Improvement: The Relation Between State Regulation and NAEYC Accreditation

Descriptive statistics were utilized to examine the relation between early childhood education and care quality indicators found in state child care regulations and the number of National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) accredited programs in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The data analysis provided the first empirical evidence that a relation exists between the stringency of quality indicators in state child care regulations and the number of programs involved in the NAEYC accreditation process. Based on these findings, I suggest a developmental approach to quality improvements, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. With no currently published empirical research that assists accreditation facilitation projects in explaining to funders the variations in time or levels of support needed to achieve accreditation from program to program and from state to state, this research focused on one possible explanation for these variations.

Accountability for Quality: One State’s Experience in Improving Practice

South Carolina recently implemented a new initiative to improve the quality of pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classrooms in primary schools. This article describes the initiative and examines evidence that such an effort can have a positive effect on early childhood program quality. Data from both classroom observations using the ECERS-R scale, and from teacher surveys, are used to examine the effectiveness of the quality improvement effort. Results indicate that training and support coupled with accountability requirements can facilitate positive changes within classrooms. Examples of positive changes teachers report they made as the result of this process are included, along with changes in ECERS-R quality rating scores.

Introduction to the Special Issue: Unpacking Quality in Early Childhood Programs

Life in culture is, then, an interplay between the versions of the world that people form under its institutional sway and the version of it that are products of their individual histories. It rarely conforms to anything resembling a cookbook of recipes or formulas, for it is a universal of all cultures that they contain factional or institutional interests. Nonetheless, any particular individual's idiosyncratic interpretations of the world are constantly subject to judgment against what are taken to be the canonical beliefs of the culture at large. Such communal judgments, though often governed by "rational" and evidentiary criteria, are just as often dominated by commitments, tastes, interests, and expressions of adherence to the culture's values relating to the good life, decency, legitimacy, or power. (Bruner, 1996, p. 14)

Section II - Quality from the Perspective of Stakeholders: Quality in Early Childhood Programs? Underlying Values

Quality is a value-laden and context-bound concept. Drawing on cultural psychology, this study examines the nature of cultural values underlying definitions of quality in American early childhood programs. From semi-structured interviews with 15 teachers and 15 administrators in center-based early childhood programs, three themes emerged: (a) safety and health first, (b) raising independent children, and (c) developmental appropriateness. Although participants' definitions of quality wove together diverse beliefs about childhood and learning, the view that young children learn best by self-exploration of their world was salient. The ability to explore was believed to become more elaborate as children move through developmental stages. We analyze practitioners' views of young children's abilities and of their learning and development by examining how they are shaped by Western values of independence and individualism. We suggest that these values restrict educators' vision of how to scaffold children's learning in the social and cultural milieu.

Revisiting the Two Faces of Child Care Quality: Structure and Process

While child care quality has been examined in numerous studies, the definition of quality and specifically, the concepts of structural and process quality, have not been adequately explored. In this qualitative analysis of the constructs of process and structural quality, a content analysis of the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R), a commonly used measure of process quality, was conducted to investigate its use as a measure of process quality. Through constant comparative analysis of the ECERS-R at the indicator level, definitions of structure and process were formulated. Results show that over half of the indicators of the ECERS-R are measuring structural quality rather than process quality. Further examination of quality as a dynamic exchange between individuals and context is needed to advance research in the area of early childhood program quality.

How Stake Holder Groups Define Quality in Child Care

This paper presents definitions of child care quality from focus groups conducted to develop a research design to assess the quality of Minnesota's regulated child care system. Eleven individual interviews and 38 focus groups involving 333 people were held in communities throughout Minnesota between 1-11-00 and 6-14-00. The focus groups represented the various stake holders interested in child care quality including parents, legislators, child care staff and administrators, licensed and unlicensed family child care providers, family and center based child care licensors, child care resource and referral staff, and teacher educators. Beginning first with the traditional definition of child care quality (what is good for the child) and related quality indicators, the author presents Katz's (Multiple perspectives on the quality of early childhood programs) four dimensional definition of child care quality and the associated research investigating these dimensions. The similarities and differences in various stake holder groups' definitions of child care quality are then presented and compared with Love, Schocket, & Meckstroth's review of child care research. The paper ends with a discussion how stake holders' definitions of child care quality may inform researchers and policymakers about child care quality.

Quality in Early Childhood Programs: Reflections from Program Evaluation Practices

This study investigates how program evaluation has contributed to the definition of quality in early childhood programs and what social and cultural conditions have influenced these definitions. First, a review of evaluation reports from the last 3 decades identified three types of quality used to evaluate early childhood programs: (a) outcome-determined quality, (b) standards-based quality, and (c) developmental appropriateness. An analysis of questionnaire responses from evaluators and interviews with early childhood practitioners was also conducted in order to explore underlying social and cultural conditions of each quality definition. The authors conclude that, in order to be valid and meaningful, evaluation of early childhood programs should be based on in-depth understanding of dynamic program processes and diverse stakeholders’ perspectives on program quality. Evaluation should challenge and expand the dominant perspectives on early childhood program quality.

Quality in Early Childhood Programs: Reflections from Program Evaluation Practices

This study investigates how program evaluation has contributed to the definition of quality in early childhood programs and what social and cultural conditions have influenced these definitions. First, a review of evaluation reports from the last 3 decades identified three types of quality used to evaluate early childhood programs: (a) outcome-determined quality, (b) standards-based quality, and (c) developmental appropriateness. An analysis of questionnaire responses from evaluators and interviews with early childhood practitioners was also conducted in order to explore underlying social and cultural conditions of each quality definition. The authors conclude that, in order to be valid and meaningful, evaluation of early childhood programs should be based on in-depth understanding of dynamic program processes and diverse stakeholders’ perspectives on program quality. Evaluation should challenge and expand the dominant perspectives on early childhood program quality.

Proving Quality or Improving Quality: Who's Minding the Shop?

For decades early childhood teachers have been autonomous in ensuring they deliver quality programs for young children in their care. More recently, in some Australian states, shifts in educational policy and decentralisation of school administration have taken matters of quality assurance out of the hands f classroom teachers and given them to senior school administrators. This paper discusses current developments in professional teaching standards and how this approach might be used to assess the quality of early childhood programs at a school and individual level. Limitations of a standards framework are discussed, and the alternative ways of using standards that are put forward are more likely to result in improving quality in early childhood education.