Assessing the quality in different U.S. early childhood education programs (original) (raw)
Related papers
1997
The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS) tracks children throughout the country as they move from kindergarten through fifth grade. As part of the ECLS planning process, the possibility was considered of assessing the program environments of Head Start children before they entered the ECLS kindergartens. A review was conducted of selected large-scale studies of Head Start, Chapter 1, child care, and other preschool settings to ascertain the important dimensions of children's program experience and to recommend ways of measuring those dimensions. This paper reviews those dimensions and measures of early childhood program environments that could be used in studies of preschool program effects on children's development. Following an introduction, chapter 2 of the review defines the important dimensions of program environments, drawing largely from research on early care and education program quality and from Head Start practices as reflected in the Head Start Performance Standards and performance measures. The five dimensions discussed are (1) classroom dynamics; (2) classroom structure; (3) classroom staff characteristics; (4) administration and support services; (5) parent involvement. Existing measures are also described. Chapter 3 summarizes findings from the 11 studies in which these measures have been used and suggests implications for future research. Chapter 4 presents recommendations for measures to use in future research. Two appendices include a summary of selected studies of Head Start and other early childhood program environments and descriptions of observational instruments. (HTH)
EVALUATING THE QUALITY OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION PROGRAMS
2011
In this paper we review efforts to find measures that can evaluate the quality of early childhood education, an effort that has been complicated by the very different histories and missions of programs in this field. We split the types of early childhood education programs in the United States into two types: ones with a caring mission (child care) and those with a compensatory education mission (prekindergarten and Head Start). The original measures of quality developed to assess child care environments helped to bring attention to the needs of young children and made states aware of their responsibilities to do more than just make sure these locations were healthy and safe. These quality measures have not, however, transferred effectively to programs with a compensatory education mission. For those programs, the clear implication of their mission is that children's academic outcomes must be improved. The academic outcomes found to be most important for later school success are math, reading (language/literacy) and attention.
Five perspectives on quality in early childhood programs
1993
This monograph on quality in early childhood programs contains two parts: an exploratory essay on the subject and an annotated bibliography selected from a search of the ERIC data base from 1985 through April 1993. The essay examines five perspectives on assessing the quality of early childhood programs. A top-down perspective on quality assessment identifies selected characteristics of a program, such as adult-child ratios and staff qualifications. A
Patterns of classroom quality in Head Start and center-based early childhood education programs
2016
The National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance (NCEE) conducts unbiased large-scale evaluations of education programs and practices supported by federal funds; provides research-based technical assistance to educators and policymakers; and supports the synthesis and the widespread dissemination of the results of research and evaluation throughout the United States.
Applied Developmental Science, 2005
Multi-State Pre-Kindergarten Study to examine the extent to which program, classroom, and teacher attributes of the program ecology predict observed quality and teacher-child interactions in a sample of 238 classrooms representing 6 states' pre-kindergarten programs. Quality was assessed observationally at the global level and for specific teaching practices. Quality was lower in classrooms with more than 60% of the children from homes below the poverty line, when teachers lacked formal training (or a degree) in early childhood education, and held less child-centered beliefs. Program and teacher attributes were statistically significant, albeit quite modest, predictors of observed quality. Location of the program in a school building, child:staff ratio, and length of day had no relation to quality. State-level factors not attributable to the teacher, program, and classroom factors examined accounted for the majority of explained variance in observed quality. Results suggest that the association between distal features of programs and teachers and quality in pre-kindergarten is more similar to elementary school settings than to child care settings and that quality appears most closely related to proximal teacher and child characteristics.
Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 2005
The purpose of the current study was to examine the psychometric properties of the ECERS-R with a large sample (1313 classrooms). We explored both the seven subscales and the possibility of fewer distinct aspects of quality being measured by the scale. The large sample size allowed both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to be performed. The results showed two distinct factors, Activities/Materials (9 items) and Language/Interaction (7 items), which accounted for 69% of the variance. High internal consistency scores, a moderate correlation between the factors, and a strong correlation between the combined factors and the overall ECERS-R score suggested these were distinct factors that could serve as a proxy for the larger scale. Structural aspects of quality and teacher education were examined in relation to the new factors and the overall score. Implications for practitioners and future research suggestions are provided. Measurement of Quality 3 Measurement of Quality in Preschool Child Care Classrooms: The Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised and its' Psychometric Properties The Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R) (Harms, Clifford, & Cryer, 1998) is perhaps the most frequently used measure of process quality in early childhood settings. Process quality typically includes dimensions of quality such as staff-child interactions and child-child interactions and activities, as well as health and safety practices (Vandell & Wolfe, 2000), all of which are included in the ECERS-R. The relationship between process quality in child care and children's development has been clearly demonstrated. Vandell and Wolfe (2000) found short term and long-term effects of process quality on children's development: Preschoolers in child care centers with better process quality had fewer reported behavioral problems, and performed better in math through second grade; these effects held even for children with less-educated mothers. Higher process quality is consistently related to children's cognitive and language skills (
Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 2007
In the past decade in the United States, pre-kindergarten programs for four year olds have expanded rapidly as a potentially powerful intervention intended to promote school readiness for children at-risk for future school failure. This paper describes in detail multi-dimensional profiles of observed quality across 692 classrooms in 11 states representing 80% of these available programs and examines teacher, program, and classroom characteristics associated in these profiles. Cluster analysis enabled the detection of patterns that fit profiles of high and low overall emotional and instructional support along with "mid-range" patterns in which emotional support is somewhat higher than instructional support. Associations between teacher characteristics and program characteristics were generally not significant. However, the poorest quality profile was associated with classroom poverty level, suggesting that the children who need the highest quality educational experiences have teachers who are struggling the most to provide it.