Preschool Teachers' Sense of Community, Instructional Quality, and Children's Language and Literacy Gains

Abstract

Research Findings: This study investigated relations among preschool teachers' (n = 75) sense of community, classroom language and literacy instructional quality, and children's (n = 398) gains in vocabulary and print concept knowledge during an academic year. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) results indicated that teachers' language and literacy instructional quality significantly predicted children's gains in print concept knowledge. Also, HLM results revealed significant interactions among teachers' sense of community, language and literacy instructional quality, and vocabulary and print concept knowledge gains. Higher levels of teachers' sense of community were associated with greater gains in children's vocabulary and print concept knowledge when children were in classrooms with higher quality language and literacy instruction. Practice or Policy: Findings underscore the importance of evaluating both language and literacy instructional quality and teachers' sense of community when considering high-quality preschool education.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research was supported in part by Grant No. R305G050057 from the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. The content of this article does not necessarily demonstrate the position or policy of the Institute of Education Sciences, nor does it imply any official endorsement. We are very grateful to the children, families, teachers, and administrators who participated in this project.

Notes

Note. Collegiality score, Influence score, and Global sense of community score are from the Teacher's Sense of the School as Community Questionnaire (Battistich et al., 1997); Language and literacy instructional quality is from the Early Language and Literacy Classroom Observation (Smith & Dickinson, 2002).

Note. RW = raw score; SS = standard score; PPVT = Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test–III; PWPA = Preschool Word and Print Awareness.

^a Whether teachers were in a Head Start program.

*p < .05; **p < .001.

Note. Results with robust standard errors are reported. L & L = Language and Literacy; Vocabulary = Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test–III; Print Concept Knowledge = Preschool Word and Print Awareness assessment; Time 2 = spring; Time 1 = fall.

Note. Results with robust standard errors are reported. L & L = Language and Literacy; Vocabulary = Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test III; Print Concept Knowledge = Preschool Word and Print Awareness assessment; Time 2 = spring; Time 1 = fall.