Teacher Activity Orienting Predicts Preschoolers' Academic and Self-Regulatory Skills

Abstract

Research Findings: This observational study of preschoolers (N = 140) in their classrooms (N = 41) examined variation in teacher orienting (defined as explanations and demonstrations about the procedures and rationale behind activities, including center projects, to the whole group or to individual children) and associations between orienting and children's academic and self-regulation skills. Orienting to individual children rarely occurred, but significant variation between classrooms in whole-group orienting was present. Children who experienced higher amounts of whole-group orienting had higher scores on general knowledge, mathematics, emergent literacy, and self-regulation in the spring when we controlled for child- and classroom-level background variables, including children's fall pretest scores, teacher education, and experience. For expressive vocabulary, greater exposure to orienting predicted higher spring vocabulary for younger but not older preschoolers. Practice or Policy: The results indicate the importance of reducing classroom disparities in children's preschool experience and suggest that more attention should be paid to teachers' efforts to explain upcoming activities in whole-group settings. Finally, the interaction between orienting and child age for vocabulary suggests the need to consider both child characteristics and aspects of the context to identify the optimal preschool experiences for individual children.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This study was funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the National Science Foundation under Grants R01 HD27176 and 0111754, respectively, awarded to Frederick J. Morrison. This research was funded by a Rackham Predoctoral Dissertation Fellowship from the University of Michigan and by the Institute of Education Sciences U.S. Department of Education Award R305B040049 to Claire Cameron. The opinions expressed are our own and do not represent the views of these agencies. We thank the Pathways to Literacy Project members and staff for their important contributions and extend our sincere appreciation to the schools, teachers, and families that made this study possible. Thanks are also due to Center for Advanced Study of Teaching & Learning researchers, including Jennifer LoCasale-Crouch, Robert Pianta, and Sara Rimm-Kaufman, for their helpful comments in preparing the manuscript.

Notes

¹In addition, we analyzed a three-level HLM with the 140 children nested in 41 classrooms and the 41 classrooms nested in 20 teachers. The pattern of results was the same as for the two-level model, so for model parsimony and to save degrees of freedom, we report the findings from the two-level models with children nested within classrooms. The three-level results are available upon request.

Note. For classroom-level correlations, child variables were aggregated by and correlated with the four classroom variables. HTT = Head-to-Toes task.

†p < .10. *p < .05. **p < .01.

Note. Degrees of freedom are 36 for the intercept and classroom-level variables and 129 (128 for picture vocabulary) for child-level variables.

†p <.10. *p < .05. **p < .01.

Note. Percent variance explained (last column) was calculated by dividing the remaining variance at a particular level by the total original variance at that level and subtracting this value from 1. For example, for academic knowledge, 1 – (100.25/188.11) = 47%. HTT = Head-to-Toes task.

†p < .10. **p < .01.