Preschool Contexts and Teacher Interactions: Relations with School Readiness

ABSTRACT

The majority of early education programs promote children’s learning through a mix of experiences in child- and teacher-managed contexts. The current study examined time spent in child- and teacher-managed contexts and the nature of children’s experiences with teachers in these contexts as they relate to children’s skill development. Participants were preschool children (N = 283, M age = 52 months, 48% girls, 70% Mexican or Mexican American) from families of a lower socioeconomic status. Observations captured children’s time in child- and teacher-managed contexts and experiences with teachers in each context. School readiness was assessed directly and through teacher reports. Research Findings: Time spent in teacher-managed contexts was positively related to children’s academic and social skill development. Experiences in child-managed context predicted vocabulary, math, and social skills when teachers were directly involved with children. Overall, the findings suggest that teacher engagement is related to positive outcomes even during child-managed activities. Practice or Policy: Given these findings, preservice and professional development programs for early childhood educators should have a component that focuses on how to enhance the teacher’s role during child-managed activities.

Acknowledgments

We express our appreciation to the graduate students, research assistants, and staff who have assisted with this project. We also thank the Head Start families and teachers who participated in the study.

Funding

The research reported here was supported by Grant No. 1R01HD045816 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to Arizona State University. This research was also supported in part by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant No. R305B130013 to the University of Virginia. The opinions expressed are our own and do not represent views of the U.S. Department of Education.

Notes

^1. In the current study the proportion of time spent in the child- and teacher-managed contexts sums to 1. In other words, more time spent in the child-managed context results in less time spent in the teacher-managed context. Thus, a significant positive relation between time spent in the teacher-managed context and readiness outcomes is mathematically equivalent to a significant negative relation between time spent in the child-managed context and readiness outcomes. Accordingly, we would expect a significant negative relation between time spent in the child-managed context and children’s vocabulary, literacy, and mathematics skill development in the current study.

^2. The variable of teacher interactions characterized as play within the teacher-managed context was skewed and kurtotic because of a low occurrence within this context (see Table 1). Thus, the first model examining teacher interactions within the teacher-managed context, including play, failed to converge. The second model, excluding play, also failed to converge, indicating issues with the standard errors for the direct assessment variables (WJ-III). Thus, a model was analyzed excluding play as a predictor and outcomes for the direct assessment of children’s vocabulary (WJ-III Word Identification), literacy (WJ-III Passage Comprehension), and mathematics skills (WJ-III Applied Problems). The final model was a good fit to the data, χ²(18) = 25.85, p = .10, N = 283, CFI = .99, RMSEA = .04, SRMR = .01. A follow-up model was run examining only the direct assessments regressed on teacher interactions characterized as conversation and instruction within the teacher-managed context; however, this model had poor fit to the data, χ²(92) = 1,168.21, p = .00, N = 283, CFI = .17, RMSEA = .21, SRMR = .18.

Additional information

Funding

The research reported here was supported by Grant No. 1R01HD045816 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to Arizona State University. This research was also supported in part by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant No. R305B130013 to the University of Virginia. The opinions expressed are our own and do not represent views of the U.S. Department of Education.