A Validation Study of the Assessing Classroom Sociocultural Equity Scale (ACSES) in Pre-Kindergarten to Third Grade Classrooms

ABSTRACT

Research Findings: Despite widespread calls to advance equity in early childhood classrooms, there are few observational measures of equitable classroom processes that can be used for academic research or professional development for teachers. In this study, we investigate the psychometric properties of an observational measure of equitable sociocultural interactions, the Assessing Classroom Sociocultural Equity Scale (ACSES 2.0). Videos (n = 348) were coded from Pre-Kindergarten to third-grade classrooms in an urban city in the Midwest. Descriptive results indicated that teachers rarely engaged in instructional activities focused on racial equity or fairness and infrequently connected lessons to children’s home lives. ACSES showed convergent validity with a widely used measure of teacher–child interactions, the CLASS. Specifically, higher levels of Inequitable Discipline predicted higher levels of CLASS Negative Climate (r(138)=.359, p < .01), and higher levels of Inequitable Discipline predicted lower scores across all other CLASS dimensions. Exploratory factor analysis supported a seven-factor solution for ACSES. Practice or Policy: The results support the usage of ACSES in Pre-Kindergarten and early elementary settings. The implications of ACSES for both research and practice are discussed.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The video with two children showed a small group activity.

2. The calendar dates of the ACSES reliability trainings are reported because the ACSES reliability trainings were modified in 2021 to reflect refined item definitions and scoring.