Patterns of Quality in Head Start and Center-Based Early Education Classrooms

• In Event: 30.052 - Early Childhood Program Quality and Assessment

Abstract

Latent profile analysis (LPA) was used to explore whether multiple measures, each designed to address one aspect of classroom quality, could collectively differentiate early childhood classrooms in both a consistent and substantively meaningful way. Using data from the Head Start Impact Study from 2002/03, Head Start and center-based early childhood classrooms were grouped into three distinct classroom quality groups. Each of the three classroom quality groups displays a different pattern of quality—good, fair, and poor. Classroom quality measures determined by independent observers were found to distinguish classroom quality patterns better than self-report measures.

Authors

• Clare Waterman Irwin, Education Development Center, Inc.

• John P Madura, University of Connecticut

• David Bamat, Education Development Center

• Paul A. McDermott, University of Pennsylvania