Teacher Depression and Child Math Achievement: The Roles of Teacher-Parent Relationships and Approaches to Learning

• In Event: Early Education Programs, Teacher Well-Being, and Children's Development

Abstract

According to the Prosocial Classroom Model (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009), teachers’ social emotional competence and well-being are associated with teacher-child interactions and relationships which in turn predict children’s positive social, emotional, and academic outcomes. Empirical studies in early care and education (ECE) have supported this model; the psychological well-being of teachers is associated with classroom quality, and children’s social emotional outcomes (Jeon, Buetter, Snyder, 2014; Roberts, LoCasale-Crouch, Hamre, & DeCoster, 2016). Even though prior studies have demonstrated associations between teachers’ depressive symptoms and children’s social-emotional outcomes through classroom quality in ECE settings, little research has examined how teachers’ depressive symptoms affect children’s growth in academic achievement over a year. Additionally, research which identifies or explicates other possible mechanisms through which teachers’ depressive symptoms may affect children’s academic achievement may enable researchers and practitioners to craft strategic interventions to mitigate these negative effects. For example, teacher-parent relationships in ECE programs have been considered an important component of overall partnerships between the program and family as a mechanism to optimize children’s learning skills and academic achievement (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2018). Therefore, the present study examined the direct and indirect effects of teachers’ depressive symptoms on children’s growth in math achievement through teacher-parent relationships and children’s approaches to learning.

Data for the present study is from the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) 2014 cohort (Klein et al., 2017). This study included 1547 children who attended Head Start (HS) from fall 2014 through spring 2015 and who were nested within 212 classrooms. This study employed a multilevel mediation model (2-2-1-1) to examine the direct and indirect paths from teacher depression to children’s math achievement through teacher-parent relationships and children’s approaches to learning skills. For teacher-level variables, we used teacher-reported depression symptoms (Center for Epidemiologic Studies–Depression Scale, Radloff, 1977) and teacher-parent relationships (Family Provider/Teacher relationships question short form, Kim et al., 2015). For child-level variables, we used teacher-reported children’s approaches to learning skills (ECLS-K Approaches to Learning Scale, U.S. Department of Education, 2002) and children’s math skills which were directly assessed using (1) the Applied Problems subscale of the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement, third edition (W-J III; Woodcock, McGrew, & Mather, 2001) and (2) the math assessment from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study birth cohort and kindergarten cohort (ECLS-B and ECLS-K; Snow et al., 2007; U.S. Department of Education, 2002). Child, family, and teacher characteristics as well as classroom quality were used as covariates.

Results indicated that teachers’ depressive symptoms directly influenced growth in children’s math skills over a year and indirectly influenced children’s math achievement through teacher-parent relationships and children’s growth in approaches to learning in HS programs after controlling for covariates (see Figure 1). Results suggested that promoting teachers’ well-being may be important as a means for supporting teacher-parent partnerships and children’s developmental outcomes in ECE programs which serve children from low-income families. Thus, interventions that target teacher well-being and parent-teacher relationships may foster preschoolers’ approaches to learning and early math skills.

Authors

• Shinyoung Jeon, University of Oklahoma

• Lieny Jeon, Johns Hopkins University

• Sarah Lang, The Ohio State University

• Kaitlyn Newell, CAP Tulsa