Classroom Quality Trajectories Throughout the Morning: Predicting Children's Social-Emotional Development With a Group-Based Multi-Trajectory Model

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Sunday 9:50 am Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Child Development and Learning Dynamics (Table 5)

Abstract

The current study examined whether classrooms group into different patterns of changes in process quality over the course of a morning using group-based multi-trajectory model (GBTM) in 218 preschool classrooms. We then tested associations between quality trajectory classes, structural quality (e.g., child/educator ratios and educator degrees) and children’s social emotional development. We found three subgroups of classrooms: the Low and Declining Group (13%), the Moderate and Middle Group (55%), and the High and Fluctuating Group (32%). Children from the Low and Declining Profile had more emotional problems than others. The dynamic aspect nature of quality raises questions about how it should be measured. Furthermore, the GBTM approach helps identify specific classrooms that should be prioritized in ECEC quality improvement initiatives.

Authors

• Zhangjing Luo, University of Toronto

• Samantha Burns, University of Guelph

• Calpanaa Jegatheeswaran, University of Toronto

• Michal Perlman, University of Toronto - OISE