Seeking Advice in Pre-K Programs: Association between Workplace Networks and Teaching Experiences over Time

• In Event: 3-022 - Seeking Advice in Schools: Understanding Social Network Ties among Educators

Integrative Statement

Increasingly, cities are expanding access to public pre-kindergarten programs as a means of supporting families and enhancing young children’s school readiness (National Institute for Early Education Research, 2016; https://tryingtogether.org/). As a result, attention to professional development for pre-k teachers has intensified (Allen & Kelly, 2015). One aspect of professional development entails teachers’ workplace interactions. Unlike one-time workshops or intermittent coaching, workplace interactions can provide job-related support, guidance, and problem-solving on an ongoing basis (Little, 2003; Sun et al., 2013). For k-12 schools, instrumental ties among teachers (i.e., interactions that involve work-related content) have been demonstrated to relate to teachers’ job satisfaction and teaching efficacy as well as use of effective teaching practices (Daly, 2010; Parise & Spillane, 2010). Given these findings, understanding and promoting instrumental ties may contribute to ongoing professional development for teachers (Moolenar, 2012). To date, however, no known research has used network methods to examine pre-k teachers’ instrumental ties and associations with their teaching experiences over time.

The current study capitalizes on a representative sample of early childhood education sites in a large urban district that recently expanded pre-k to serve all four-year-olds citywide. Using teacher surveys and social network methods, we aim to: (1) describe pre-k teachers’ involvement in their school advice networks, and (2) investigate the association between pre-k teachers’ fall outdegree (i.e., advice-seeking) and spring teaching experiences of teaching efficacy, collective efficacy, orientation to innovation, job satisfaction, job commitment, and burnout.

The sample includes 280 lead and assistant teachers from 43 early childhood education centers from nine strategically sampled communities within a large urban district. Data were collected in the fall and spring of 2016-2017. In addition to completing questions about demographics and scales on teaching experiences, respondents completed social network questions on advice-seeking. Center directors provided a full list of staff involved in the educational mission of their program, including teachers, administrators, family workers, and others, to capture the breadth of advice networks. We calculated outdegree as the number of colleagues identified by the participant divided by the total number of available colleagues. Due to the nested nature of the data, a mixed effects model with random pre-k center intercepts was specified to test Aim 2.

On average, teachers sought advice from 25 percent of their colleagues (SD = 0.24), with some variation by teaching position, school type, and education level (see Figure 1 for an example of a pre-k program advice network). As presented in Table 1, teachers’ outdegree was a significant predictor of teaching efficacy (B = 0.18, p < 0.05), job satisfaction (B = 0.18, p < 0.05), collective efficacy (B = 0.30, p < 0.01), and commitment (B = 0.16, p < 0.01). These results were maintained in sensitivity analysis. No consistent, significant associations were detected between outdegree and orientation to innovation or burnout. Results suggest the potential importance of advice networks for pre-k teachers’ experiences over time, and the need to consider these networks in broader professional development initiatives to support teaching and child outcomes.

Authors

• Elise Cappella, New York University
  Presenting Author

• Travis Cramer, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author