Validating the Simple Interactions Tool as a Measure of Interaction Quality in Early Education and Care Settings

• In Event: Advancing the Measurement of Early Care and Education Quality to Support Young Children’s Development

Abstract

Developmental research has consistently found that early education and care settings characterized by high-quality interactions between adults and children have important and long-lasting consequences for children’s academic and social-emotional development (Burchinal et al., 2008; Hamre, 2014; Peisner-Feinberg et al., 2001). Yet, there is much less consensus on how these interactions can and should be measured. Researchers have traditionally relied on a variety of tools that measure both global and micro-level features of interactional quality (Christopher & Farran, 2020; Harms et al., 1998; Mashburn et al., 2008). The present study introduces the Simple Interactions Tool, a measure rooted in practice that aims to capture the nuance and complexity that characterize dyadic interactions between adults and children across early education and care contexts. Specifically, we document trends in Simple Interactions scores across different types of early education settings and then examine the relationship between these scores and other measures of quality and children’s development.

The Simple Interactions Tool (Li, 2014; Akiva et. al., 2020) was developed as a strengths-focused approach with the explicit purpose of capturing developmental interactions in everyday practice. Since the tool was originally developed and used for practice, it is structured in a way that aims to distil the characteristics of high-quality interactions into four simple and easy-to-interpret dimensions. The selection of these dimensions was informed by and grounded in Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) theory that optimal dyadic interactions are characterized by four key criteria: 1) a strong and enduring emotional attachment, 2) reciprocal activity, 3) a shifting balance of power, and 4) progressive complexity. Additionally, one of the key tenets of this framework is that multiple observations are required to glean an in-depth understanding of interactional quality.

In the present study, raters were trained to observe classrooms using the Simple Interactions Tool by assessing the quality of adult-child interactions up to five times per classroom across four dimensions: Connection, Reciprocity, Inclusion, and Opportunity to Grow. Average classroom dimension scores were generated by averaging all scores from individual observations within each classroom. The sample included 974 educators distributed across 627 early childhood and kindergarten classrooms participating in a longitudinal population study of early education and care in Massachusetts. The sample included classrooms in community-based center, family child care, Head Start, and school-based programs. Table 1 presents classroom-level descriptive characteristics of the sample of educators and caregivers, overall and by education and care type. Direct assessments and assessor ratings captured the academic, social-emotional, and executive functioning skills of children in these classrooms.

Analyses presented in Table 2 suggest there are differences in dimension scores across different education and care types. The final presentation will present the full results, examining the relationship between scores on the Simple Interactions Tool and other measures of classroom quality, as well as associations with children’s academic, social-emotional, and executive functioning skills.

Authors

• Lily S Fritz, Harvard University
  Presenting Author

• Emily Hanno, MDRC (Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation) - New York City
  Non-Presenting Author

• Junlei Li, Harvard University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Stephanie M Jones, Harvard Graduate School of Education
  Non-Presenting Author

• Nonie K Lesaux, Harvard Graduate School of Education
  Non-Presenting Author