Preschool Classroom Age Composition and Literacy Environment: Influences on Children’s Language and Literacy Outcomes

• In Event: Examining proximal and distal factors that promote kindergarten readiness among preschool children in the United States

Abstract

Background. Language and literacy acquisition during preschool has lasting impacts on children’s development, including their later reading ability (Pullen & Justice, 2003). Classroom environments have been implicated in contributing to how children acquire skills in these domains (Guo et al., 2012). Specifically, classroom age composition (i.e., percentage of younger, same age, or older peers) is associated with children’s early learning (Justice et al., 2019). However, the mechanisms underlying these relations are unknown. The current study aims to advance our knowledge by (1) examining the associations between classroom age composition and different elements of the classroom literacy environment and (2) assessing the extent to which different elements of the classroom literacy environment mediate the associations between classroom age composition and children’s language/literacy outcomes.
Method. Participants were 895 4-year-old preschoolers and 223 teachers from the Professional Development Study (Pianta & Burchinal, 2007-2011), a longitudinal, randomized controlled trial targeting teachers’ instructional practices. Although professional development was offered in the first two phases of the study, we controlled for these conditions and used non-experimental data from phase 3.
Predictor. Age composition was collected through a teacher-report of the number of 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds in their classroom. Percentages of each age group per classroom were then estimated with the percentage of 2- and 3-year-olds being combined.
Outcomes. Child literacy outcomes were assessed with the Test of Preschool Early Literacy Phonological Awareness and Print Knowledge subtests (Lonigan et al., 2007). Expressive language was measured with the Woodcock-Johnson Picture Vocabulary subtest (Woodcock et al., 2001). Receptive language was measured with the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (Dunn & Dunn, 1997).
Mediators. Classroom literacy environments were evaluated using the Early Language and Literacy Observation Tool’s Literacy Environment Checklist (ELLCO; Smith & Dickinson, 2002). With this instrument, observers indicated whether classrooms contained different reading and writing resources. We used the 5 subscales (24 items): Book Area, Book Selection, Book Use, Writing Materials, and Writing Around the Room (WAR).
Covariate-adjusted regression analyses and indirect path models were estimated using MPlus. Full information maximum likelihood estimation was used to address missing data, and clustered standard errors were used to account for classroom-level nesting.
Results.
Aim 1. On average, classrooms with more younger (3-year-old) children had less book use (B= -0.15, p< 0.05), writing materials (B= -0.18, p< 0.01), and WAR (B= -0.37, p< 0.001) compared with classrooms with more same age (4-year-old) children (see Table 1).
Aim 2. Mediation analyses revealed that children in classrooms with a greater proportion of younger peers (vs. same age peers) demonstrated less optimal gains in expressive vocabulary in part because there were fewer WAR materials (Bindirect= -0.013, p< 0.05; see Table 2).
Discussion. These findings suggest that preschool classrooms with a higher proportion of younger children provide less language and literacy materials in the classroom, and that this may be a mechanism that connects age composition to children’s vocabulary development. Findings have implications for creating effective preschool classroom configurations to promote optimal child development.

Authors

• Caroline Paige Bartholomew, Ohio State University
  Presenting Author

• Qingqing Yang, Ohio State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kelly M Purtell, Ohio State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Arya Ansari, Ohio State University
  Non-Presenting Author