Teacher, Child and Family Relationships: Supporting the Development of Infants/Toddlers

• In Event: Professional Development

Abstract

Introduction
Early learning occurs through interactive experiences between children and their caregivers and is also supported by relationships among caregivers; thus, the quality of these interactions contributes substantially to children’s outcomes. The “INTERVENTION” is implemented in center-based early childhood programs serving children and families. “INTERVENTION” strengthens relationships children have with adults and partnerships between parents and teachers. It supports young children’s learning via use of child-focused strategies (e.g., sustaining child interest; encouraging turn-taking; challenging/scaffolding; following child’s lead) by adults during interactions with children. It is also characterized by eight partnership strategies used by teachers during interactions with families. This study will describe key elements of the intervention and highlight the effect of the intervention on teacher-child relationships, and teacher-family partnerships to benefit children’s development.

Methods
The sample includes N=152 infants/toddlers (42.9% Hispanic/Latino; 14.44 months) and their families (23.7% < high school diploma; 19.1% HS diploma; 53.2% some college or more) who participated in two years of center-based childcare and their teachers, N=87 (49.4% Bachelor’s degree or higher). Families were eligible for services based on low-income status or child developmental needs. The presentation will explore outcomes of participants randomly assigned to the intervention condition compared to those in the comparison condition who received business-as-usual programming. Intervention effects on teachers’ responsive caregiving practices as measured by the Adult Involvement Scale (Howes, 1990), the Caregiver Interaction Scale (Arnett, 1989) and teacher-family relationships as measured by the Parent-Caregiver Relationship Scale (Elicker & Noppe, 1996) (Table 1) will be discussed. Longitudinal multilevel models (MLM; Raudenbush & Bryk, 2002) were used to determine the effect of the intervention. MLM is appropriate approach in this study due to nesting of children/families within teachers, uneven spacing of measurement occasions, and missing data due to attrition. This research approach is rigorous and methodologically robust. It allows the research team to suggest causal relationships between participation in “INTERVENTION” and significant one-on-one and global teacher-child interaction practices as well as teacher-family relationships.

Results
Over the course of two-year intervention period, teachers in the “INTERVENTION” group showed significantly greater gains in their observed responsive caregiving practices compared to teachers in the comparison condition. Global quality of classroom interactions improved. Additionally, parents in the “INTERVENTION” group experienced significantly greater rate of growth in parent-teacher collaboration over the intervention period, relative to those not receiving the intervention (Table 2).

Discussion
Many early childhood programs prioritize relationships between teachers and children as well as relationships between teachers and families. Though a priority, programs are often uncertain as to methods and specific evidence-based approaches for supporting these relationships. Limited information is currently available that details aligned home-child care practices to support children’s positive developmental outcomes. The results of this study describe an innovative method of advancing teacher-child and teacher-family relationships through a family-center partnership intervention as established through a rigorous research method and will include critical next steps in research to promote relationships.

Authors

• Lisa L Knoche, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
  Presenting Author

• HyeonJin Yoon, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

• Courtney Boise, University of North Florida

• Susan M. Sheridan, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

• Sandra Scruggs

• Evelyn Estrada Gonzalez