The Racial/Ethnic Composition of Preschool Classrooms, Peer Interactions, and Children's Language Development (Poster 7)

• In Event: AERA Poster Session 9
  In Poster Session: Critical Issues in Early Childhood Education (San Diego)

Abstract

This study examined the extent to which two aspects of classroom racial/ethnic composition, diversity and match, are associated with children’s language skills and the extent to which aspects of peer interactions account for these associations. Data were drawn from 895 children from the Teacher Professional Development Study conducted by the National Center for Research on Early Childhood Education (Hamre et al., 2012). Results from covariate-adjusted regression models revealed that classroom racial/ethnic diversity was associated with larger gains in expressive vocabulary, and proportion of same racial/ethnic peers was associated with fewer gains in receptive vocabulary. And although classroom diversity was negatively associated with both positive peer interactions and negative peer interactions, there was no evidence of mediation.

Authors

• Kathryn Zimmermann, Ohio State University

• Arya Ansari, The Ohio State University