Connecting Head Start Teachers’ Well-Being to Children’s School Readiness (Poster 9)

• In Event: AERA Promising Scholarship in Education Research: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research
  In Invited Poster Session: AERA Promising Scholarship in Education Research: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research Poster Session

Abstract

High-quality early childhood education opportunities are made possible by early educators who, unfortunately, are often paid low wages and experience challenges to their wellbeing. These challenges are common even in Head Start, the federal program designed to support the school readiness of children from the lowest-income families. This study uses longitudinal, nationally representative Head Start data to ask whether teachers’ depressive symptoms and job satisfaction are associated with early cognitive outcomes that are essential to children’s later learning, including their executive function, math, literacy, and language skills. Findings will provide new information about teacher wellbeing that can be used to consider which investments in Head Start are likely to build promotive, equitable learning conditions for young children.

Author

• Melanie Seyarto, University of California - Los Angeles