Capturing What Matters: Measuring the ‘Active Ingredients’ in Public Early Childhood Programs

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

The most commonly-used measures to monitor and improve early childhood education (ECE) program quality are only weakly and inconsistently predictive of the child learning outcomes ECE programs aim to boost (Burchinal, 2018; Gordon et al., 2013; Weiland et al., 2013). Scholars have thus called for research on newer measures that capture ‘active ingredients’ driving preschool quality and improvements in child outcomes. The proposed panel takes on this challenge.

Paper 1 uses data from Illinois to analyze the most commonly-used measure of ECE classroom quality and examines why it may not be consistently predictive of child learning. Although the preschool version of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS PreK) is commonly used in research, practice and policy, including for high stakes, this paper finds scores vary dramatically by rater and timing and content of observation.

Paper 2 draws on data from a large-scale population-based study of preschoolers in Massachusetts to link thresholds in micro-features of ECE quality - including instructional quality, teacher tone, and child involvement – to children’s academic, language, and social-emotional skills.

Paper 3 focuses on specific but understudied features of pre-k that promote children’s self-regulatory skills. Using data from an ongoing longitudinal evaluation of the at-scale Tulsa, OK public pre-k program, the authors find negative associations between teacher dismissive and controlling behavior and children’s self-regulation outcomes.

The proposed panel features scholars from a diverse set of disciplines – education, sociology, psychology – with discussion led by a policy analyst in the federal DHHS that administers Head Start and public ECE funding.

Sub Unit

• School Readiness/Childcare

Chair

• Anna D. Johnson, Georgetown University

Discussant

• Nina M Philipsen, Office of Planning Research and Evaluation

Individual Presentations

• Reliability and Validity of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System, Pre-K Using Full-Day/Full-Week Video Streams - Presenting Author: Rachel A. Gordon, Northern Illinois University; Non-Presenting Author: Julia Bates, University of Illinois at Chicago; Non-Presenting Author: Fang Peng, University of Illinois at Chicago; Non-Presenting Author: Kate Zinsser, University of Illinois at Chicago; Non-Presenting Author: Kathleen Sheridan, University of Illinois at Chicago; Non-Presenting Author: Catherine Main, University of Illinois at Chicago; Non-Presenting Author: Shiming Chen, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Thresholds In Micro-Features Of Process Quality In Early Education And Care - Presenting Author: Katie Gonzalez, Mathematica; Non-Presenting Author: Emily Hanno, MDRC (Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation) - New York City; Non-Presenting Author: Rosa Guzman, Harvard University; Non-Presenting Author: Nonie K Lesaux, Harvard Graduate School of Education; Non-Presenting Author: Stephanie M Jones, Harvard Graduate School of Education

• First Do No Harm: Classroom Predictors of Self-Regulation Development - Presenting Author: Deborah A Phillips, Georgetown University; Non-Presenting Author: Anna D. Johnson, Georgetown University; Non-Presenting Author: Jane Hutchison, Georgetown University; Non-Presenting Author: Anne Martin, Georgetown University; Non-Presenting Author: Sherri L Castle, University of Oklahoma