Classroom Quality and Time Allocation in Tulsas Early Childhood Programs

1
Classroom Quality and Time Allocation in Tulsas
Early Childhood Programs

• Deborah Phillips, William T. Gormley, and Amy
  Lowenstein
• Georgetown University
• Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in
  Child Development
• Boston, MA, March 30, 2007

2
Introduction

• Several states have established universal
  pre-Kindergraten (UPK) programs in recent years
• UPK established in Oklahoma in 1998
• Reaches more 4-year-olds than any other program
  (U.S. GAO, 2004)
• Rigorous classroom quality requirements
• Impressive learning gains documented for
  4-year-olds in Oklahomas UPK program (Gormley,
  Gayer, Phillips, Dawson, 2005)
• What accounts for these learning gains?

3
Focus

• Classroom quality (Classroom Assessment Scoring
  System CLASS) and time allocation (Emerging
  Academics Snapshot)
• Tulsa pre-K vs. Tulsa Head Start
• Tulsa pre-K vs. national sample of school-based
  pre-K
• Tulsa Head Start vs. national Head Start sample
• Predictors of Tulsa pre-K classroom quality and
  time allocation

4
Expectations Program Quality

• School-based preschool programs are of higher
  quality than child care programs (Goodson Moss,
  1992 Phillips, Voran, Kisker, Howes,
  Whitebook, 1994)
• Head Start programs fall in middle of spectrum
  (Barnett et al., 2005 Goodson Moss, 1992)
• Pre-K programs characterized by wide variation in
  quality and time allocation (Clifford et al.,
  2005 Early et al., 2006)

5
Expectations Key Elements of Quality

• Child-centered, flexible instructional practices
• Time spent on explicit subject matter learning
• Clear and efficient time management and classroom
  organization
• Opportunities for child-teacher conversation
• Warm classroom climate
• (Bowman, Donovan, Burns, 2001 Howes Ritchie,
  2002 Stipek
• Byler, 2003)

6
Expectations Predictors of Pre-K Quality

• Teacher education and training
• BA plus early childhood training related to
  quality (Pianta et al., 2005)
• Neither BA degree alone nor state certification
  in 4-year-old education related to quality (Early
  et al., 2006)
• Teacher experience
• Years of experience teaching 4-year-olds related
  to global quality, as assessed by ECERS-R (Pianta
  et al., 2005)
• Curricular choices
• Are some curricula more effective than others?

7
Methods

• Classroom observations Feb.-May, 2006
• 77 pre-K classrooms run by Tulsa Public Schools
  (TPS)
• 28 4-year-old Head Start classrooms run by
  Community Action Project (CAP) of Tulsa County
• Observers 8 University of Tulsa students
• Observed from student arrival until lunch

8
Methods

• Observation instruments
• Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS,
  Pianta, La Paro, Hamre, 2004)
• Instructional support, Emotional support,
  Classroom management
• 11 dimensions
• 7-point scale Low (1), High (7)
• Emerging Academics Snapshot, Child Engagement
  section (Ritchie, Howes, Kraft-Sayre, Weiser,
  2002)
• Time individual children spend engaged in any of
  15 activities (e.g., reading, math, science)
• Teacher background information
• Questionnaire

9
Methods

• Intra-Tulsa comparisons Difference of means,
  t-tests
• Tulsa-National comparisons Difference of means,
  t-tests
• 11-state study, National Center for Early
  Development and Learning (NCEDL)
• Predictors of pre-K quality, time allocation OLS
  regression

10
(No Transcript)
11
(No Transcript)
12
(No Transcript)
13
(No Transcript)
14
(No Transcript)
15
(No Transcript)
16
(No Transcript)
17
(No Transcript)
18
(No Transcript)
19
(No Transcript)
20
(No Transcript)
21
(No Transcript)
22
(No Transcript)
23
(No Transcript)
24
(No Transcript)
25
(No Transcript)
26
(No Transcript)
27
(No Transcript)
28
(No Transcript)
29
(No Transcript)
30
(No Transcript)
31
(No Transcript)
32
(No Transcript)
33
Conclusions Classroom Quality and Time Allocation

• Tulsa pre-K devotes more time to practicing
  letters and sounds and math than Tulsa Head Start
• Tulsa pre-K scores higher on Instructional
  Support than national sample of school-based
  pre-K
• Tulsa pre-K devotes more time to reading, math,
  and science than national sample of school-based
  pre-K
• Tulsa Head Start scores higher on Instructional
  Support than national sample of Head Start
  programs
• Tulsa Head Start devotes more time to reading,
  math, and science than national sample of Head
  Start programs

34
Conclusions Predictors of Classroom Quality and
Time Allocation

• Teachers who speak Spanish Stronger emotional
  support
• New teachers Lower student engagement, more time
  on student reading, less time on expressive
  language skills
• Experienced teachers Stronger classroom
  management, more time on student reading
• Direct Instruction curriculum Stronger classroom
  management
• Waterford Curriculum More time practicing
  letters and sounds
• TPS Framework Less time on student reading
• Tulsa Reads Less time reading to students, more
  time practicing letters and sounds

35
Center for Research on Children in the U.S.
(CROCUS)

• http//www.crocus.georgetown.edu/