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IES Grant

Title: Evaluating Quality Interactions in Preschool Classrooms Around Math: Development of a Video-based Observation Tool
Center: NCER Year: 2018
Principal Investigator: McCray, Jennifer Awardee: Erikson Institute
Program: Early Learning Programs and Policies      [Program Details]
Award Period: 4 years (08/01/2018 - 07/31/2022) Award Amount: $1,398,342
Type: Measurement Award Number: R305A180462
Description:

Co-Principal Investigator: Gaylor, Erika; Reid, Erin; Rutstein, Daisy

Purpose: The purpose of this project is to refine and then validate the Evaluating Quality Interactions in Preschool — Mathematics (EQUIP-M), a measure of mathematics instructional quality in preschool classrooms. Strong foundational math competencies serve children for their entire academic careers and beyond, yet math achievement gaps appear before school entry. Young children enter center-based care with an informal understanding of math concepts and knowledgeable and effective teachers can make connections between the children's informal knowledge and math competencies. The research team will use video observations of preschool classrooms to (i.e., Head Start and non-Head Start teachers and children) to identify exceptional math teaching and, ultimately, strengthen teacher-child interactions around math through coaching.

Project Activities: Researchers will refine and validate EQUIP-M for use in preschool programs to document the quality of mathematics instructional practices and processes that are associated with child outcomes. They will use secondary data and collect primary data to examine the validity of the measure. The research team will evaluate results from the EQUIP-M to identify the measurement model that best describes the observed patterns of instructional quality in Head Start and non-Head Start preschool classrooms.

Products: The research team will produce a technical guide and a practitioner's guide for the revised EQUIP-M and evidence of associations with child outcomes. Researchers will also produce peer-reviewed publications.

Structured Abstract

Setting: The project will take place in urban preschool classrooms in Illinois.

Sample: The sample will include Head-Start and non-Head Start preschool classrooms. The Head Start sample will consist of 160 teachers and 800 children from a current NSF-funded intervention research study. Researchers will recruit the non-Head Start sample with approximately 160 public and private preschool teachers, and approximately 800 3- to 5-year-old children in each teacher's classroom included. In total, the project will include approximately 320 teachers and 1,600 children.

Assessment: The EQUIP-M is a measure of mathematics instructional quality in preschool classrooms that researchers and professionals who supervise or coach preschool teachers can use to strengthen teacher-child interactions around mathematics. The EQUIP-M focuses on three domains of teacher and children's interactions during math instruction: teacher intentionality, teacher responsiveness, and student sense-making.

Research Design and Methods: The research team will investigate the EQUIP-M as an innovative measure of instructional quality that is associated with mathematics learning in the early years, and refine and validate the measure. In Years 1-2 (Phase I), researchers will evaluate teacher and children's interactions, captured by video observations of approximately 320 teachers (half Head Start teachers) and approximately 1,600 children (half Head Start students), using classical test theory, confirmatory factor analysis, and item response theory (IRT). These interactions will evaluate the theoretical structure of the measurement model along three constructs: teacher intentionality, teacher responsiveness, and student sense-making. In Years 3-4 (Phase II), researchers will test the extent to which EQUIP-M scores covary in expected directions with key teacher variables such as pedagogical knowledge and professional background characteristics. Researchers will also assess the predictive validity of EQUIP-M with standardized assessments of children's observed mathematical learning.

Control Condition: There is no control condition in this study.

Key Measures: Researchers will capture teacher-child interactions by video during scheduled math time, transcribe interactions for scoring. The research team will also collect teacher background information and Preschool Mathematics Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PMPCK). Direct child assessments include the PreLAS, the Research-Based Early Mathematics Assessment — Short Form, and the Applied Problems subtest of the Woodcock-Johnson III Achievement Test.

Data Analytic Strategy: Researchers will first refine the content of the measure and establish interrater reliability amongst ten coders. They will then evaluate the construct validity of the measure through classical test theory to examine dimensionality and measurement invariance between the Head Start and non-Head Start teachers. The research team will use an IRT framework to examine the psychometric functioning of the tool and generate factor scores. Finally, researchers will use the factor scores to evaluate the evidence supporting the intended uses and interpretations of the measure's scores. They will examine associations between the factor scores and teacher characteristics as evidence for concurrent validity as well as child outcomes as evidence for predictive validity.


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