Skip Navigation
Funding Opportunities | Search Funded Research Grants and Contracts

IES Grant

Title: Moving Beyond the Average: Building a Comprehensive Model of Classroom Quality That Incorporates Children's Individual Experiences
Center: NCER Year: 2020
Principal Investigator: Soliday Hong, Sandra Awardee: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Program: Early Learning Programs and Policies      [Program Details]
Award Period: 2 years (08/01/2020 – 07/31/2022) Award Amount: $594,427
Type: Exploration Award Number: R305A200308
Description:

Co-Principal Investigator: Sabol, Terri

Purpose: This project explored how individual children's engagement varied within classrooms and the degree to which variation in child engagement was associated with children's outcomes. Specifically, the research team (i) evaluated the degree to which the quality of children's engagement with teachers and academic content varied within individual children and within classrooms; (ii) related average quality of engagement at the child and classroom levels with child outcomes; and (iii) explored variation in child engagement related to race, ethnicity, and dual language learner status. In sum, this project assessed the extent to which children's individual engagement, above and beyond average engagement, may serve as a malleable target for early childhood education interventions.

Project Activities: Researchers examined the relationship between individual children's engagement within classrooms and child outcomes. They completed a series of secondary data analyses to unpack these relationships.

Key Outcomes: The main findings of this project will be shared once they are publicly available in peer-reviewed publications.

Structured Abstract

Setting: This study drew from three datasets that represent children's pre-kindergarten experiences in varied locations across the country: the National Center for Early Development and Learning (NCEDL) Multi-State Study of Pre-Kindergarten, the State-Wide Early Education Programs Study (SWEEP), and the Los Angeles Exploring Children's Early Learning Settings (LAExCELS) datasets.

Sample: The studies included families from middle- and low-income socioeconomic contexts, as well as racial, ethnic, and linguistic diversity. A total of 701 programs and classrooms and 2,962 children are included in the Multi-State and SWEEP datasets.

Factor:  The malleable factor explored in this project was individual child engagement in academic content and experiences with teachers.

Research Design and Methods: The researchers examined direct classroom observations, time-sampling of child engagement, and child assessments in this study. They used secondary data analyses to examine if children's average engagement, variability in engagement, and cross-content interactions in center-based preschool settings predict child outcomes. They also examined the extent to which this relation differed based on dual-language learner status and racial and ethnic groups.

Key Measures: An intensive time-sampling measure of individual and group-level engagement, the Emerging Academics Snapshot, was available in all three datasets. The measure included academic content codes (e.g., math, oral language, social studies), children's engagement with teachers (e.g., scaffolded and didactic approaches, social integration), and activity settings (e.g., whole group, free-choice). Child outcomes included measures of language, literacy, math, social skills, and executive function.

Data Analytic Strategy: The researchers used a person-centered approach to create an analysis variable that reflects sustained engagement of individual children in pre-academic content. They used hierarchical linear regression models to explore variations between children's engagement with teachers and academic content within classrooms.  They used classroom fixed effects which allowed them to directly compare the role of variation of individual children's engagement among children in the same classroom and to isolate the role of individual engagement beyond any classroom-level factor and non-random selection into classrooms.

Products and Publications

ERIC Citations: Find available citations in ERIC for this award here.


Back