REL Central Ask A REL Response

“Comprehensive early childhood teacher preparation programs offer courses and curricula that are aligned with current research on best practices and related to the knowledge and skills that early childhood teacher candidates are expected to demonstrate on certification exams and teacher performance assessments. To support the alignment of early childhood coursework in a teacher preparation program with a teacher performance assessment (edTPA), the purpose of this study was to examine the degree to which teacher candidates felt their early childhood coursework prepared them for the edTPA. The findings from this study suggest that early childhood teachers’ perception of their readiness for a teacher performance assessment may indicate the extent to which their coursework prepared them to meet the requirements of the edTPA. Implications from this study suggests that early childhood teacher preparation programs should continuously examine how faculty are introducing and supporting professional teaching standards, assessment for learning and evaluation of learning throughout course work and student teaching experiences.”

“Beginning in May 2014, all education program graduates in New York State (NYS) must pass new and/or revised certification exams in order to become certified to teach in NYS. Early childhood teacher candidates enrolled in an approved NYS teacher preparation program are required to pass the Academic Literacy Skills Test (ALST), Content Specialty Test (CST-Multi-Subject or Multi-Subject: Teachers of Early Childhood (Birth-Grade 2)), Educating All Students (EAS) test, and a Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA Early Childhood) in order to be recommended for certification. The new teacher certification examinations serve as a critical benchmark of a candidate’s readiness to teach in NYS. Research has shown that the edTPA can be used as a learning tool for pre-service teachers and as a form of feedback for teacher education programs. In an effort to utilize the edTPA and the subsequent results as a learning opportunity for a teacher preparation program, this paper addresses two studies. Study 1 investigated teacher candidates’ perceptions about their preparation and readiness for the edTPA based on the support they received from the teacher preparation program and their coursework. The findings from this study suggest that early childhood teachers’ perceptions of their readiness for a teacher performance assessment may indicate the extent to which their coursework prepared them to meet the requirements of the edTPA. Study 2 examined if the actual scores the teacher candidates received on the edTPA matched their estimated scores. The findings from this examination indicate that the teacher candidates were confident in their preparation, skills, and overall readiness for the edTPA.”

“The quality of staff/child interactions as measured by the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) programs is thought to be important for children’s outcomes. The CLASS is made of three domains that assess Emotional Support, Classroom Organization and Instructional Support. It is a relatively new measure that is being used increasingly for research, quality monitoring/accountability and other applied purposes. Our objective was to evaluate the association between the CLASS and child outcomes. Searches of Medline, PsycINFO, ERIC, websites of large datasets and reference sections of all retrieved articles were conducted up to July 3, 2015. Studies that measured association between the CLASS and child outcomes for preschool-aged children who attended ECEC programs were included after screening by two independent reviewers. Searches and data extraction were conducted by two independent reviewers. Thirty-five studies were systematically reviewed of which 19 provided data for meta-analyses. Most studies had moderate to high risk of bias. Of the 14 meta-analyses we conducted, associations between Classroom Organization and Pencil Tapping and between Instructional Support and SSRS Social Skills were significant with pooled correlations of .06 and .09 respectively. All associations were in the expected direction. In the systematic review, significant correlations were reported mainly from one large dataset. Substantial heterogeneity in use of the CLASS, its dimensions, child outcomes and statistical measures was identified. Greater consistency in study methodology is urgently needed. Given the multitude of factors that impact child development it is encouraging that our analyses revealed some, although small, associations between the CLASS and children’s outcomes.”

“This study examined the value of using a group-centered approach to evaluate process quality of early childhood education and care (ECEC). Is observed support of group processes a different aspect of classroom quality, and does it predict children’s collaborative play in ECEC in the Netherlands? In two play situations, 37 teachers and 120 two- to four-year-old children were observed with the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) Toddler and two new measures. In a two-level structural equation model, teachers’ support of group processes was positively related to the CLASS domains and to children’s collaborative play, over and above the effect of children’s cognitive ability and social competence. These findings suggest that ECEC quality evaluation could be enriched by adding group-centered indicators of classroom quality.”