TY - JOUR
T1 - Observations of teacher-child interactions in classrooms serving Latinos and dual language learners
T2 - Applicability of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System in diverse settings
AU - Downer, Jason T.
AU - López, Michael L.
AU - Grimm, Kevin J.
AU - Hamagami, Aki
AU - Pianta, Robert C.
AU - Howes, Carollee
N1 - Funding Information:
The development of this paper was supported by a grant awarded to Dr. Robert Pianta and colleagues by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education (Grant R305A060021 ), as part of the National Center for Research on Early Childhood Education. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the U.S. Department of Education.
Copyright:
Copyright 2011 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - With the rising number of Latino and dual language learner (DLL) children attending pre-k and the importance of assessing the quality of their experiences in those settings, this study examined the extent to which a commonly used assessment of teacher-child interactions, the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS), demonstrated similar psychometric properties in classrooms serving ethnically and linguistically diverse children as it does in other classrooms. Specifically, this study investigated: (1) whether CLASS observations of teacher-child interactions are organized in three domains across classrooms with varying ethnic and language compositions (measurement invariance) and (2) the extent to which CLASS-assessed teacher-child interactions (emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support) predict children's social, math, and literacy outcomes equally well for Latino and DLL children (predictive validity). CLASS observations of teacher-child interactions were conducted in 721 state-funded pre-k classrooms across 11 states. Direct assessments and teacher ratings of social, math, and literacy outcomes were collected for four randomly selected children in each classroom. CLASS observations factored similarly across pre-k classrooms with different Latino and DLL compositions and predicted improvements in school readiness regardless of a child's Latino or DLL status. Results suggest CLASS functions equally well as an assessment of the quality of teacher-child interactions in pre-k settings regardless of the proportion of Latino children and/or the language diversity of the children in that setting.
AB - With the rising number of Latino and dual language learner (DLL) children attending pre-k and the importance of assessing the quality of their experiences in those settings, this study examined the extent to which a commonly used assessment of teacher-child interactions, the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS), demonstrated similar psychometric properties in classrooms serving ethnically and linguistically diverse children as it does in other classrooms. Specifically, this study investigated: (1) whether CLASS observations of teacher-child interactions are organized in three domains across classrooms with varying ethnic and language compositions (measurement invariance) and (2) the extent to which CLASS-assessed teacher-child interactions (emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support) predict children's social, math, and literacy outcomes equally well for Latino and DLL children (predictive validity). CLASS observations of teacher-child interactions were conducted in 721 state-funded pre-k classrooms across 11 states. Direct assessments and teacher ratings of social, math, and literacy outcomes were collected for four randomly selected children in each classroom. CLASS observations factored similarly across pre-k classrooms with different Latino and DLL compositions and predicted improvements in school readiness regardless of a child's Latino or DLL status. Results suggest CLASS functions equally well as an assessment of the quality of teacher-child interactions in pre-k settings regardless of the proportion of Latino children and/or the language diversity of the children in that setting.
KW - Dual language learners
KW - Latino
KW - Linguistic diversity
KW - Observational assessment
KW - Teacher-child interactions
KW - Validity
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ecresq.2011.07.005
DO - 10.1016/j.ecresq.2011.07.005
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:81455143780
SN - 0885-2006
VL - 27
SP - 21
EP - 32
JO - Early Childhood Research Quarterly
JF - Early Childhood Research Quarterly
IS - 1
ER -