Bridget K. Hamre

Conceptualization, Measurement, and Improvement of Classroom Processes: Standardized Observation Can Leverage Capacity:

The authors advance an argument that placing observation of actual teaching as a central feature of accountability frameworks, teacher preparation, and basic science could result in substantial improvements in instruction and related social processes and a science of the production of teaching and teachers. Teachers’ behavioral interactions with students can be (a) assessed observationally using standardized protocols, (b) analyzed systematically with regard to sources of error, (c) validated for predicting student learning, and (d) changed (improved) as a function of specific and aligned supports provided to teachers; exposure to such supports is predictive of greater student learning gains. These methods have considerable promise; along with measurement challenges, some of which pertain to psychometrics, efficiency, and costs, they merit attention, rigorous study, and substantial research investments.

A Course on Effective Teacher-Child Interactions: Effects on Teacher Beliefs, Knowledge, and Observed Practice

Among 440 early childhood teachers, half were randomly assigned to take a 14-week course on effective teacher-child interactions. This course used the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) as the basis to organize, describe, and demonstrate effective teacher-child interactions. Compared to teachers in a control condition, those exposed to the course reported more intentional teaching beliefs and demonstrated greater knowledge of and skills in detecting effective interactions. Furthermore, teachers who took the course were observed to demonstrate more effective emotional and instructional interactions. The course was equally effective across teachers with less than an associate’s degree as well as those with advanced degrees. Results have implications for efforts to improve the quality of early childhood programs through the higher education system.

Teacher-Student Relationships and Engagement: Conceptualizing, Measuring, and Improving the Capacity of Classroom Interactions

Classrooms are complex social systems, and student-teacher relationships and interactions are also complex, multicomponent systems. We posit that the nature and quality of relationship interactions between teachers and students are fundamental to understanding student engagement, can be assessed through standardized observation methods, and can be changed by providing teachers knowledge about developmental processes relevant for classroom interactions and personalized feedback/support about their interactive behaviors and cues. When these supports are provided to teachers’ interactions, student engagement increases. In this chapter, we focus on the theoretical and empirical links between interactions and engagement and present an approach to intervention designed to increase the quality of such interactions and, in turn, increase student engagement and, ultimately, learning and development. Recognizing general principles of development in complex systems, a theory of the classroom as a setting for development, and a theory of change specific to this social setting are the ultimate goals of this work. Engagement, in this context, is both an outcome in its own right and a mediator of impacts that teachers have on student outcomes through their interactions with children and youth. In light of this discussion, we offer suggestions or directions for further research in this area.

Teacher and Classroom Characteristics Associated with Teachers' Ratings of Prekindergartners' Relationships and Behaviors.

Teachers’ ratings of children’s competencies may in part reflect characteristics and perspectives of teachers who assigned the ratings, which compromises their validity as a measure of child attributes. The purposes of this study were to use multilevel modeling to (a) estimate between-rater variance in teachers’ ratings of children’s social behaviors and relationships with teachers and (b) examine characteristics of teachers and classrooms associated with teachers’ perceptions of these social competencies. Ratings of 711 children completed by 210 prekindergarten teachers indicated that between 15% and 33% of the total variance in teachers’ ratings was attributed to mean differences between raters. After controlling for characteristics of children and their families, teachers’ ratings of positive relationships and behaviors were associated with fewer years of experience, higher self-efficacy, non-White race/ethnicity, shorter length programs, better child-teacher ratios, and programs located within school settings. Implications are discussed for interpreting and analyzing teachers’ ratings of children’s competencies.

Teaching through interactions: Testing a developmental framework of teacher effectiveness in over 4,000 classrooms

This is a copy of an article published in the Elementary School Journal

Evidence for General and Domain-Specific Elements of Teacher–Child Interactions: Associations With Preschool Children's Development

This study evaluates a model for considering domain-general and domain-specific associations between teacher-child interactions and childrens development, using a bifactor analytic strategy. Among a sample of 325 early childhood classrooms there was evidence for both general elements of teacher-child interaction (responsive teaching) and domain-specific elements related to positive management and routines and cognitive facilitation. Among a diverse population of 4-year-old children (n = 1,407) responsive teaching was modestly associated with development across social and cognitive domains, whereas positive management and routines was modestly associated with increases in inhibitory control and cognitive facilitation was associated with gains in early language and literacy skills. The conceptual and methodological contributions and challenges of this approach are discussed.

Quality in kindergarten classrooms: Observational evidence for the need to increase children's learning opportunities in early education classrooms.

Research Findings: Using observational data gathered in 730 kindergarten classrooms in 6 states, the present study focuses on the quality of childrens learning opportunities in kindergarten classrooms. Findings show that overall, children experience moderate to low levels of quality in the areas of classroom organization and instructional support in kindergarten. Results are also presented in comparison to childrens experiences in the pre-kindergarten year. These comparisons indicate that kindergarten children spend a greater proportion of the school day in language arts, math, and whole-group instruction and less time in centers than they do in pre-kindergarten. An examination of predictors of kindergarten classroom quality indicated that program characteristics (i.e., adult–child ratio, length of school day) and teacher psychological variables (i.e., beliefs and depressive symptoms) were stronger predictors of classroom quality than were teacher experience and educational background. Practice or Policy: Findings are discussed in terms of implications for childrens academic and social development in kindergarten as well as for kindergarten teacher preparation and development.

Teacher–Child Interactions in the Classroom: Toward a Theory of Within- and Cross-Domain Links to Children's Developmental Outcomes

Research Findings: Effective teaching in early childhood (EC) care and education settings requires skillful combinations of explicit instruction, sensitive and warm interactions, responsive feedback, and verbal engagement intentionally directed to ensure childrens learning and embedded within a classroom environment that is not overly structured or regimented. These aspects of instruction and interaction uniquely predict gains in young childrens literacy, language, and social development, effectively contributing to closing gaps in performance between low- and high-risk children. Less clear is an articulation of the ways in which various types of teacher–child interactions within EC settings independently and in combination contribute to childrens development. Practice or Policy: In this article, we argue that conceptualizing this system of contextual inputs and developmental outputs in a purely aligned way (e.g., social inputs ⇉ social development; instructional inputs ⇉ academic development) constrains understanding of both the pathways through which educational experience may influence development as well as the basic processes that may integrate developmental change in what appear to be phenotypically different outcome domains (e.g., social, self-regulatory, academic).

An Argument Approach to Observation Protocol Validity.

This article develops a validity argument approach for use on observation protocols currently used to assess teacher quality for high-stakes personnel and professional development decisions. After defining the teaching quality domain, we articulate an interpretive argument for observation protocols. To illustrate the types of evidence that might compose a validity argument, we draw on data from a validity study of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System for secondary classrooms. Based on data from 82 Algebra classrooms, we illustrate how data from observation scores, value-added models, generalizability studies, and measures of teacher knowledge, student achievement, and teacher and student beliefs could be used to build a validity argument for observation protocols. Strengths and limitations of the validity argument approach as well as the issues the approach raises for observation protocol validity research are considered.

Teacher Consultation and Coaching within Mental Health Practice: Classroom and Child Effects in Urban Elementary Schools

OBJECTIVE To examine effects of a teacher consultation and coaching program delivered by school and community mental health professionals on change in observed classroom interactions and child functioning across one school year. METHOD Thirty-six classrooms within 5 urban elementary schools (87% Latino, 11% Black) were randomly assigned to intervention (training + consultation/coaching) and control (training only) conditions. Classroom and child outcomes (n = 364; 43% girls) were assessed in the fall and spring. RESULTS Random effects regression models showed main effects of intervention on teacher-student relationship closeness, academic self-concept, and peer victimization. Results of multiple regression models showed levels of observed teacher emotional support in the fall moderated intervention impact on emotional support at the end of the school year. CONCLUSIONS Results suggest teacher consultation and coaching can be integrated within existing mental health activities in urban schools and impact classroom effectiveness and child adaptation across multiple domains.