Kerry G. Hofer

The Prekindergarten Age-Cutoff Regression-Discontinuity Design: Methodological Issues and Implications for Application

Much of the currently available evidence on the causal effects of public prekindergarten programs on school readiness outcomes comes from studies that use a regression-discontinuity design (RDD) with the age cutoff to enter a program in a given year as the basis for assignment to treatment and control conditions. Because the RDD has high internal validity when its key assumptions are met, these studies appear to provide strong evidence for the effectiveness of these programs. However, there are overlooked methodological problems in the way this design has typically been applied that have the potential to produce biased effect estimates. We describe these problems, argue that they deserve more attention from researchers using this design than they have received, and offer suggestions for improving future studies.

Early Math Trajectories: Low-Income Children's Mathematics Knowledge From Ages 4 to 11

Early mathematics knowledge is a strong predictor of later academic achievement, but children from low-income families enter school with weak mathematics knowledge. An early math trajectories model is proposed and evaluated within a longitudinal study of 517 low-income American children from ages 4 to 11. This model includes a broad range of math topics, as well as potential pathways from preschool to middle grades mathematics achievement. In preschool, nonsymbolic quantity, counting, and patterning knowledge predicted fifth-grade mathematics achievement. By the end of first grade, symbolic mapping, calculation, and patterning knowledge were the important predictors. Furthermore, the first-grade predictors mediated the relation between preschool math knowledge and fifth-grade mathematics achievement. Findings support the early math trajectories model among low-income children.

Identifying High-Quality Preschool Programs: New Evidence on the Validity of the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale–Revised (ECERS-R) in Relation to School Readiness Goals

Research Findings: The Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale–Revised (ECERS-R) is widely used, often to evaluate whether preschool programs are of sufficient quality to improve children’s school readiness. We examined the validity of the measure for this purpose. Item response theory (IRT) analyses revealed that many items did not fit together to measure single dimensions, particularly when rated by consultants as indicating aspects of quality relevant for multiple domains of child development. IRT results also conflicted with the scale developers’ expectations in terms of whether markers that they attached to higher response categories represented higher quality empirically. When reanalyzed based on experts’ ratings, IRT results also showed that relatively few indicators captured the moderate to high range of quality. Practice or Policy: Our results suggest that policymakers should carefully consider whether measures designed for specific purposes are appropriate for other high-stakes uses. We encourage continued refinement of existing quality measures, development of new measures, and the accumulation of evidence for their various uses.

Early Grade Teacher Effectiveness and Pre-K Effect Persistence

In recent years, states have significantly expanded access to prekindergarten (pre-K), and federal policy makers have proposed funding near-universal access across the country. However, researchers know relatively little about the role of subsequent experiences in prolonging or truncating the persistence of benefits for participants. This study examines the interaction between pre-K participation and one of our most important educational interventions—teaching quality. We pair student-level data from a statewide pre-K experiment with records of teacher observation scores from Tennessee’s new formal evaluation program to assess whether a student’s access to high-quality early grade teachers moderates the persistence of pre-K effects. Our analyses indicate a small positive interaction between teaching quality and state pre-K exposure on some but not all early elementary cognitive measures, such that better teaching quality in years subsequent to pre-K is associated with more persistent positive pre-K effects.

Improving Mathematics Instruction for Early Childhood Teachers: Professional Development Components That Work

The purpose of this study is to critically investigate the association between preschool teachers’ mathematics instruction and their participation in a preschool mathematics intervention program in terms of 2 perspectives. First, the study examined whether preschool teachers’ participation in the preschool mathematics intervention program had significant effects on implementing mathematical activities more often and with higher quality in their classrooms. Second, within the treatment group, the study examined the effects of exposure to professional development as well as individual contributions of various professional development types on the amount and quality of mathematics activities the teachers provided for their students.

Professional Development for Preschool Teachers: Evidence for Practice

This article summarizes the findings and implications of a study examining effects of a professional development program for preschool teachers with emphasis on mathematics.

Examining the Category Functioning of the ECERS-R Across Eight Data Sets

Classroom quality measures, such as the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale, Revised (ECERS-R), are widely used in research, practice, and policy. Increasingly, these uses have been for purposes not originally intended, such as contributing to consequential policy decisions. The current study adds to the recent evidence of problems with the ECERS-R standard stop-scoring by analyzing eight studies offering 14 waves of data collection in approximately 4,000 classrooms. Our analysis, which featured the nominal response model, generalized partial credit model, partial credit model, within-category averages of total scores, and point-biserial correlations, revealed that all 36 items had categories that did not follow an ordinal progression with respect to quality. Additionally, our results showed that the category problems accumulated to the scale score. The results caution against the use of the standard raw scoring and encourage development of alternative scoring methods for the ECERS-R.