Timothy W. Curby

Efficacy of the Responsive Classroom Approach Results From a 3-Year, Longitudinal Randomized Controlled Trial

This randomized controlled field trial examined the efficacy of the Responsive Classroom (RC) approach on student achievement. Schools (n = 24) were randomized into intervention and control conditions; 2,904 children were studied from end of second to fifth grade. Students at schools assigned to the RC condition did not outperform students at schools assigned to the control condition in math or reading achievement. Use of RC practices mediated the relation between treatment assignment and improved math and reading achievement. Effect sizes (ES) were calculated as standardized coefficients. ES relations between use of RC practices and achievement were .26 for math and .30 for reading. The RC practices and math achievement relation was greater for students with low initial math achievement (ES = .89). Results emphasize fidelity of implementation.

Disentangling Fine Motor Skills' Relations to Academic Achievement: The Relative Contributions of Visual-Spatial Integration and Visual-Motor Coordination.

ABSTRACT Recent research has established a connection between childrens fine motor skills and their academic performance. Previous research has focused on fine motor skills measured prior to elementary school, while the present sample included children ages 5–18 years old, making it possible to examine whether this link remains relevant throughout childhood and adolescence. Furthermore, the majority of research linking fine motor skills and academic achievement has not determined which specific components of fine motor skill are driving this relation. The few studies that have looked at associations of separate fine motor tasks with achievement suggest that copying tasks that tap visual-spatial integration skills are most closely related to achievement. The present study examined two separate elements of fine motor skills—visual-motor coordination and visual-spatial integration—and their associations with various measures of academic achievement. Visual-motor coordination was measured using tracing tasks, while visual-spatial integration was measured using copy-a-figure tasks. After controlling for gender, socioeconomic status, IQ, and visual-motor coordination, and visual-spatial integration explained significant variance in childrens math and written expression achievement. Knowing that visual-spatial integration skills are associated with these two achievement domains suggests potential avenues for targeted math and writing interventions for children of all ages.

Patterns of Sustained Attention in Infancy Shape the Developmental Trajectory of Social Behavior From Toddlerhood Through Adolescence

The current study examined the relations between individual differences in sustained attention in infancy, the temperamental trait behavioral inhibition in childhood, and social behavior in adolescence. The authors assessed 9-month-old infants using an interrupted-stimulus attention paradigm. Behavioral inhibition was subsequently assessed in the laboratory at 14 months, 24 months, 4 years, and 7 years. At age 14 years, adolescents acted out social scenarios in the presence of an unfamiliar peer as observers rated levels of social discomfort. Relative to infants with high levels of sustained attention, infants with low levels of sustained attention showed increasing behavioral inhibition throughout early childhood. Sustained attention also moderated the relation between childhood behavioral inhibition and adolescent social discomfort, such that initial levels of inhibition at 14 months predicted later adolescent social difficulties only for participants with low levels of sustained attention in infancy. These findings suggest that early individual differences in attention shape how children respond to their social environments, potentially via attentions gate-keeping role in framing a childs environment for processing.

Within-Day Variability in the Quality of Classroom Interactions during Third and Fifth Grade

The quality of classroom interactions has typically been studied using aggregates of ratings over time. However, within-day ratings may contain important variability. This study investigated within-day variability using the NICHD Study of Early Childcare and Youth Development’s observational data during grades 3 and 5. The first question examined the stability of classroom interaction quality within a day, and the second question examined the extent to which time of day, activity setting, numbers of adults and children, and instructional grouping predicted the quality of classroom interactions within a day. Results indicated that classroom interactions were most stable within emotional support dimensions and least stable within instructional support dimensions. Results also indicated that the start of the day and transitions were associated with lower-quality classroom interactions. Academic activities, more teachers, fewer students, and group instruction were associated with higher quality. Implications are discussed in terms of understanding students’ experiences and conducting classroom observations.

Relations among Teachers’ Emotion Socialization Beliefs and Practices, and Preschoolers’ Emotional Competence

Research Findings: Utilizing a 3-part model of emotion socialization that included modeling, contingent responding, and teaching, this study examined the associations between 44 teachers’ self-reported and observed emotion socialization practices and 326 preschoolers’ emotion knowledge and observed emotional behavior. Multilevel analyses revealed that the majority of the variance in the childrens emotion knowledge scores and observed emotional behavior was predicted by factors within, rather than between, classrooms. Teachers’ use of all 3 emotion socialization techniques did contribute to the prediction of the childrens scores; however, the nature of these associations differed by childrens age and gender. Practice or Policy: The development of childrens emotional competence is a complex, multifaceted process in which many interaction partners play a role. Early childhood teachers act as emotion socialization agents for the children in their care by modeling emotions, responding either supportively or punitively to childrens expressions of emotions, and engaging in direct instruction regarding emotional experience. This research may provide a basis for potential future interventions designed to assist teachers in developing their own emotion socialization skills so that they can be more effective emotion socialization agents for the children in their care.

Assistant Teachers in Head Start Classrooms: Comparing to and Working With Lead Teachers

Research Findings: The purpose of the present study is to examine the degree to which assistant and lead teachers work together in Head Start classrooms in 3 domains: emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support. Pairs of lead and assistant teachers from 14 Head Start classrooms were simultaneously observed for 1 morning to examine the quality of teachers’ interactions with students in these 3 domains. First we examined the mean levels of the 3 domains and how they differed among teachers. Overall, results indicated moderate levels of emotional support and classroom organization and low levels of instructional support. In comparing lead and assistant teachers, we found that lead teachers offered significantly higher levels of instructional support than assistant teachers. Next we examined how the quality of lead and assistant teachers’ interactions were related over time. Concurrent correlations were nonsignificant. Lagged correlations suggested that lead and assistant teachers’ interactions with students were related over time. Practice or Policy: Assistant teachers offered comparable levels of emotional support and classroom organization but did not offer the same levels of instructional support. This suggests that assistant teachers are able to help provide a nurturing environment and help with structuring activities despite having lower entry-level qualification requirements. This study supports the notion that assistant teachers as well as lead teachers should be included in quality improvement efforts.

Relations among motor, social, and cognitive skills in pre-kindergarten children with developmental disabilities.

Despite the comorbidity between motor difficulties and certain disabilities, limited research has examined links between early motor, cognitive, and social skills in preschool-aged children with developmental disabilities. The present study examined the relative contributions of gross motor and fine motor skills to the prediction of improvements in childrens cognitive and social skills among 2,027 pre-kindergarten children with developmental disabilities, including specific learning disorder, speech/language impairment, intellectual disability, and autism spectrum disorder. Results indicated that for pre-kindergarten children with developmental disabilities, fine motor skills, but not gross motor skills, were predictive of improvements in cognitive and social skills, even after controlling for demographic information and initial skill levels. Moreover, depending on the type of developmental disability, the pattern of prediction of gross motor and fine motor skills to improvements in childrens cognitive and social skills differed. Implications are discussed.

“Practice What You Preach”: Teachers’ Perceptions of Emotional Competence and Emotionally Supportive Classroom Practices

Research Findings: The connections between parents’ emotional competence (emotion expression, regulation, and knowledge) and children’s social–emotional learning (SEL) have been well studied; however, the associations among teachers’ emotional competencies and children’s SEL remain widely understudied. In the present study, private preschool and Head Start teachers (N = 32) were observed using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System. Participating teachers from each center also participated in focus group discussions about emotional competence in preschool classrooms. For analyses, teachers were divided into Moderately and Highly Supportive groups based on observed emotional support quality. Teachers’ focus group responses were compared. Practice or Policy: Comparison groups differed with regard to their discussions of emotion regulation and emotion knowledge. These differences elucidate ways in which intervention programs and in-service training can be developed to help teachers better meet the SEL needs of children.

Child, Family, and School Characteristics Related to English Proficiency Development among Low-Income, Dual Language Learners.

Little is known about 2nd language development among young, low-income, language-minority children. This article examined the longitudinal English development of low-income, dual language learners (DLLs) in Miami (n = 18,532) from kindergarten through 5th grade. Growth curve modeling indicated that social skills, good behavior, Spanish (L1) competence in preschool, having a mother born in the United States, and attending larger schools with fewer DLLs were associated with higher initial levels of English proficiency in kindergarten and/or steeper growth over time. Survival analyses indicated that it took about 2 years for half of the sample to become proficient in English according to the school districts criterion. Higher initial proficiency in kindergarten, not receiving free/reduced lunch, not being Hispanic or Black, strong cognitive, language, and socioemotional skills at age 4, and maternal education were associated with faster attainment of English proficiency. It is important for teachers, parents, researchers, and policy makers to understand that DLL students come from diverse backgrounds and that poverty and other factors influence the speed of English language development for DLLs.

Questioning as a component of scaffolding in predicting emotion knowledge in preschoolers

The following study expands Denham and Auerbachs (1995. Mother-child dialogue about emotions and preschoolers’ emotional competence. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 121, 313–337) findings, demonstrating a link between mothers’ talk about emotions and preschoolers’ knowledge of emotions. We investigate the maternal language and child emotion knowledge association by analysing all maternal questioning, not just questions specifically about emotions, during a mother–child interaction task. Questions are functionally different from other features of language because questions push children to think and formulate their own thoughts about the content, in our case, emotions, in order to generate an appropriate response. Twenty-eight transcripts of mother–child dialogue during a wordless storybook task with emotionally salient content were coded for mothers’ use of questions. Results show that mothers’ use of questions was associated with emotion knowledge, but only for girls. Our findings show how emotions are socialised differently for boy and girls and the potential importance that questions play in scaffolding girls’ attainment of emotion knowledge and overall emotional competence.