Virginia E. Vitiello

Children's Engagement Within the Preschool Classroom and Their Development of Self-Regulation

This study used an observational measure to examine how individual childrens engagement with teachers, peers, and tasks was associated with gains in self-regulation. A sample of 341 preschoolers was observed, and direct assessments and teacher reports of self-regulation were obtained in the fall and spring of the preschool year. Research Findings: Childrens positive engagement with teachers was related to gains in compliance/executive function, and childrens active engagement with tasks was associated with gains in emotion regulation across the year. Engaging positively with teachers or peers was especially supportive of childrens gains in task orientation and reductions in dysregulation. Practice or Policy: Results are discussed in relation to Vygotskys developmental theory, emphasizing that psychological processes are developed in the context of socially embedded interactions. Systematically observing how a child interacts with peers, teachers, and learning tasks in the preschool classroom has the potential to inform the creation of professional development aimed at supporting teachers in fostering individual childrens development within the early education environment.

Observations of Children's Interactions with Teachers, Peers, and Tasks across Preschool Classroom Activity Settings.

Research Findings: This descriptive study examined classroom activity settings in relation to childrens observed behavior during classroom interactions, child gender, and basic teacher behavior within the preschool classroom. A total of 145 children were observed for an average of 80 min during 8 occasions across 2 days using the Individualized Classroom Assessment Scoring System, an observational measure that conceptualizes behavior into teacher, peer, task, and conflict interactions. Findings indicated that on average childrens interactions with teachers were higher in teacher-structured settings, such as large group. On average, childrens interactions with peers and tasks were more positive in child-directed settings, such as free choice. Children experienced more conflict during recess and routines/transitions. Finally, gender differences were observed within small group and meals. Practice or Policy: These findings might encourage teachers to be thoughtful and intentional about what types of support and resources are provided so children can successfully navigate the demands of particular settings. These findings are not meant to discourage certain teacher behaviors or imply the value of certain classroom settings; instead, by providing an evidence-based picture of the conditions under which children display the most positive interactions, they can make teachers more aware of choices within these settings and assist powerfully in professional development and interventions.

Cognitive Flexibility, Approaches to Learning, and Academic School Readiness in Head Start Preschool Children.

Research Findings: The purpose of this study was to examine whether approaches to learning significantly mediated relations between cognitive flexibility (a component of executive functions) and school readiness in Head Start preschoolers. A total of 191 children from 22 Head Start classrooms were directly assessed on cognitive flexibility and school readiness. In addition, teachers rated childrens approaches to learning in 3 domains (competence motivation, attention/persistence, and attitude toward learning) using the Preschool Learning Behaviors Scale (P. A. McDermott, L. F. Green, J. M. Francis, & D. H. Stott, 2000). Results of multilevel mediation analyses revealed that 1 component of approaches to learning—attention/persistence—significantly mediated the relation between cognitive flexibility and school readiness. These results suggest that part of the effect of cognitive flexibility on school readiness may be related to cognitive flexibility supporting childrens approaches to learning. Practice or Policy: This information may be useful to researchers and practitioners attempting to improve school readiness by improving childrens cognitive flexibility. The findings suggest, at a very preliminary level, that improvements to childrens cognitive flexibility may lead to improved approaches to learning as well as academic school readiness. This information is important to consider as preschool programs increasingly target childrens executive functions.

Goodness of Fit Between Children and Classrooms: Effects of Child Temperament and Preschool Classroom Quality on Achievement Trajectories

Research Findings: The purpose of this study was to examine whether child temperament differentially predicted academic school readiness depending on the quality of classroom interactions for 179 Head Start preschoolers. Teachers rated childrens temperament as overcontrolled, resilient, or undercontrolled in the fall and reported on childrens language/literacy and math skills continuously throughout the year. Observations of classroom emotional and instructional support were conducted in the spring. Results from multilevel models indicated that overcontrolled children (compared to resilient children) made greater math gains in classrooms with higher instructional support, whereas a trend-level effect suggested that undercontrolled children (compared to resilient children) made lower math gains in classrooms with lower emotional support. Results also showed that resilient childrens gains in language/literacy were more positively associated with high emotional support than were the scores of overcontrolled children. Practice or Policy: This study adds to prior findings suggesting that overcontrolled and undercontrolled children need special attention in the preschool classroom. Teachers and administrators may want to carefully consider the effect that classroom interactions and instructional techniques have on individual children and attempt to tailor instruction to meet the individual needs of children within classrooms.

Using a Standardized Task to Assess the Quality of Teacher–Child Dyadic Interactions in Preschool

ABSTRACT Research Findings: This study explored the quality of teacher-child interactions within the context of a newly developed standardized task, Teacher-Child Structured Play Task (TC-SPT). A sample of 146 teachers and 345 children participated. Children who displayed the highest disruptive behaviors within each classroom were selected to participate. Teacher-child dyads (n=345) participated in a play session that included free play and clean-up tasks. We adapted two coding schemes to assess the quality of both teachers’ and children’s interactive behaviors during these two tasks. The coding schemes exhibited internal and inter-rater reliability. Significant associations with classroom-level teacher-child interactions and children’s observed classroom engagement provide support for the measure’s validity. Differences in teacher and child-interactive behaviors across the two tasks (free play versus clean-up) suggest that task features may affect the quality of teacher-child interactive behaviors. Practice and Policy: Examining the interactions of different teacher-child dyads within the same standardized context will allow researchers to better understand the child and teacher factors that contribute to the quality of those interactions. Thus, use of this task in future field-based research may help to assess the impact of early interventions and professional development efforts that target improvement in the quality of teacher-child interactions.