1

Multi-State Study of Pre-Kindergarten Multi-State Study of Pre-Kindergarten & &

Study of State-Wide Early Education Study of State-Wide Early Education Programs (SWEEP)Programs (SWEEP)

Richard M. CliffordNational Center for

Early Development and Learning

www.ncedl.org

Funded by the: U.S. Department of Education,National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) & The Foundation for Child Development

2

Principal Investigators and Key StaffPrincipal Investigators and Key Staff

Key Staff Florence Chang Gisele Crawford Grace Funk Marcia Kraft-Sayre Terry McCandies Sharon Ritchie Wanda Weaver Billie Weiser Pam Winton

PIs Oscar Barbarin Steve Barnett Donna Bryant Margaret Burchinal Richard Clifford Diane Early Carollee Howes Robert Pianta

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Research QuestionsResearch Questions

1. What are the characteristics of children and families being served by public pre-k?

2. Who teaches in public pre-k and what do the programs look like?

3. What teaching practices take place in pre-k classrooms and are they related to overall quality?

4. How are teacher characteristics and quality of pre-k related?

5. What is the relationship between teaching practices and child outcomes?

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Selecting the StatesSelecting the States

6 States in the Multi-State Study selected based on diversity in: teacher credentials locations of programs (in vs. out of schools) state funding per child intensity (length of day/year)

5 SWEEP States selected to: compliment original six states include wide array of funding & service

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Multi-State Study of Pre-K California, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, Georgia, & New York

States in the StudyStates in the Study

SWEEPMassachusetts, New Jersey, Texas, Washington, & Wisconsin

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Sampling StrategySampling Strategy

Multi-State: 40 school/centers selected randomly, per state stratified by: teacher credentials (BA vs. no BA),

in school vs. non-school, and full/part day SWEEP: aimed for 100 school/centers selected

randomly, per state No stratification

Both studies: 1 classroom selected randomly Both Studies: 4 children per class selected

randomly half girls; half boys 4 year-olds

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MeasuresMeasures

Classroom observations ECERS-R (Harms, Clifford, & Cryer) Snapshot (Ritchie, Howes, Kraft-Sayre, & Weiser) CLASS (La Paro, Pianta, Hamre, & Stuhlman)

Teacher questionnaires Ratings of children by teachers Administrator questionnaires Parent demographic questionnaires

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Measures (continued)Measures (continued)

Child Assessment PPVT-III (or TVIP) Oral &Written Language Scale (OWLS): Oral Expression Woodcock-Johnson: Applied Problems (English & Spanish) Woodcock-Johnson: Letter-Word Identification

(English & Spanish) Letter, number, and color naming; counting; name writing

(English & Spanish)

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Teachers, Children, and Families

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Pre-K Teacher CharacteristicsPre-K Teacher Characteristics

Total Number 705 Female 99% Mean age 41 Years teaching

Before kindergarten 8.56 Kindergarten 1.96 Older than K 3.28

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Pre-K Teacher Wages:Pre-K Teacher Wages:In School vs. NotIn School vs. Not

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

<$10 $10.01-$20

$20.01-$30

$30.01-$40

>$40.01

Hourly Salary

In School

Not In School

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Pre-K Teacher Race/EthnicityPre-K Teacher Race/Ethnicity

White 64% Latina 15% African American 13% Asian/Pacific Isl. 2% Native American <1% Mixed/Other 7%

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Pre-K Teacher Education: Pre-K Teacher Education: Highest DegreeHighest Degree

High school 2% Some college, no degree 13% Associate’s degree 12% Bachelor’s 49% Master’s or higher 24%

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Pre-K Teacher Major (BA and higher)Pre-K Teacher Major (BA and higher)

ECE/Child Dev. 40% Elementary Ed. 25% Special Ed. 7% Other Ed. 8% Child Devel. 4% ESL 1% Other 15%

State Certification 57%

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LocationLocation

Pre-K Public School 53% Other Community Ctr. 47%

Kindergarten (Multi-State only) Regular Public School 91% Public Magnet 2% Public Charter 1% Private, Religious 2% Child Care 2%

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Pre-K Class CharacteristicsPre-K Class Characteristics Enrollment: 17.4 Children present/staff: 7.6 Hours/week class meets: 24.5 % with co-teacher

or assistant: 87%

Co-teacher/assistant’s hours per week: 28

LEP children: 21% Children with an IEP: 6%

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Pre-K Curriculum - Teacher ReportPre-K Curriculum - Teacher Report

Creative

20%

High Scope

20%

Locally Developed

8%

None or self-created

7%

Scholastic:

6%

State Developed

5%

DLM Early Childhood

4%

Letter People

3%

Doors to Discovery

2%

CCC- -Step by Step

2%

Montessori

2%

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Teacher Report of Kindergarten Teacher Report of Kindergarten Literacy CurriculaLiteracy Curricula

Houghton-Mifflin 19%

Open Court 13%

Letter People 12%

Phonemic Aware. in Young Children 9%

Zoophonics 4%

Kinder Roots 3%

Distar 3%

High Scope 1%

Creative 1%

State Developed 15%

Locally Developed 7%

Other 58%

None 3%

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Total Annual Family IncomeTotal Annual Family Income

17%19%

21%

12%

6% 7%4%

15%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

<1

0

10

-20

20

-30

30

-40

40

-50

50

-60

60

-70

>7

0

thousands of dollars

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Maternal EducationMaternal Education

Bachelor's12%

Master's or higher

6%

some college or 2-yr degree

24%

High School41%

< High School17%

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Languages Spoken at HomeLanguages Spoken at Home

86%

26%

5%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

English Spanish Other

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Child Race/EthnicityChild Race/Ethnicity

White35%

Asian/ Pacific

Isl.3%

Native Amer.<1%

African Amer.22%

Multi-Racial10%

Latino28%

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Classroom Quality and Practices: How do children spend their

time?

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Mean Overall ECERS-R RatingsMean Overall ECERS-R Ratings

3.9 3.93.2

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

MS - PK SWEEP MS - K

Minimal

Inadequate

Good

Excellent

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Pre-K ECERS-R Distribution Pre-K ECERS-R Distribution

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

1 - 1.9 2 - 2.9 3 - 3.9 4 - 4.9 5 - 5.9 6 - 6.9MinimalInadequate Good Excellent

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ECERS: Factor ScoresECERS: Factor Scores

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Pre-K & K ECERS-R Factor ScoresPre-K & K ECERS-R Factor Scores

4.54.9

4.33.7 3.7

2.7

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

Teaching and Interactions Provisions for Learning

Multi-State Pre-K

SWEEP

Multi-State K

Minimal

Inadequate

Good

Excellent

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Pre-K ECERS-R Teaching and InteractionsPre-K ECERS-R Teaching and Interactions

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

1 - 1.9 2 - 2.9 3 - 3.9 4 - 4.9 5 - 5.9 6 - 6.9MinimalInadequate Good Excellent

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Pre-K ECERS-R Provisions for LearningPre-K ECERS-R Provisions for Learning

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

1 - 1.9 2 - 2.9 3 - 3.9 4 - 4.9 5 - 5.9 6 - 6.9MinimalInadequate Good Excellent

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SnapshotSnapshot Time sampled measure 27 items coded as present or not-present Each child is watched for 20 seconds, followed by

a 40 second coding period Then coder moves on to the next child Four children per room in pre-k In K, generally 1 child per room, sometimes as

many as 4

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Multi-State Study Multi-State Study Pre-K SnapshotPre-K Snapshot

Two days of observations in spring

From beginning of class until end of class (part-day) or nap (full-day)

On average, each child was observed 65.5 times (sd = 23.3)

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SWEEP Study SWEEP Study Pre-K SnapshotPre-K Snapshot

One day of observations in spring

From beginning of class until end of class (part-day) or nap (full-day)

On average, each child was observed 40.5 times (sd = 16.6)

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Multi-State Study Multi-State Study Kindergarten SnapshotKindergarten Snapshot

Three days of observations throughout the year

From beginning of class until end of class, regardless of class length

Did not code lunch, recess right after lunch, or nap

Some codes (especially meals, routine) not comparable to pre-k

On average, each child was observed 382.9 times (sd = 144.0)

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Pre-K Activity SettingsPre-K Activity Settings

Routine/Basics22%

Meals/ Snacks11%

Indiv. Time5%

Whole Group28%

Free Choice/Center

28%

Small Group6%

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Pre-K Child EngagementPre-K Child Engagement

0

5

10

15

20

Read

To

Pre-R

ead

Lette

r-Sound

Oral L

anguag

e

Writ

ing

Mat

h

Scien

ce

Social

Stu

dies

Aesth

etic

s

Gross

Moto

r

Fine

Moto

r

Per

cen

t o

f T

ime

Children were not engaged in any of these activities 42% of the time.

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Multi-State – Pre-KMulti-State – Pre-KTeacher-Child InteractionTeacher-Child Interaction

None73% Minimal

18%

Elaborate8%

Routine1%

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Multi-State Pre-K Multi-State Pre-K PatternsPatterns

Considered the 369 possible combinations of activity setting, teacher-child interaction, and child engagement

Modal pattern (15%) was routine, no teacher-child interaction, no child engagement

Next most common (10%) was meals/snack, no teacher-child interaction, no child engagement

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Multi-State Pre-KMulti-State Pre-KSelected Patterns of InterestSelected Patterns of Interest

Considered 14 patterns especially likely to promote learning

Found they occurred rarely (all < 1.5% of time)

mean % % of

of time children letter-sound, elaborated, small group: 0.1% 4% oral language, elaborated, whole group: 1.3% 45% read to, elaborated, whole group: 0.3% 13% math, elaborated, small group: 0.1% 5% math, no teacher, free choice: 1.2% 36%

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CLASS: CLASS: Classroom Assessment Scoring SystemClassroom Assessment Scoring System

9 dimensions of quality Each rated on a 7 point scale from

“uncharacteristic” to “highly characteristic” Rating occurred roughly every 30 minutes,

throughout on the same days as Snapshots Each classroom’s score is the average of its

scores across all observation days

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CLASS: CLASS: Classroom Assessment Scoring SystemClassroom Assessment Scoring System

Positive climate Negative climate Teacher sensitivity Over-control Effective behavior management

Concept development Quality of feedback

Learning formats/engagement Productivity

EmotionalClimate

InstructionalClimate

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CLASS Factor ScoresCLASS Factor Scores

5.5 5.6

2.0 2.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

Emotional Climate Instructional Climate

Combined Pre-KMulti-State K

Medium

Low

High

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CLASSCLASSEmotional Climate Pre-K Emotional Climate Pre-K

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

1 - 1.9 2 - 2.9 3 - 3.9 4 - 4.9 5 - 5.9 6 - 6.9

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CLASSCLASSInstructional Climate Pre-K Instructional Climate Pre-K

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

1 - 1.9 2 - 2.9 3 - 3.9 4 - 4.9 5 - 5.9 6 - 6.9

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Academic and Social Outcomes

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Key “Over Time” QuestionsKey “Over Time” Questions

How are children performing when they enter pre-kindergarten?

Do children make gains from the fall to spring of their pre-k year?

How do they fare in kindergarten? (Multi-State Study only)

Performance “related to what” questions will be addressed this afternoon.

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Multi-State PPVT Multi-State PPVT

92.6 95.0 94.196.6

80

85

90

95

100

105

FallPre-K

SpringPre-K

Fall K SpringK

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Combined Pre-K PPVT Combined Pre-K PPVT

93.2 95.4

80

85

90

95

100

105

Fall Pre-K Spring Pre-K

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Multi-State OWLS Multi-State OWLS

91.193.5 93.8 94.2

80

85

90

95

100

105

FallPre-K

SpringPre-K

Fall K SpringK

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Combined Pre-K OWLS Combined Pre-K OWLS

91.2 93.0

80

85

90

95

100

105

Fall Pre-K Spring Pre-K

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Multi-State WJ Applied Problems Multi-State WJ Applied Problems

97.298.2 97.5 100.6

80

85

90

95

100

105

FallPre-K

SpringPre-K

Fall K SpringK

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Combined Pre-KCombined Pre-K WJ Applied Problems WJ Applied Problems

98.1 98.7

80

85

90

95

100

105

Fall Pre-K Spring Pre-K

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Multi-State Naming Letters & Numbers Multi-State Naming Letters & Numbers

8.0

12.8

17.5

24.2

4.26.7 8.2

9.6

0

5

10

15

20

25

FallPre-K

SpringPre-K

Fall K SpringK

FallPre-K

SpringPre-K

Fall K SpringK

Naming Letters Naming Numbers

(max=26) (max=10)

53

Combined Pre-KCombined Pre-KNaming Letters & NumbersNaming Letters & Numbers

9.1

14.4

4.77.0

0

5

10

15

20

25

Fall Pre-K Spring Pre-K Fall Pre-K Spring Pre-K

Naming Letters Naming Numbers

(max=26) (max=10)

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Multi-State Teacher Report of Multi-State Teacher Report of Social Skills Social Skills

3.3 3.5 3.4 3.5

1

2

3

4

5

Fall Pre-K Spring Pre-K

Fall K Spring K

Not at All

Very Well

55

Combined Pre-K Combined Pre-K Teacher Report of Teacher Report of

Social Skills Social Skills

3.4 3.6

1

2

3

4

5

Fall Pre-K Spring Pre-KNot at All

Very Well

56

Multi-State Teacher Report of Multi-State Teacher Report of Behavior Problems Behavior Problems

1.6 1.5 1.6 1.7

1

2

3

4

5

FallPre-K

SpringPre-K

Fall K SpringK

Not a Problem

Very SeriousProblem

57

Combined Pre-K Combined Pre-K Teacher Report ofTeacher Report of

Behavior Problems Behavior Problems

1.5 1.5

1

2

3

4

5

Fall Pre-K Spring Pre-K

Not a Problem

Very SeriousProblem

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Summary of FindingsSummary of Findings

Overall, children enter pre-k with academic skills below national norms, lower in language than in math

Poor children lag well behind non-poor children

Small gains over time on all standardized measures and large gains in alphabet & numbers

Behavior ratings remain quite steady across time

Multi-state and SWEEP scores comparable

Full report at www.ncedl.org