Level of structural quality and process quality in rural preschool classrooms

Abstract

Early Childhood Education is a broad term that refers to educational programmes geared towards children from birth to age eight years (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009). These programmes for young children include but are not limited to Head Start, preschool programmes, nursery schools, childcare centres, and universal preschool (Morrissey, 2007). Universal preschool programmes serving primarily 4-year-old children are on the rise with 40 states, commonwealths, and Washington, DC (Barnett, Carolan, Fitzgerald, & Squires, 2012). The benefits of quality early childhood experiences cannot be denied as prominent longitudinal studies have found increased high school graduation rates, lower incidence of grade retention, increased rates of college attendance, increased labour force participation and salaries, reduced criminal incidences, and reduced teen pregnancies among individuals who received high-quality early childhood education and childcare programmes (Barnett, Jung, Youn, & Frede, 2013; Campbell et al., 2012; Gray & Klaus, 1970; Weikart, 1967). Investing in quality early education experiences for young children results not only in major societal benefits, but also in long-term improved cognitive and social development. There is a high rate of return that outweighs the costs (MacEwan, 2013).

President Obama in 2013 proposed expanding access to high-quality preschool for young children in his ‘Preschool for All’ plan (White House Office of Press Secretary, 2013). The proposal stated that federal funds through the US Department of Education will be dispersed to states upon meeting federal and state requirements to expand high-quality public preschools to reach all low- and moderate income four-year olds (White House Office of Press Secretary, 2013). States will be required to reach quality benchmarks for early learning, hiring of qualified teachers, and comprehensive assessment and data systems. With an emphasis on state-operated preschool programmes comes the emergence of state policies to enforce compliance with specified regulations to ensure high quality. Research supporting state-level regulation to raise the quality of early education programmes includes the Cost, Quality, and Child Outcomes study Team (1995), in which states with more regulations had higher quality classrooms compared to states with less stringent regulations.

Early childhood programme quality is a result of structural and process features (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [NICHD], 2006). Structural quality features refer to those that are measureable and regulated such as teacher–child ratio, group size, and teacher educational level (NICHD, 2006). Process quality factors refer to the more proximal factor of direct care given by teachers and staff which assist children in developing physically, linguistically, intellectually, emotionally, and socially (Cryer, Harms, & Riley, 2003). It is well established that structural quality provides a foundation and is linked to process quality (Bogard, Traylor, & Takanishi, 2008; Cryer et al., 2003; Early et al., 2006; Smith, 2005). When structural quality is well regulated, process quality has been found to improve (Bordin, Machida, & Varnell, 2000; Cost, Quality and Child Outcomes Study Team, 1995; Cryer, Tietze, Burchinal, Leal, & Palacios, 1999). In contrast, aspects of process quality and proximal factors can be hindered if structural quality is poor (Peisner-Feinberg & Burchinal, 1997; Phillipsen, Burchinal, Howes, & Cryer, 1997).

Teacher education, staff–child ratios, group size, and other aspects of structural quality specifically can be directly regulated by state agencies, and these structural characteristics can influence process quality. Teacher education plays a vital role in process quality with teachers’ training influencing the child skill development and experiences they are able to provide for children in their classrooms (Burchinal, Howes, & Kontos, 2002; Clarke-Stewart, Vandell, Burchinal, O’Brien, & McCartney, 2002; Cryer et al., 1999; Lanigan, 2011; Raikes, Raikes, & Wilcox, 2005). The transition to a more highly trained staff in preschool classrooms has been stimulated by the Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007, which requires at least 50% of Head Start lead teachers to have bachelor’s or advanced degrees in early childhood education or related fields (Head Start, 2007). However, few research studies have explored the links among state regulations of preschool classrooms, structural quality, and process quality.

Preschool classrooms exist in both public schools and early childcare centres, with the location of the classroom often determining the state agency that will oversee the programme. Preschool classrooms can also be located in licensed childcare centres (both private and public), faith-based or private facilities, or Head Start centres, while some preschool classrooms are various combinations of the above. Additionally, collaborating to pull state and federal money together is increasingly helpful to parents who need full day care as well as being economical for programmes to share resources. When such collaboration happens, regulations are intertwined and preschool classrooms must comply with multiple sets of regulations from two or more different agencies concurrently. This leads to the question of how structural quality varies across classrooms that adhere to different state regulatory agencies and how this variation may relate to process quality.

In the current study, varying levels of structural quality requirements were examined in relation to structural quality measured and process quality measured among 172 randomly selected 4-year-old preschool classrooms. The classrooms were from across the entire state of West Virginia. Two levels of structural quality requirements were examined. Specifically, one level included classrooms which were regulated by two state agencies, the state Department of Education and Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR), and thus had more structural quality requirements. The second level included classrooms that were only regulated by the state’s DHHR and thus had fewer structural quality requirements.

Method

The current study is part of a larger project funded by the West Virginia DHHR (Warash et al., 2011). A total of 175 4-year-old classrooms were randomly selected across the state of West Virginia and assessed on environmental quality using the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R; Harms, Clifford, & Cryer, 2005). Reliability training was conducted at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for five Observer/Trainers who then trained an additional eight Observers prior to initiating the larger project’s data collection. The data were hand recorded on standard ECERS-R score sheets by the trained Observers and then entered into a proprietary database developed for this project. The trained ECERS-R Observers also recorded for each classroom number of children present, number of teachers and staff present, and lead teacher’s education. Data integrity was examined to assure accuracy and reliability before exporting for analysis. Prior to data collection, a protocol for the project was submitted to and approved by the West Virginia University Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Research Subjects. All data collectors completed the IRB Social/Behavioral Research Training and confidentiality was maintained for all classrooms.

Results

Discussion

Classrooms by type were significantly different on measured structural and process environmental quality. For structural environmental quality, classrooms with more structural quality requirements were more likely than classrooms with less requirements to have more highly educated lead teachers as well as higher ECERS-R Space and Furnishing subscale scores, which captures quality factors of arrangement and appropriateness of size of furniture and equipment for play, learning, privacy, and routine care for children. Interestingly, classrooms with less structural quality requirements, however, had significantly smaller group sizes than classrooms with more structural quality requirements. This is in contrast to the group size requirements for the two classroom types, with classrooms with more stringent standards requiring smaller group sizes than classrooms that have to meet less structural quality requirements. Additionally, there was no significant difference in child-to-teacher/staff ratios by classroom type. These findings together suggest that classrooms with more structural quality requirements, which on average had significantly higher group sizes, may have employed more teachers to keep ratios low and similar to ratios in the other classroom type.

Regarding process environmental quality, classrooms with more structural quality requirements were significantly higher on the ECERS-R subscales Activities and Program Structure compared to classrooms with fewer requirements. The ECERS-R Activities and Program Structure subscales capture how teachers implement activities (e.g. music, fine motor activities, and science) through the materials they utilize and encouragement and guidance they provide the children as well as the teacher–child interactions during free play and group time.

There was no other significant difference in process quality by classroom type. One critical finding to highlight is that classrooms were not significantly different from each other by type on the Personal Care Routines ECERS-R subscale, which captures basic health and safety practices such as hand washing, emergency procedures, and child supervision during indoor and outdoor play; and also teachers not smoking near the children. This is a concern since on average all classrooms and both classroom types in the current study, randomly selected from across the entire state, were in the inadequate quality range. On a positive note is that all classrooms and classroom types on average were in the good quality range for the ECERS-R Interaction subscale.

Given regulatory differences across the classroom types, these findings are consistent with previous work reporting that stricter regulations are correlated with higher environmental quality in preschool classrooms (Bogard et al., 2008; Bordin et al., 2000; Cryer et al., 2003; Early et al., 2006; Phillipsen et al., 1997; Smith, 2005). Higher measured structural and process quality found among the preschool classrooms in the current study with more structural quality requirements may have been caused by the higher standards. The higher structural requirements and related higher measured structural quality feature of teacher education and physical space may have strengthened process quality features of environmental design and activities in those classrooms, consistent with prior research on teacher education and process quality (Burchinal et al., 2002; Clarke-Stewart et al., 2002; Cryer et al., 2003; Lanigan, 2011; Phillips, Mekos, Scarr, McCartney, & Abbott-Shim, 2000; Phillipsen et al., 1997; Raikes et al., 2005). The current study, however, was non-experimental and cause could not be investigated nor concluded. Future research efforts should be developed to study the effects of varying levels of structural quality requirements through state standards on measured classroom structural and process environmental quality.

An additional explanation to the current study findings, and an avenue for future research, is preschool classroom curriculums. The classrooms with more stringent regulations were required the use of one of three scientifically based curriculums in their classrooms. Both classroom types are required to have daily schedules in each classroom to operate and be licensed, but only classrooms with the more stringent standards must meet a recommended amount of time for specific curriculum areas (e.g. science and math) and have their lesson plans reviewed by their County Departments of Education for meeting West Virginia Content Standards and Common Core learning objectives. Lesson plans for the other classroom type, in contrast, are reviewed internally by staff at the centre if and when reviewed. The additional curriculum requirements may in part help explain the significantly higher ECERS-R Activities and Program Structure subscale scores, indicating higher process quality, within classrooms with more structural quality standards than classrooms with fewer requirements.

It is important to note that another possible explanation for higher quality ECERS-R scores in the preschool classrooms with more structural quality requirements is that teachers in those classrooms are familiar with the ECERS-R as it is required for those sites by the state Department of Education every three years. Having greater exposure to this tool can afford teachers expertise in classroom arrangement and recommended materials needed to score high on the ECERS-R. The state Department of Education also provides funding for educational materials in the classroom. Additional funds for equipment may help these classrooms meet the indicators on the ECERS-R.

Conclusion

Quality of early education classrooms and childcare has been in question for a long time. The NICHD (2006) survey revealed that the majority of childcare operations in the USA were ‘fair’ or ‘poor’, with only 10% providing high-quality care. This is consistent with the current study in which even when classroom types did significantly differ on ECERS-R subscales, those average subscale scores were in the range of minimal quality. Additionally, states vary in their regulations and licensing is necessary so that facilities are safe. These are basic foundation features for programmes; however, ECERS-R Personal Care Routines, which captures health and safety procedures as well as sleep, meal, and toileting practices, was found in the current study, for example, to be inadequate on average across all classrooms. This highlights gaps in current state regulations.

The present study helps support previous findings that additional and stricter state regulations can be linked with both higher structural and higher process environmental quality in early education programmes (e.g. Cost, Quality and Child Outcomes Study Team, 1995), regulations which typically focus on structural quality features. It may be that basic health and safety features need to be enforced or more consistently enforced and be more rigorous, in addition to improving teacher education requirements. Common benchmarks of current initiatives to improve quality of early programmes, such as the Race to the Top Grants (US Department of Education, 2011), all include teacher education level at the top of the list. West Virginia itself with its proposed educational reform is in the midst of requiring higher standards for preschool teachers and assistant teachers. Therefore, the bar for quality in early education programmes appears to be on the rise.

Acknowledgments

Biographies

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