Research Findings: Given the variable nature of early childhood settings, practitioners and researchers need better guidance on what conditions influence observations conducted within early childhood settings (National Research Council, 2008). Using 230 observations from 23 three- and four-year-old children, we conducted a Generalizability study…

Research Findings: A total of 54 videotaped mathematics activity observations drawn from 27 different pre-kindergarten classrooms in an urban public schools system in the U.S. were coded using 2 observational measures: (1) a general measure, the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS); and (2) a math-specific measure, the High Impact…

Quality rating and improvement systems (QRISs) are designed to assess, improve, and communicate the quality of early care and education programs. Using administrative data, we investigated whether providers that participated in a county-level QRIS saw increases to their global quality (tier) rating, domain-specific quality ratings, and scores on…

Many school districts face the empirical challenge of monitoring program quality to assure that all children experience pre-K environments that foster early learning and development. Factors that are exogenous to classrooms (such as evaluation timing) may play a role in estimates of program quality and yet are not fully understood. This paper…

Research Findings: The present study examined the extent to which instructional practices, including curriculum, in pre-K through third grade are vertically aligned. Attention was directed to teachers' grouping practices, academic content, and pedagogical methods given their importance for students' learning. Variable- and person-centered analyses…

Research Findings: The purpose of this study was to refine and validate the Assessing Classroom Sociocultural Equity Scale (ACSES), an observation tool for measuring equitable sociocultural interactions in early childhood classrooms (pre-K to Grade 3) with racially minoritized learners (RMLs). Preliminary psychometric information from 142…

Research Findings: The increase in young Latino Dual Language Learners (DLLs) attending early care and education (ECE) programs has led to a focus on assessing classroom quality for DLLs, to evaluate the quality and impact of their early educational experiences. Experts have advocated for the use of multiple classroom observation tools (i.e.,…