Teacher work engagement is critical for work performance and child development, yet there is a limited understanding of how it is shaped from the perspective of teachers' emotion. Based on the job demand-resource model, this study tested the relationship between emotional labor strategies, teacher efficacy, grit, and work engagement. Research…

Research Findings: The goal of this longitudinal study was to examine persistence development during the transition to school. The sample consisted of N = 88 children from Caucasian, middle-class families (51% female). Participants were recruited through advertisement in public kindergartens and were tested twice, in kindergarten (mean…

Turnover of child care staff is associated with lower care quality and compromised children's development. While turnover rates in the child care sector have steadily been high, the COVID-19 pandemic has compounded the global staffing crisis. This article therefore aims to explore the correlates and reasons for turnover intention, turnover, and…

Research Findings: This study investigated 1220 kindergarten teachers in the Chinese context, exploring the relationships among their perception of servant leadership, emotional labor strategies and relative outcomes. The results showed that surface acting and the natural expression of felt emotions mattered for teachers' organizational commitment…

The under-representation of women in science disciplines is a persistent problem for workplaces and educational policy. Girls may start to disengage early from science subjects, partly due to cultural stereotypes around science and gender. Early language interventions which introduce science activities in terms of action (or process) versus…

Research Findings: This study aims to explore the possible mediators between social support and parenting competence in Chinese mothers of preschoolers. Altogether 538 Chinese mothers were sampled and surveyed with the Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS), Psychological Capital Scale (PCS-24), and the Chinese versions of the Parenting Sense of…

Research Findings: This study examined the characteristics of mothers' and fathers' scaffoldings that facilitate Chinese children's initiative-taking in different types of problem-solving activities. A sample of 96 Chinese children together with their mothers and fathers participated in this study. All children completed a worksheet, a game, and…

Turnover is particularly worrisome in Early Head Start/Head Start (EHS/HS) where consistency in relational-care systems and stable environments are critical quality indicators. Key adults in EHS/HS settings including teachers, administrators, specialists, and auxiliary personnel impact young children and families by providing care, education, and…

Research Findings: Computational thinking (CT), which is defined as the systematic analysis, exploration, and testing of solutions to open-ended and often complex problems, is an important skill to foster in early childhood. However, little is known about teachers' role in fostering CT in early childhood classrooms. To address this gap, we…

Research Findings: Home-based involvement--defined as the actions parents take to promote children's learning outside of school--is often the most efficient way for low-income parents to be involved with their children's education. However, there is limited research examining the factors predicting home-based involvement at kindergarten entry for…

Research Findings: This exploratory study identified preschool teacher quality profiles in early childhood education settings using 9 indicators across teachers' professional background, observed process quality, and job attitudes toward teaching (e.g., job-related stress, satisfaction, and intention to leave the job). The sample consisted of 96…

Research Findings: Early care and education has pronounced implications for young children's social-emotional learning. Although program structural and classroom process quality indicators have been widely explored, teachers' personal social-emotional capacity has only recently been recognized as an indicator of quality. This study reviewed and…

Research Findings: This study reports the results of a randomized trial of a parent engagement intervention (the Getting Ready intervention) on directly observed learning-related social behaviors of children from low-income families in the context of parent-child interactions. The study explored the moderating effect of parental depression on…

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…

This exploratory study examined the impacts of New York's Universal Pre-kindergarten (UPK) program as perceived by directors at child care centers and preschools not receiving state funds. Although only partially implemented, UPK's mixed-delivery system grants monies to a substantial number of qualifying community-based early care and education…