This paper introduces the LIDO, or the Low-Inference Discourse Observation tool, that captures discourse moves produced by students and teachers in whole-classroom discussions. Coding methods are described, followed by analyses that explore validity of the LIDO through correlations among LIDO-coded discourse moves and between LIDO scores and…

Using data from six urban school districts, we examine the relationship between the quality of interactions in the classroom (measured by the Classroom Assessment Scoring System [CLASS] framework) and the racial match or mismatch between teachers and the students in their classes. We find that White teachers have lower scores on the CLASS…

Research Findings: Talking about emotions with their caregivers help young children develop emotional competence, and is particularly beneficial for children who display elevated externalizing behaviors. However, prior descriptive work has shown that teacher-child emotion talk in preschool classrooms is scarce. As children are spending increasing…

Research Findings: The aim of the present study was to identify profiles of kindergarten teachers based on the observed quality of interactions with the children in their classrooms and to explore possible differences between the profiles in terms of teachers' occupational well-being and teacher and classroom characteristics. Participants were 54…

A sample of 496 early childhood teachers was assigned randomly in two phases to a series of professional development (PD) interventions. Phase I intervention was a 14-week course on effective teacher-child interactions. Participants were then re-randomized into Phase II intervention, which consisted of individual, interactions-focused coaching.…

The Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) has been used extensively to measure teacher-student interactions and classroom quality. With a theoretical foundation rooted in the developmental theory of learning, CLASS has three primary domains--Emotional Support, Classroom Organization, and Instructional Support. In this study, we performed a…

Through two studies, this work examined the applicability, interpretability, and construct validity of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System K-3 (CLASS) to measure quality of classroom interactions. In the first study, the CLASS was used in 332 classrooms to test three alternative models (in time order, the one-, three-factor, and two-factor…

The current study reports on a large-scale quantitative analysis of classroom talk practices and links to different measures of reading achievement within upper elementary classrooms. Data involving 745 fourth- and fifth-grade teachers and 18,844 students from the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) study were used. Talk was quantified via…

Can early childhood education (ECE) support the societal language development of children from linguistically diverse backgrounds? This study examined how existing variation in classroom interaction quality (CLASS Pre-K), classroom composition (percentages of children from low-income backgrounds and dual language learners [DLLs]), and duration of…

This study focuses on the quality of teacher-student interactions and feedback in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL). Data consisted of 65 video-recorded lessons from 13 classrooms in two lower-secondary schools, and were coded with Classroom Assessment Scoring System--Secondary. Four cases were selected and analysed for feedback…

Research Findings: We examined the amount of preschool lead/assistant teachers' English/Spanish language use and relations between quality of teacher-child interactions, and Dual Language Learners' (DLLs) English/Spanish bilingual vocabulary in 31 English-medium Head Start classrooms. Measures in this study included (a) children's conceptual…

Child-directed speech (CDS), which can help children learn new words, has been rigorously studied among infants and parents in home settings. Yet, far less is known about the CDS that teachers use in classrooms with toddlers and children's responses, an important question because many toddlers, particularly in high-need communities, attend…

Employing a social capital framework, this study investigates teachers' role in influencing the peer dynamics between English learners (ELs) and their non-EL peers. Participants include 713 students (211 EL students). Observed teacher-student interaction quality and teacher self-reports of their peer network management were used to operationalize…

Both early childhood maternal language input and the quality of classroom instruction in elementary school have been shown to be important environmental supports in predicting children's literacy skill development. However, no studies have simultaneously examined these two environmental supports in relation to children's early language skills and…

Research Findings: This study of kindergarten monolingual and Dual Language Learners (DLLs) (N=263; mean age = 63.40 months) and their teachers (N=27) found significant mean differences in the observed quality of language interactions in classrooms with differing proportions of DLLs. Teachers instructing in classrooms with higher numbers of DLLs…