The Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS; Pianta et al., 2008) is a popular measure of teacher-child interactions. Despite its prominence, CLASS scores have fairly weak relations with various child outcomes (e.g., Zaslow et al., 2010). One potential reason for these findings could be systematic differences in observer severity. As such, the…

Adults' behaviour in interactions with children is assumed to influence children's playfulness. However, little is known about how the quality of teacher-child interaction in early childhood education and care affects the development of children's playfulness, although the interaction quality has been identified as a strong predictor of children's…

The neighborhood literature consistently documents associations between neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) and child development. Yet, this approach may miss important heterogeneity in neighborhood resources (e.g., libraries, doctors' offices) that have important implications for children. Moreover, the mechanisms that explain the relation…

The present study investigated the relationship between teacher-child interaction quality and children's social-emotional and language development. Also considered was the level/status of classroom quality in preschool setting. Classroom Assessment Scoring System Pre-K (CLASS Pre-K), the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA-P2), and Peabody…

Dual language learner children (DLLs) benefit from early childhood education (ECE) and learning multiple languages, but research has predominantly focused on English monolingual children, with limited insight on the ECE and early development of DLLs. This study investigated whether DLLs' developmental assets assessed at pre-k entry (i.e. English…

Most accountability policies monitor Head Start quality at the center level by selecting a subset of classrooms within a center to represent quality. This study explores variation in classroom quality in Head Start and implications for accountability systems and children's well-being. We find that one third to one half of the variation in quality…

This study identified patterns of classroom and family experiences and developmental outcomes for young children in segregated early education. This study is based on data from a high-quality early education program serving young children from low-income households in 19 schools across the U.S. The sample included 1,521 children during the…

Language difficulties are frequently characterized by a significantly lower mean length of utterances (MLU) among children experiencing neglect. More opportunities to experience positive interactions, such as in early childhood education (ECE) settings, could help increase these children's MLU. This study aims to examine the relationship between…

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…

Although high-quality early care and education (ECE) is widely accepted as one of the most effective means for promoting early learning and development, many ECE programs have limited impact perhaps because of issues with how ECE quality is defined and measured. This study seeks to expand definitions of ECE quality by asking which preschool ECE…