ArticlesStructural model of head start classroom quality
Section snippets
Participants
The Georgia State University Research Center on Head Start Quality, funded by a five-year grant from the Administration for Children, Youth and Families, is working in partnership with three Head Start programs in the Southeast to address the factors that influence quality, and the impact of quality on children and families. The total sample size for both Years 1 and 2 was 190 classrooms across the three Head Start programs. Complete data sets were obtained for 175 classrooms during the first
Results
In preparation for building the structural model, a second-order factor analysis was performed to determine whether the five scales of the Assessment Profile for Early Childhood Programs: Research Version (Abbott-Shim & Sibley, 1992) form a single latent construct. Since the latent construct of classroom quality served as the primary outcome, or endogenous variable for this model, it was particularly important to demonstrate that it truly represents a unitary construct. In addition, it was
Discussion
In summary, it was found that Education Level directly affected Inappropriate Beliefs, which were associated with Inappropriate Instructional Activities, which had an effect upon Classroom Quality. Neither Education Level nor Teacher Beliefs had direct effects on Classroom Quality, but they had indirect effects through Instructional Activities. Classroom Structure was associated with Quality directly, and Education Level and Classroom Quality were associated with Attitudes Toward Families.
This
Acknowledgements
This research was funded by the Agency for Children, Youth, and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Award No. 90YD0016/02). The authors wish to thank other members of the research team and the Head Start staff whose major contributions made this study possible.
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