Synopses & Reviews
What constitutes quality in early childhood settings, and how can it best be measured with today's widely used tools and promising new approaches? Find authoritative answers in this book, a must-have for high-level administrators and policymakers as more and more states adopt early childhood Quality Rating and Improvement Systems.
The most comprehensive resource on measuring quality in both home- and center-based settings, this book brings together a who's who of early childhood experts to establish what's working in quality measurement and how it can be strengthened to support better programs and optimal child development. Readers will explore specific approaches to measuring the quality of factors that are key to school readiness, including
- supports for early language and literacy development
- math and science curricula and instruction
- environmental supports for social and emotional competence
- health-related factors such as nutrition, safety, and adequate physical activity
- family-sensitive child care
- cultural responsiveness
- services for children with disabilities
- practices that promote dual language learners' development and learning
To help them measure these factors accurately, readers will get critical analyses of dozens of current assessment measures, plus an exclusive inside look at today's most promising new tools. Readers will also find invaluable guidance on "big picture" issues—such as how to align quality measures with professional development goals and desired child outcomes; how to make sound, data-driven decisions when implementing a large-scale Quality Rating and Improvement System, and how to conduct integrated quality assessments that combine the best of observational and structural approaches.
An essential reference for anyone involved in a statewide effort to improve program quality, this book also makes an ideal graduate-level text for tomorrow's early childhood decision makers. Readers will have the knowledge base they need to strengthen their quality measurement—so they can be sure their programs lead to positive outcomes and get children ready for school success.
Review
"No issue is more important for early childhood policy, practice, and research. No book provides a better guide to what we know and what we must learn about measuring quality. A must read for anyone concerned with improving early childhood policy and practice." W. Steven Barnett, Ph.D.
Synopsis
The most comprehensive resource on measuring quality in early childhood settings, this book brings together more than 50 experts to establish what's working and how quality measurement can be improved. Includes critical analyses of today's tools and tomor
About the Author
Margaret Burchinal, Ph.D., Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, FPG Child Development Institute, CB 8185, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599. Dr. Burchinal is a senior scientist at the FPG Child Development Institute. She has served as the primary statistician for many child care studies, including the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development study of early child care and youth development; the Abecedarian Project; the National Center for Early Development and Learning 11-state prekindergarten evaluation; and the Cost, Quality, and Outcomes Study.
Dr. Carta is Senior Scientist in the Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies, Professor of Special Education, and Director of Early Childhood Research at Juniper Gardens Children’s Project at the University of Kansas.
Jason T. Downer, Ph.D., is a senior research scientist at the University of Virginia's Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning in Charlottesville. He is a clinical–community psychologist whose work focuses on the identification and understanding of contextual and relational contributors to young at-risk children's early achievement and social competence. Specifically, Dr. Downer is interested in the role of fathers in children's early learning, as well as the development of observational methods to capture valid, reliable estimates of teacher–child interactions in prekindergarten through elementary classrooms. Dr. Downer also has a keen interest in translating research-to-practice through school-based, classroom-focused interventions.
Ellen C. Frede, Ph.D., Senior Vice President for Early Learning, Research, and Training, Acelero Learning, Inc., 63 West 125th Street, 6th Floor, New York, New York 10027. Until recently, Dr. Frede served as Co-director at the National Institute for Early Education Research. She is a developmental psychologist who specializes in research to inform policy and practice and helped design and administer New Jersey's successful Abbott Preschool Program.
Herbert P. Ginsburg, the Jacob H. Schiff Professor of Psychology and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, has conducted basic research on the development of mathematical thinking, with particular attention to young children and disadvantaged populations. He has drawn on cognitive developmental research to develop a mathematics curriculum, Big Math for Little Kids.
Dr. Halle is Codirector of Early Childhood Research at Child Trends. She oversees projects in Child Trends’s Washington, D.C., office. She conducts research on children’s early cognitive and social development, children’s school readiness, family and community supports for school readiness, and school characteristics associated with ongoing achievement and positive development. Her recent work focuses on early literacy development among children who are English language learners and evaluations of early childhood curricula, programs, and professional development aimed at supporting children’s school readiness.
Bridget K. Hamre, Ph.D., is Research Associate Professor in the Curry School of Education and Associate Director of University of Virginia’s Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning (CASTL). Dr. Hamre’s areas of expertise include student–teacher relationships and classroom processes that promote positive academic and social development for young children, and she has authored numerous peer-reviewed manuscripts on these topics. This work documents the ways in which early teacher–child relationships are predictive of later academic and social development and the ways in which exposure to high-quality classroom social and instructional interactions may help close the achievement gap for students at risk of school failure.
Dr. Hamre leads efforts to use the CLASS™ tool as an assessment, acco
Table of Contents
About the Editors
Contributors
Foreword Mary Bruce Webb
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Why Strengthening the Measurement of Quality in Early Childhood Settings Has Taken on New Importance
Ivelisse Martinez-BeckSection I. Reasons to Take Stock and Strengthen Our Measures of Quality
- Setting the Context for a Discussion of Quality Measures: The Demographic Landscape of Early Care and Education
Tamara Halle, Ivelisse Martinez-Beck, Nicole D. Forry, and Meagan McSwiggan - How Well Do Our Measures of Quality Predict Child Outcomes? A Meta-Analysis and Coordinated Analysis of Data from Large-Scale Studies of Early Childhood Settings
Margaret Burchinal, Kirsten Kainz, and Yaping Cai - Empirical Approaches to Strengthening the Measurement of Quality: Issues in the Development and Use of Quality Measures in Research and Applied Settings
Donna M. Bryant, Margaret Burchinal, and Martha Zaslow
Section II. Potential to Strengthen Measures of Quality in Specific Domains
- Advancing the Measurement of Quality for Early Childhood Programs that Support Early Language and Literacy Development
Susan B. Neuman and Judith J. Carta - Measuring the Quality of Early Childhood Math and Science Curricula and Teaching
Kimberly Brenneman, Kimberly Boller, Sally Atkins-Burnett, Deborah Stipek, Nicole D. Forry, Barbrina B. Ertle, Lucia French, Herbert P. Ginsburg, Ellen Frede, and Thomas Schultz - Measuring the Quality of Environmental Supports for Young Children’s Social and Emotional Competence
Marilou Hyson, Jessica E. Vick Whittaker, Martha Zaslow, Deborah Leong, Elena Bodrova, Bridget K. Hamre, and Sheila Smith - Measuring Health-Related Aspects of Quality in Early Childhood Settings
Susan M. Hegland, Susan S. Aronson, Patricia Isbell, Sara Benjamin Neelon, Beth S. Rous, and Marilyn J. Krajicek - Family-Sensitive Caregiving: A Key Component of Quality in Early Care and Education Arrangements
Juliet Bromer, Diane Paulsell, Toni Porter, Julia R. Henly, Dawn Ramsburg, Roberta B. Weber, and Families and Quality Workgroup Members - Measuring Culturally Responsive Early Care and Education
Eva Marie Shivers and Kay Sanders, with T’Pring R. Westbrook
Section III. Cross-Cutting Issues
- Measuring Quality of ECE Programs for Children with Disabilities
Donna Spiker, Kathleen M. Hebbeler, and Lauren R. Barton - Defining and Measuring Quality in Early Childhood Practices that Promote Dual Language Learners’ Development and Learning
Dina C. Castro, Linda M. Espinosa, and Mariela M. Páez - The Whole Child, the Whole Setting: Toward Integrated Measures of Quality
Suzanne M. Bouffard and Stephanie M. Jones - Aligning Measures of Quality with Professional Development Goals and Goals for Children’s Development
Robert C. Pianta, Bridget K. Hamre, and Jason Downer - Beyond Classroom-Based Measures for Preschoolers: Addressing the Gaps in Measures for Home-Based Care and Care for Infants and Toddlers
Heather Sandstrom, Shannon Moodie, and Tamara Halle
Section IV. Applications in Policy and Practice
- Measuring and Rating Quality: A State Perspective on the Demands for Quality Measurement in a Policy Context
Deborah Swenson-Klatt and Kathryn Tout - Data-Driven Decision Making in Preparation for Large-Scale Quality Rating System Implementation
Kathy R. Thornburg, Denise Mauzy, Wayne A. Mayfield, Jacqueline S. Hawks, Amber Sparks, Judy A. Mumford, Teresa Foulkes, and Kathryn L. Fuger - Differing Purposes for Measuring Quality in Early Childhood Settings: Al