Who Participates in Quality Rating and Improvement Systems?

Even with rapid and widespread expansion of states' quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS)-tiered frameworks that assess, communicate, and improve early childhood education (ECE) quality-there exists no population-level information regarding which providers choose to participate in these primarily voluntary systems. We use a nationally representative survey of ECE centers to examine how the characteristics of ECE centers and the communities in which they are located predict participation in QRIS to understand the scope of QRIS policy implementation and the extent to which QRIS may be equity enhancing. We find that approximately one-third of centers nationwide participated in QRIS in 2012. Selection model results reveal that participation is more likely among centers that blend multiple funding sources and who are NAEYC accredited, and in communities with high poverty rates. However, QRIS participation is less likely in communities with relatively higher proportions of Black residents. Findings raise questions about how QRISs can equitably engage programs in all communities.

Head Start Teachers' Professional Development, Well-being, Attitudes, and Practices: Understanding Changes Over Time and Predictive Associations.

Early care and education (ECE) teachers shape children's daily experiences in many ways. Specifically, teachers' well-being, attitudes about child development, and teaching practices are central influences on children's learning. One crucial way ECE programs support teachers to enhance children's learning environments is through the provision of professional development (PD), but little research has examined the PD provided by ECE programs in the absence of focused initiatives to support teachers. In this descriptive study, we use data from a nationally representative study of Head Start teachers (N = 484) to explore whether teachers' job satisfaction, depression, developmentally appropriate attitudes, and frequency of engagement in math and literacy activities are associated with the number of (a) overall PD supports available to teachers, (b) curriculum supports received by teachers, and (c) mentoring supports received by teachers. Many of the associations between teachers' outcomes and overall PD supports, curriculum supports, and mentoring supports were not statistically significant, perhaps because the PD variables do not measure the quality or content of the PD provided. However, those PD supports that were significantly associated with outcomes were associated with specific teacher outcomes in ways consistent with theory, although associations were relatively weak. To contextualize these findings, we describe how PD supports and teachers' outcomes have changed over nearly a decade that encompasses some key Head Start policy changes. This research contributes to our understanding of scalable ways to prepare and support teachers of some of the nation's most vulnerable children.

Differential Effectiveness of Head Start in Urban and Rural Communities.

Recent research suggests that Head Start may be differentially effective in improving low-income children's early language and literacy skills based on a number of individual- and family-level characteristics. Using data from the Head Start Impact Study (n = 3503; 50% male, 63% treatment group), the present study extends this work to consider program impact variation based on centers' location in urban versus rural communities. Results indicate that Head Start is more effective in increasing children's receptive vocabulary (as measured by the PPVT) in urban areas and their oral comprehension (as measured by the Woodcock-Johnson Oral Comprehension task) in rural areas. Additional analyses suggest that related characteristics of the center - including concentration of dual language learners and provision of transportation services - may underlie these associations. Implications for research on program evaluation and policy are discussed.

Neighborhood Economic Disadvantage and Children's Cognitive and Social-Emotional Development: Exploring Head Start Classroom Quality as a Mediating Mechanism.

Past research has shown robust relationships between neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and children's school achievement and social-emotional outcomes, yet the mechanisms for explaining these relationships are poorly understood. The present study uses data from 1,904 Head Start participants enrolled in the Head Start Impact Study to examine the role that classroom structural and relational quality play in explaining the association between neighborhood poverty and children's developmental gains over the preschool year. Results suggest that neighborhood poverty is directly related to lower levels of classroom quality, and lower gains in early literacy and math scores. Indirect relationships were also found between neighborhood poverty and children's social-emotional outcomes (i.e., approaches to learning and behavior problems) via differences in the physical resources and negative student-teacher relationships within classrooms. These findings highlight the need for policy initiatives to consider community characteristics as potential predictors of disparities in classroom quality and children's cognitive and social-emotional development in Head Start.