CHARACTERISTICS OF HEAD START TEACHING TEAMS: ASSOCIATIONS WITH CLASSROOM QUALITY AND CHILD OUTCOMES

University Of Oklahoma, Norman OK

Investigators

Abstract

A plethora of research exists regarding how teacher interactions influence classroom quality (Bailey, Zinsser, Curby, Denham, & Bassett, 2013; Castle et al, 2015; Howes & Smith, 1995; Phillipsen, Burchinal, Howes, & Cryers, 1997). Many of those studies used data gathered from lead teachers without much, if any, consideration of the other adults in the classroom. However, most early childhood classrooms are staffed by more than one adult (Ratcliff et al., 2011). In fact, two Head Start Performance Standards, 1306.20 and 1306.32, call for this staffing pattern. Head Start requires that classroom staff work together to plan, organize, and provide activities that promote care and development of young children. Previous studies that focus on the lead teacher overlook a key component of the classroom-the teaching team. The interactions and characteristics of the assistant teachers combined with those of the lead teachers are important contextual factors that must be examined in order to understand the dynamics of classroom environments. Gathering information on how the two staff work together as a team will fill gaps in the current body of early childhood education literature. The proposed study will examine associations among teaching team characteristics, classroom quality, and child outcomes within a large Head Start agency. This mixed method study will examine data from 45 Head Start toddler and preschool classrooms including 45 lead and assistant teacher pairs and approximately 148 children. Multiple data collection methods include classroom observations to document teacher-child interactions, teacher's ratings of their perceptions and beliefs related to their teaching team and pre- and post-assessments of child outcomes on measures of cognitive development, receptive and expressive vocabulary, social emotional development, and executive function. The results generated will describe the characteristics of existing teaching teams. The results will also provide information on how teaching staff describe their current team functioning and perceive their level of teamwork. This study hypothesizes that classroom staff with positive perceptions of their existing teams will have higher classroom quality scores and better child outcomes than those teams that have less positive perceptions of their current teaching team. Management research shows that individuals with positive perceptions of their team are more effective and generate positive outcomes (Kozlowski & Bell, 2013; Leana, Appelbaum, & Shevchuk, 2009). The study results will be useful to the local Head Start agency collaborating with this research study and to the field of early childhood by providing insight on teaching team practices and perceptions of teamwork. Classroom staff could benefit by understanding the teamwork processes that are successful and challenging and how those behaviors relate to interactions with children and resulting child outcomes. This information will provide insight to administrators on how to promote effective teaching teams through monitoring and professional development.