ERIC Number: ED628114
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2023
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0885-2006
EISSN: N/A
Learning Experiences Vary across Young Children in the Same Classroom: Evidence from the Individualizing Student Instruction Measure in the Boston Public Schools
Christina Weiland; Lillie Moffett; Paola Guerrero Rosada; Amanda Weissman; Kehui Zhang; Michelle Maier; Catherine Snow; Meghan McCormick; JoAnn Hsueh; Jason Sachs
Grantee Submission, Early Childhood Research Quarterly v63 p313-326 2023
Classroom-level quality measures are widely used in early education settings but may mask important variation in learning experiences across children in the same classroom. This study investigates this possibility using detailed data from an observational measure of individual children's learning experiences--Individualizing Student Instruction (ISI). We also examine two other suggested directions for improving early childhood measurement--measuring specific content and learning formats. Our sample includes 263 prekindergarteners and 390 kindergarteners (M age=5.2; 51% female; 20% Asian; 20% Black; 32% Latino; 24% White; 4% Other). We found that learning experiences differed substantially across young children enrolled in the same classroom and across student subgroups, particularly for some learning content areas and learning formats. However, this variation did not consistently predict children's language, literacy, math, or executive function gains. The exception was a small relation between time off-task and math gains in both grades, though these findings are sensitive to which math measure is used. Findings underscore the need for more measurement work in early education settings, including development and validation of new instruments and rigorous psychometric studies of existing measures.
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Institute of Education Sciences (ED)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Massachusetts (Boston)
IES Funded: Yes
Grant or Contract Numbers: R305N160018; R305B150012