ERIC Number: EJ1318536
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021
Pages: 28
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1976-5681
EISSN: N/A
How Stable Is Program Quality in Child Care Centre Classrooms?
Varmuza, Petr; Perlman, Michal; Falenchuk, Olesya
International Journal of Child Care and Education Policy, v15 Article 15 2021
In the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) sector there is a move to reduce oversight costs by reducing the frequency of quality assessments in providers who score highly consistently across time. However, virtually nothing is known about the stability of ECEC quality assessments over time. Using a validated measure of overall classroom quality, we examined stability of quality in a sample of over 1000 classrooms in licensed child care centres in Toronto, Canada over a 3-year period. Multilevel mixed-effects linear regression analyses revealed substantial instability across all types of ECEC centres, although publicly operated centres were somewhat more stable and tended to have higher quality scores. We also found substantial variance between classrooms within ECEC centres. None of the structural, child/family and neighbourhood characteristics we examined were significantly related to stability of quality ratings. The lack of stability found in our sample does not support the use of a risk-based approach to quality oversight in ECEC. Large within centre classroom quality variance suggest that all classrooms within a centre should be assessed individually. Furthermore, classroom level scores should be posted when scores are made public as part of accountability systems. Future research should, in addition to administrative data used in our study, explore how factors such as educator training, participation in program planning, reflective practices and ongoing learning might improve stability of quality over time.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Early Childhood Education, Child Care Centers, Educational Quality, Program Evaluation, Sustainability, Scores, Evaluation Methods, Accountability
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Early Childhood Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Canada
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A