Longitudinal predictors of reading and math trajectories through middle school for African American versus Caucasian students across two samples.

This study's primary purpose was to examine the relative contribution of social-behavioral predictors to reading and math skills. The study expands on Duncan et al.'s (2007) work by using longitudinal methodology from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development's Study of Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD) and the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998–1999 (ECLS-K) databases, and by focusing on potential differences in patterns of early predictors of later reading and math trajectories for African American versus Caucasian students. Predictor measures were selected at kindergarten, and the outcomes included standardized reading and math scores obtained from Grades 1, 3, 5, and 9 for the SECCYD sample, and Grades 3, 5, and 8 for the ECLS-K sample. Consistent with Duncan et al.'s findings, results reflect the relative contributions of early reading and math skills to later functioning in these respective academic domains for both samples, and there are indications for the importance of early expressive language skills to both reading and math in the SECCYD sample. Findings related to the power of social-behavioral predictors, however, are not consistent across samples. Although the SECCYD sample evidenced no such predictors, several interactions in the ECLS-K sample suggested the moderating effects of early ratings of aggressive behaviors and internalizing behaviors on later reading and math for African American students. The moderating effects of early teacher ratings of attention and internalizing behaviors for African American students as compared with Caucasian students in later math growth also were noted. The importance of early social-behavioral functions as related to later academic skills remains an important area of inquiry. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of an early literacy professional development intervention on head start teachers and children.

Effects of a 1-semester professional development (PD) intervention that included expert coaching with Head Start teachers were investigated in a randomized controlled trial with 88 teachers and 759 children. Differential effects of technologically mediated (remote) versus in-person (on-site) delivery of individualized coaching with teachers also were examined in a random assignment design. Hierarchical linear model analyses revealed positive PD intervention effects on general classroom environment (d = 0.99) and classroom supports for early literacy and language development (d = 0.92), and on children's letter knowledge (d = 0.29), blending skills (d = 0.18), writing (d = 0.17), and concepts about print (d = 0.22). No significant intervention effects on teaching practices and children's outcomes related to oral language were found. There were no differential effects of remote versus on-site delivery of literacy coaching. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Testing a series of causal propositions relating time in child care to children’s externalizing behavior.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 46(2) of Developmental Psychology (see record 2010-03975-013). On the first page of the article “Testing a Series of Causal Propositions Relating Time in Child Care to Children’s Externalizing Behavior,” by Kathleen McCartney, Margaret Burchinal, Alison Clarke- Stewart, Kristen L. Bub, Margaret T. Owen, Jay Belsky, and the NICHD Early Child Care Research Network (Developmental Psychology, 2010, Vol. 46, No. 1, pp. 1–17), author Alison Clarke- Stewart’s name was misspelled as Aliso Clarke-Stewart. In addition, the e-mail address listed for the corresponding author Kathleen McCartney is incorrect. The correct e-mail address is: kathleen_mccartney@gse.harvard.edu. The online versions of this article have been corrected.] Prior research has documented associations between hours in child care and children’s externalizing behavior. A series of longitudinal analyses were conducted to address 5 propositions, each testing the hypothesis that child care hours causes externalizing behavior. Data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development were used in this investigation because they include repeated measures of child care experiences, externalizing behavior, and family characteristics. There were 3 main findings. First, the evidence linking child care hours with externalizing behavior was equivocal in that results varied across model specifications. Second, the association between child care hours and externalizing behavior was not due to a child effect. Third, child care quality and proportion of time spent with a large group of peers moderated the effects of child care hours on externalizing behavior. The number of hours spent in child care was more strongly related to externalizing behavior when children were in low-quality child care and when children spent a greater proportion of time with a large group of peers. The magnitude of associations between child care hours and externalizing behavior was modest. Implications are that parents and policymakers must take into account that externalizing behavior is predicted from a constellation of variables in multiple contexts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does Class Size in First Grade Relate to Children's Academic and Social Performance or Observed Classroom Processes?

This study evaluated the extent to which first-grade class size predicted child outcomes and observed classroom processes for 651 children (in separate classrooms). Analyses examined observed child-adult ratios and teacher-reported class sizes. Smaller classrooms showed higher quality instructional and emotional support, although children were somewhat less likely to be engaged. Teachers in smaller classes rated typical children in those classes as more socially skilled and as showing less externalizing behavior and reported more closeness toward them. Children in smaller classes performed better on literacy skills. Larger classrooms showed more group activities directed by the teacher, teachers and children interacted more often, and children were more often engaged. Lower class sizes were not of more benefit (or harm) as a function of the child's family income. First-grade class size in the range typical of present-day classrooms in the United States predicts classroom social and instructional processes as well as relative changes in social and literacy outcomes from kindergarten to first grade. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correction to McCartney et al. (2010).

Reports an error in "Testing a series of causal propositions relating time in child care to children’s externalizing behavior" by Kathleen McCartney, Margaret Burchinal, Aliso Clarke-Stewart, Kristen L. Bub, Margaret T. Owen and Jay Belsky (Developmental Psychology, 2010[Jan], Vol 46[1], 1-17). On the first page of the article “Testing a Series of Causal Propositions Relating Time in Child Care to Children’s Externalizing Behavior,” by Kathleen McCartney, Margaret Burchinal, Alison Clarke- Stewart, Kristen L. Bub, Margaret T. Owen, Jay Belsky, and the NICHD Early Child Care Research Network (Developmental Psychology, 2010, Vol. 46, No. 1, pp. 1–17), author Alison Clarke- Stewart’s name was misspelled as Aliso Clarke-Stewart. In addition, the e-mail address listed for the corresponding author Kathleen McCartney is incorrect. The correct e-mail address is: kathleen_mccartney@gse.harvard.edu. The online versions of this article have been corrected. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2009-24671-001.) Prior research has documented associations between hours in child care and children’s externalizing behavior. A series of longitudinal analyses were conducted to address 5 propositions, each testing the hypothesis that child care hours causes externalizing behavior. Data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development were used in this investigation because they include repeated measures of child care experiences, externalizing behavior, and family characteristics. There were 3 main findings. First, the evidence linking child care hours with externalizing behavior was equivocal in that results varied across model specifications. Second, the association between child care hours and externalizing behavior was not due to a child effect. Third, child care quality and proportion of time spent with a large group of peers moderated the effects of child care hours on externalizing behavior. The number of hours spent in child care was more strongly related to externalizing behavior when children were in low-quality child care and when children spent a greater proportion of time with a large group of peers. The magnitude of associations between child care hours and externalizing behavior was modest. Implications are that parents and policymakers must take into account that externalizing behavior is predicted from a constellation of variables in multiple contexts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Instruction, teacher–student relations, and math achievement trajectories in elementary school.

Children enter elementary school with widely different skill levels in core subjects. Whether because of differences in aptitude or in preparedness, these initial skill differences often translate into systematic disparities in achievement over time. How can teachers reduce these disparities? Three possibilities are to offer basic skills training, to expose students to higher order instruction, or to provide socioemotional support. Repeated measures analyses of longitudinal data from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development revealed that children with low, average, or high math skills prior to elementary school followed different but parallel trajectories of math achievement up through fifth grade. When enrolled in classes with inference-based instruction, however, the initially least skilled children narrowed the achievement gap as long as they did not have conflictual relations with their teachers. They did not make this kind of progress if they were in classes focused exclusively on basic skills instruction or if they were in inference-focused classes but had conflictual relations with teachers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment and marital functioning: Comparison of spouses with continuous-secure, earned-secure, dismissing, and preoccupied attachment stances.

In a sample of 138 couples, the present study examined whether individuals' marital functioning related to both their own and their partner's attachment stance. Earned-secure wives managed their affect as well as continuous-secure wives during problem-solving discussions and better than preoccupied or dismissing wives. However, preoccupied and dismissing wives did not exhibit markedly different patterns of affect regulation in their marriages. Regarding individuals' marital functioning and partners' attachment stance, neither husbands' behavior nor perceptions related to their wives' attachment stance. However, wives of continuous-secure husbands exhibited more positive marital behavior than wives of dismissing and earned-secure husbands. Findings are discussed in terms of how attachment working models may account for both continuities and discontinuities between earlier caregiving experiences and functioning in adult relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Severity of spatial learning impairment in aging: Development of a learning index for performance in the Morris water maze.

The Morris water maze task was originally designed to assess the rat's ability to learn to navigate to a specific location in a relatively large spatial environment. This article describes new measures that provide information about the spatial distribution of the rat's search during both training and probe trial performance. The basic new measure optimizes the use of computer tracking to identify the rat's position with respect to the target location. This proximity measure was found to be highly sensitive to age-related impairment in an assessment of young and aged male Long-Evans rats. Also described is the development of a learning index that provides a continuous, graded measure of the severity of age-related impairment in the task. An index of this type should be useful in correlational analyses with other neurobiological or behavioral measures for the study of individual differences in functional/biological decline in aging. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Environmental risk factors and children's achievement from middle childhood to early adolescence.

This study examined the long-term effects of low family income and stressful life events on math and reading achievement test percentile scores for 1,253 children. Four birth cohorts were followed for 2-4 years so that achievement across Grades 2 through 7 could be examined. Two types of analytic models, the multiplicative risk factor model and the cumulative risk model, were used. The moderating effects of ethnicity and gender were also explored. The results suggest that low income and minority ethnic status are significant risk factors for children's achievement. No systematic evidence was found for a large impact of life events on reading achievement, and the effects of such events on math achievement appear to be best understood as part of the larger context of multiple risk factors during childhood. The findings suggest a differential impact of risk factors on math achievement compared with reading achievement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Racial identity, social context, and race-related social cognition in African Americans during middle childhood.

This study examined the effect of changes in racial identity, cross-race friendships, same-race friendships, and classroom racial composition on changes in race-related social cognition from 3rd to 5th grade for 73 African American children. The goal of the study was to determine the extent to which preadolescent racial identity and social context predict expectations of racial discrimination in cross-race social interactions (social expectations). Expectations of racial discrimination were assessed using vignettes of cross-race social situations involving an African American child in a social interaction with European Americans. There were 3 major findings. First, expectations for discrimination declined slightly from 3rd to 5th grade. Second, although racial composition of children's classrooms, number of European American friends, gender, and family poverty status were largely unrelated to social expectations, having more African American friends was associated with expecting more discrimination in cross-racial interactions from 3rd to 5th grade. Third, increases in racial centrality were related to increases in discrimination expectations, and increases in public regard were associated with decreases in discrimination expectations. These data suggest that as early as 3rd grade, children are forming attitudes about their racial group that have implications for their cross-race social interactions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)