Thesis
Predictors of child care quality: comparing center and teacher characteristics
Washington State University
Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
2013
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/104465
Abstract
This study was designed to explore the relative ability of center and teacher characteristics to predict quality. The sample for this study was drawn from the Career and Wage Ladder Evaluation Study (Boyd & Wandschneider, 2004) that included 93 teachers nested within 51 centers. Quality was assessed using ECERS-R and CIS and specific center and teacher characteristics were examined in relation to quality. No strong correlations between center and teacher characteristics and quality were observed. Hierarchical multilevel analyses performed at the teacher-level model showed that basic skills and wage were statistically significant, though modest, predictors of quality. With the inclusion of center-level predictor variables to the model, wage as a teacher level-predictor of quality became non-significant. Only two variables emerged as significant predictors of quality in the combined model: basic skills and the percentage of lowincome children in the classroom. Quality was lower in centers that had a higher concentration of low-income children and when teachers endorsed basic skills beliefs. A significant portion of explained variance in observed quality was accounted for by center variables. This statistical analytic approach adds to our understanding of the importance of accounting for nonindependence of observations of individuals nested within institutions. Guided by the performance theoretical perspectives, findings to this study illuminate how factors within a teacher's environment may stimulate or constrain quality outcome. Results demonstrate that quality appears to be predicted by both teacher and center characteristics. Implications for child care educators and future research are discussed.
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Details
- Title
- Predictors of child care quality
- Creators
- Stella Auma Illa
- Contributors
- Brenda J. Boyd (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Human Development, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; [Pullman, Washington] :
- Identifiers
- 99900525383401842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis