Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth through Age 8: A Unifying Foundation. Consensus Study Report.

Research Findings: Early childhood teachers’ psychological well-being influences the nurturing and learning classroom climate in early care and education as well as children’s development. However,...

Early Childhood Teachers’ Psychological Well-Being: Exploring Potential Predictors of Depression, Stress, and Emotional Exhaustion

She’s supporting them; who’s supporting her?Preschool center-level social-emotional supports and teacher well-being

Children are already learning at birth, and they develop and learn at a rapid pace in their early years. This provides a critical foundation for lifelong progress, and the adults who provide for the care and the education of young children bear a great responsibility for their health, development, and learning. Despite the fact that they share the same objective - to nurture young children and secure their future success - the various practitioners who contribute to the care and the education of children from birth through age eight are not acknowledged as a workforce unified by the common knowledge and competencies needed to do their jobs well. This book explores the science of child development, particularly looking at implications for the professionals who work with children. The book examines the current capacities and practices of the workforce, the settings in which they work, the policies and infrastructure that set qualifications and provide professional learning, and the government agencies and other funders who support and oversee these systems. The book then makes recommendations to improve the quality of professional practice and the practice environment for care and education professionals. These detailed recommendations create a blueprint for action that builds on a unifying foundation of child development and early learning, shared knowledge and competencies for care and education professionals, and principles for effective professional learning. Young children thrive and learn best when they have secure, positive relationships with adults who are knowledgeable about how to support their development and learning and are responsive to their individual progress. The book offers guidance on system changes to improve the quality of professional practice, specific actions to improve professional learning systems and workforce development, and research to continue to build the knowledge base in ways that will directly advance and inform future actions. The recommendations of the book provide an opportunity to improve the quality of the care and the education that children receive, and ultimately improve outcomes for children.

Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8: A Unifying Foundation

Researchers and clinicians often measure executive function in patients and normal samples. In addition to cognitive tests that objectively measure executive function, several instruments have been developed that address individuals’ everyday experience of executive problems. Such self-report measures of executive problems may have value, but there are questions about the extent to which they tap objectively-measurable executive problems or are influenced by variables such as personality. Relationships between self-reported executive problems, personality, and cognitive test performance were assessed in three separate, well-powered, methodologically distinct correlational studies using non-clinical samples. These studies used multiple measures of personality and self-reported executive function problems. Across all three studies, self-reported executive function problems were found to correlate with neuroticism and with low conscientiousness, with medium to large effect sizes. However self-reported problems did not correlate with performance on Trail Making, Phonemic Fluency, Semantic Fluency or Digit Span tests tapping executive function. A key implication of these findings is that in non-clinical samples, self-report questionnaires may not be proxies for executive functioning as measured by neuropsychological tests.

/pdf/self-report-measures-of-executive-function-problems-4e7c5cfxmo.pdf

Self-report measures of executive function problems correlate with personality, not performance-based executive function measures, in nonclinical samples.

Research Findings: The current article explores the relationship between teachers’ perceptions of child behavior problems and preschool teacher job stress, as well as the possibility that teachers’ executive functions moderate this relationship Data came from 69 preschool teachers in 31 early childhood classrooms in 4 Head Start centers and were collected using Web-based surveys and Web-based direct assessment tasks Multilevel models revealed that higher levels of teachers’ perceptions of child behavior problems were associated with higher levels of teacher job stress and that higher teacher executive function skills were related to lower job stress However, findings did not yield evidence for teacher executive functions as a statistical moderator Practice or Policy: Many early childhood teachers do not receive sufficient training for handling children's challenging behaviors Child behavior problems increase a teacher's workload and consequently may contribute to feelings of stress However, teachers

Child Behavior Problems, Teacher Executive Functions, and Teacher Stress in Head Start Classrooms.

ASD symptomology and behavioral problems pose challenges for children with ASD in school. Disagreement between parents and teachers in ratings of children's behavior problems may provide clinically relevant information. We examined parent-teacher disagreement on ratings of behavior problems among children with ASD during the fall and spring of the school year. When child, teacher, and class characteristics were considered simultaneously, only ASD symptom severity predicted informant disagreement on internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. We also examined associations between informant disagreement and parent school involvement. Cross-lagged panel analyses revealed that higher informant disagreement on children's behavior problems in the fall predicted lower parent school involvement in the spring, suggesting that greater informant agreement may foster parental school involvement over time.

Juliana M. Neuspiel

Papers

Child Behavior Problems, Teacher Executive Functions, and Teacher Stress in Head Start Classrooms.

Parent–Teacher Disagreement on Ratings of Behavior Problems in Children with ASD: Associations with Parental School Involvement Over Time

Young children's reasoning about the effects of poverty on people experiencing it: A qualitative thematic analysis