Research

Moving Beyond the Average: Building a Comprehensive Model of Classroom Quality that Incorporates Children’s Individual Experiences

The goal of this project is to explore how individual children’s engagement varies within classrooms and the degree to which variation in child engagement is associated with children’s outcomes. Specifically, the research team aims to (i) evaluate the degree to which the average engagement of children in academic content and experiences with teachers varies within children and within classrooms, (ii) examine relations to children’s outcomes and how this varies by activity setting, and (iii) determine if these associations vary based on children’s demographics. Achieving these aims will help promote the understanding on the extent to which children’s individual engagement, above and beyond average engagement, may serve as a malleable target for early childhood education interventions.