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Staff Perceptions of Structure, Process, and School Readiness Outcomes in Private South Florida Child Care Centers

Staff Perceptions of Structure, Process, and School Readiness Outcomes in Private South Florida Child Care Centers. Doctoral Dissertation Defense Hearing Deborah Mazzeo. February 1, 2008. CHAPTER I: Introduction to the Study. Purpose Definition of Terms Justification

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Staff Perceptions of Structure, Process, and School Readiness Outcomes in Private South Florida Child Care Centers

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  1. Staff Perceptions of Structure, Process, and School Readiness Outcomes in Private South Florida Child Care Centers Doctoral Dissertation Defense Hearing Deborah Mazzeo February 1, 2008

  2. CHAPTER I: Introduction to the Study • Purpose • Definition of Terms • Justification • Delimitations and Scope

  3. Background to the Problem • 56% of children 3-5 years in center-based care (NCES, 2002) • 1 in 8 centers provide less than minimal quality care (Children’s Defense Fund, 1999) • 2005-2006 Florida created VPK

  4. Purposes • Descriptive • Exploratory (comparative) • Exploratory (correlational) • Explanatory (correlational)

  5. Definition of Key Terms-Theoretical and Operational • Child Care Center • Child Care Center Staff • Structural Quality • Florida’s Voluntary Prekindergarten Program • Quality Rating System • Process Quality • School Readiness Outcomes

  6. Justification • Researchable and feasible • Significant - contributes to the literature and future practices in the field

  7. Delimitations and Scope • Licensed child care centers • South Florida • Teachers of four year olds and directors of child care centers

  8. CHAPTER II: Literature Review, Theoretical Framework, Research Questions, and Hypotheses

  9. Review of Literature • Adult-child interactions predictors of process quality • Structural features improve interactions • 83-92% unexplained variance in global quality

  10. Review of Literature (cont.) • Outcomes according to minority status needed • ECERS-R never used as a self-report • Use of ECERS-R on minority populations needed

  11. Theoretical Framework • Donabedian’s Tripartite Model of Quality (Structure, Process, Outcomes) • Spady’s Outcome-based education

  12. Research Question 1 Descriptive Analyses: • Structural Quality - Director and teacher demographics - Work profile characteristics - Child care center characteristics • Process Quality • School Readiness Outcomes

  13. Research Question 2 Differences in: structural quality, process quality, and school readiness outcomes according to: Teachers and Directors

  14. Research Question 3 Differences in: structural quality, process quality, and school readiness outcomes according to: VPK and non-VPK programs

  15. Research Question 4 Differences in: structural quality, process quality, and school readiness outcomes according to: centers that participated in the QRS, planned on participating, or did not participate

  16. Research Question 5 Differences in: structural quality, process quality, and school readiness outcomes according to: centers with Low, Medium, and High Minority Populations

  17. Research Question 6 Relationships between: Structural quality, process quality, and school readiness outcomes and % of minority children

  18. Child Care Center Staff H1a, H2a, H3a, H4a, H5a Directors H1b, H2b, H3b, H4b, H5b Teachers H1c, H2c, H3c, H4c, H5c STRUCTURE Director and Teacher Demographic Characteristics Director and Teacher Work Profile Characteristics Center Characteristics Program Administration PROCESS Interaction Cognitive Outcome H1a, H1b, H1c Social and Emotional Outcomes H2a, H2b, H2c Language and Comm. Outcomes H3a, H3b, H3c Physical Development H4a, H4b, H4c Health and Wellbeing H5a, H5b, H5c SCHOOL READINESS OUTCOMES Hypothesized Model

  19. CHAPTER III: Research Methods • Research Design • Population and Sampling • Instrumentation • Ethical Considerations and Data Collection Methods • Methods of Data Analysis

  20. Research Design • Quantitative, non-experimental, exploratory (comparative), and explanatory (correlational) survey research study • Data collection: teachers and directors of private South Florida child care centers through self-report mailed survey • 5 part self-report survey

  21. Target, Accessible, Sample, and Setting • Target – 2,006 licensed child care centers in South Florida (FL DCF, 2007) 222,189 four year olds (FL DOE, 2006) 15,390 preschool teachers in Florida (U.S. Dept. of Labor, 2006) 2,006 Directors

  22. Target, Accessible, Sample, and Setting (cont.) • Accessible – entire target population • No sampling plan • Setting – surveys completed at child care centers or home of respondents

  23. Sample Size • Based on data analysis (internal validity) - Hierarchical stepwise: n>50+8(37) = 346 - Exploratory factor analysis = 129-960 • Based on size of population (external validity) 500 recommended 10% of 4,000 = 400 optimal Minimal sample size needed = 346

  24. Instrumentation 5 part survey Part 1: Structural Quality 9 items Flesch-Kincaid – 6.73 Part 2: Structural Quality - Child Care Center Characteristics 16 items Flesh-Kincaid– 7.45

  25. Instrumentation (cont.) Part 3: Program Administration • Personnel Cost and Allocation, Child Assessment, and Staff Qualifications subscales of the PAS (7 point rating scale) modified to a self-report • Originally 7 items • Flesch Kincaid– 7.6

  26. Instrumentation (cont.) Part 4: Process Quality • Interaction subscale of the ECERS –R (7 point rating scale) modified to a self-report • 5 items • Flesch Kincaid– 8.35

  27. Instrumentation (cont.) • Part 5: School Readiness Outcomes Modified by researcher, content derived from Office of Early Learning VPK standards • Cognitive Outcomes (18 items) • Social and Emotional Outcomes (8 items) • Language and Communication Outcomes (8 items) • Physical Development (5 items) • Health and Wellbeing (4 items) 43 items Response categories: 1 = 0-20%, 2 = 21-40%,3 = 41-60%, 4 = 61-80%, 5 = 81-100%

  28. Data Collection Procedures and Ethical Considerations • Permission to use scales obtained • Defended proposal • IRB approval • Obtained addresses of CCC • Collected data for 2 months • Mailed reminder post cards • Data kept confidential • Submitted Report of Termination • Data will be destroyed after 5 years

  29. Methods of Data Analysis Using SPSS 15.0 • Reliability and Validity of scales • RQ 1: Descriptive statistics • RQ 2,3,4, & 5: Exploratory (comparative) 2 & 3 chi square and independent t-tests 4 & 5 chi square tests and ANOVAs with post hoc comparisons • RQ 6 – Exploratory (correlational) Pearson r correlation coefficient and eta for categorical data • Hypotheses: Exploratory (correlational) 15 multiple regression analyses

  30. CHAPTER IV: Results • Data Producing Sample • Validity and Reliability of Measurement Scales • Research Questions • Research Hypotheses

  31. Data Producing Sample

  32. Psychometric Evaluation of Measures

  33. Psychometrics of School Readiness Outcome Scale

  34. Directors 114 female, 5 male Mean age = 48 78.9% White 67.3% not Hispanic or Latino 36.4% Bachelor’s degree Teachers 43 female, 1 male Mean age =40 69% White 62.8% not Hispanic or Latino 43.9% less than an Associate’s degree RQ 1- Demographic Characteristics

  35. Directors $17.07 per hour Years of employment mean =10 94% completed training 91.4% did not receive salary supplement Teachers $11.03 per hour Years of employment mean = 8 84.4% completed training 88.4% did not receive salary supplement RQ 1- Work Characteristics

  36. RQ 1 – Child Care Center Characteristics • 51.8% in suburban areas • 38.2% not in QRS, 37.5% in QRS • 77% VPK providers • 53.3% accredited • 9.9% of 4-year old classes Head Start • Lead teacher and assistant most common structure (62.4%)

  37. RQ1 Program Administration Scale

  38. RQ1Process Quality Scale

  39. RQ1 School Readiness Outcomes Scale Mean Scale and Subscale and Average Item Scores for the 36 Item School Readiness Outcomes Scale n Scale and subscale Average mean score Item score

  40. Research Question 2Directors vs. Teachers Directors Teachers p-value

  41. Research Question 3 – VPK vs. non-VPK VPK non-VPK p-value

  42. Research Question 4 – QRS status Participated in QRS Planned to Participate Did not Participate in QRS in QRS

  43. Research Question 4 – QRS statusCategorical variables Participated in QRS Planned to Participate Did not Participate in QRS in QRS

  44. Research Question 5 Low Minority Med. Minority High Minority (0-33%) (34-67%) (68-100%)

  45. Research Question 5 Low Minority Med. Minority High Minority 0-33% 34-67% 68-100%

  46. Research Question 6 -Relationships with % of Minority students Variable Pearson rp-value VPK provider (F=1.911, p = .006)

  47. Research Hypothesis 1 Hypothesis Results % of Variance Explained a = Total sample b = Directors c = Teachers

  48. Research Hypothesis 2 Hypothesis Results % of Variance Explained a = Total sample b = Directors c = Teachers

  49. Research Hypothesis 3 Hypothesis Results % of Variance Explained a = Total sample b = Directors c = Teachers

  50. Research Hypothesis 4 Hypothesis Results % of Variance Explained a = Total sample b = Directors c = Teachers

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