Six organizational conditions of early childhood education programs as higher-level essentials constructs¶

Theory · All theories
Evidence · 7 claims (6 for, 1 mixed) · 2 studies (1 associational, 1 qualitative), q2 · 0 of 2 report an effect size · 7 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The framework organizes ECE program quality around "six organizational conditions of early childhood education programs." Rasch item response theory modeling creates scales, and "theory and exploratory factor analyses combined scales into higher level constructs called essentials." These essentials are then used as site-level indicators of organizational supports for ECE practitioners.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Rasch item response theory scaling of survey items, followed by factor analysis to form essentials constructs

Constraints¶

• Constructs are built from perceptions of teachers and parents, not direct observation

Target Learners¶

• ECE program leaders and practitioners

Target Learning Objectives¶

• understanding organizational conditions that enable effective practice with children and families

Claims¶

• The Early Education Essentials is reliable across multiple ECE settings [+W]
• The Early Education Essentials is sensitive to site-level differences [+W]
• Some, but not all, measured organizational conditions are associated in expected directions with site-level ECE quality metrics [~W]
• Strongly organized ECE programs create contexts more supportive of teaching, learning, and family engagement than weakly organized programs [+W]
• Programs with strong essential supports are more likely to have higher teacher-child interactions and better child attendance than programs with very weak supports [+W]
• Parents offer a unique perspective best captured by a distinct sixth essential, Parent Voice [+W]
• Family voices contributed to differentiating strong and weak organizational conditions across all essentials, not only Involved Families [+W]

Related Theories¶

• The Early Education Essentials framework: six organizational essential supports for ECE programs
• Five Essential Supports for School Improvement (5Es) framework

Examples¶

• Early Education Essentials surveys (now The Essential 0-5 Survey)
• Five Essentials—Early Education surveys: teacher and parent surveys measuring five organizational constructs in pre-k settings

Key Sources¶

• Early Education Essentials: Testing Measurement Validity of an Organizational Conditions and Practices Tool for Early Childhood Education Settings. (2018). https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/early-education-essentials-validation-surveys-measuring-early-education-organizational