Teacher–Child Relationship Quality and Beyond: Unpacking Quality in Early Head Start Classrooms in 2018

The goal of this report is to provide a descriptive snapshot of overall quality in Early Head Start classrooms, with a focus on the quality of the teacher—child relationship. In addition, we examine how classroom practices and other features of the classroom are associated with teacher—child relationships, and whether teacher—child relationship quality in Early Head Start is associated with infant and toddler outcomes. The findings broaden our knowledge about the quality of teacher—child relationships in early care and education settings and how it might be improved to better support infants and toddlers. Understanding quality in Early Head Start classrooms can help inform training and technical assistance, professional development, and other quality improvement efforts.

Quality in Early Head Start classrooms

• Elements of structural quality such as teacher qualifications, curricula and child assessments, group sizes, and child-to-adult ratios are, on average, in line with the Head Start Program Performance Standards (HSPPS) requirements.
• Early Head Start classrooms are well-organized and have a variety of materials available to children.
• Generally, Early Head Start classrooms are in the midrange of quality in teacher—child interactions and practices based on two classroom observation tools, the Classroom Assessment Scoring Systems (CLASS) and the Quality of Caregiver Child Interactions for Infants and Toddlers measure (Q-CCIIT). Classrooms tend to provide stronger support for social and emotional development than for language and learning.
• Overall, Early Head Start teachers reported positive relationships with children. Teachers and parents also reported positive relationships with each other.

Factors associated with teacher—child relationship quality and its associations with children’s outcomes

• Some teacher characteristics and classroom practices are associated with teacher—child relationship quality in infant and toddler classrooms in directions consistent with the literature. These factors are a teacher’s completion of at least an associate’s degree in early childhood education or child development, teachers’ mental health, teachers’ evidence-based beliefs about infant and toddler care and education, teachers’ job satisfaction, positive parent—teacher relationships, lower child-to-adult ratios, smooth transitions between activities in the classrooms, the variety of materials available to children, and well-organized classrooms.  
• However, a few factors are associated with teacher—child relationship quality measures in directions opposite to what the literature has shown. We give some possible interpretations of these unexpected associations.
• The analyses linking teacher—child relationship quality with children’s outcomes reveal few associations, which may be the result of limitations of the data and measurement issues.

This report uses data collected from the 2018 round of Baby FACES. Baby FACES 2018 is a nationally representative, descriptive study of Early Head Start programs, centers, teachers and classrooms, and enrolled families and children. The study, conducted at a single point in time, explored classroom processes and teacher—child relationships in depth, using multiple observation-based measures of classrooms and teachers and teacher-report measures. This report includes data from surveys of children’s parents, teachers, and center and program directors, as well as teacher reports of children’s development.

We calculated descriptive statistics (means and percentages) on the overall quality of Early Head Start classrooms. We also implemented multilevel models to examine factors associated with teacher—child relationship quality, and the associations between observed teacher—child relationship quality and children’s outcomes. All analyses are weighted to represent all Early Head Start children and families receiving center-based services and their classrooms, centers, and programs in 2018. However, because the study collected the data before the COVID-19 pandemic, the findings may not be generalizable to the current Early Head Start context.

The findings suggest that Early Head Start classrooms provide strong support for children’s social and emotional development. Professional development that builds on the strong support for social and emotional development by using responsive interactions focused on supporting language, literacy, and cognitive development could be an effective way to help programs enhance their quality.

The findings also suggest some possible ways to support responsive relationships in infant and toddler classrooms:

• Greater awareness of how key classroom features and practices support quality may help identify ways to improve. For example, organized classrooms and smooth transitions are associated with quality interactions. This overall strength may provide clues about how to improve times of the day that are more challenging.
• Programs may want to identify and further strengthen staff understanding about infant and toddler development and provide training and coaching in evidence-based practices for staff who can benefit.
• Programs may also want to consider additional ways to reduce teachers’ stress levels, support mental health, and boost their job satisfaction.

Xue, Yange, Atkins-Burnett, Sally., Vogel, Cheri., and Cannon, Judy. (2022). Teacher—Child Relationship Quality and Beyond: Unpacking Quality in Early Head Start Classrooms in 2018. OPRE Report 2022-122. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.