CHARACTERISTICS OF HEAD START TEACHING TEAMS: ASSOCIATIONS WITH CLASSROOM QUALITY AND CHILD OUTCOMES

Abstract

The primary objectives of the present study were to describe the characteristics of Head Start teaching teams, investigate perceptions of teamwork and explore how these characteristics and perceptions associate with classroom quality and child outcomes. Forty-three teaching team pairs, composed of a lead and assistant teacher, independently completed a rating of their perceived levels of teamwork. Their classrooms were observed using a standard observational technique and the enrolled children were assessed on measures of executive function and social-emotional development. This study hypothesized that classroom staff with positive perceptions of their existing teams would have higher classroom quality scores and better child outcomes than those teams with less positive perceptions. The examination of teaching team perceptions and classroom quality showed that the lead teachers’ perceptions negatively associated with dimensions of classroom quality. Multi-leveling modeling examined the associations between teaching team perceptions and child outcomes. Results illustrated that lead and assistant teachers’ perceptions and consistent ratings predicted children’s social-emotional development. This study contributes to a scant body of literature that overlooks the dynamics of the teaching team. The exploration of teaching teams’ characteristics and perceptions offer insight into an understudied topic. The study also highlights how teaching teams’ perceptions associate with classroom quality and children’s social-emotional development. Keywords: Head Start, teaching teams; perception; teamwork; classroom quality; child outcomes; social-emotional development