Improving Preschool Classroom Processes: Preliminary Findings From a Randomized Trial in Head Start Settings, Article Review Example

Please answer the following questions in detail (add another sheet if necessary). Turn this page in with your paper.

Write the article citation (in APA format) here. This will appear as the title on your paper.

Raver, C.C., Jones, S.M., Li-Grining, C.P., Metzger, M., & Champion, K.M. (2008). Improving preschool classroom processes: preliminary findings from a randomized trial implemented in head start settings. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 23, 10-26.

What is the article examining (e.g., the topic(s))

The article is meant to examine ways that emotional support in preschool classrooms can improve by educating teachers on more efficient classroom management techniques.  The goal of providing more emotional support is to increase the attentiveness that preschool students have as they move on to the kindergarten and first grade which are the building blocks for solid education.

What are the question(s) the author(s) is asking (research questions)?

The main question that the authors asked during the study was whether or not increased training for better classroom management would improve the emotional support that students could receive from their teachers.

What do the authors expect to find (hypotheses)?

The hypothesis that the researchers claimed was that improvements in the teachers’ classroom management would provide key regulatory support to children having behavioral difficulty, as well as to those children demonstrating greater self-regulatory competence.

How did the study address these questions (participants, methods, measures)?

Participants:

The participants of the study included 18 different Head Start sites, with 35 separate classrooms led by 94 teachers.  Only 69% of these 94 teachers agreed to fill out surveys for the study.  Most teachers belonged to a racial or ethnic minority group, but almost all had at least an Associates Degree.

Measures:

Self-report           Behavioral           Physiological

What was the topic of the questionnaires used (list all that apply)?

The study concentrated on self-reported survey results from the teachers based on their own perceived improvement of emotional support and classroom management after training or assistance had been provided.

What was the focus of the behavioral assessments (list all that apply)?

The other results stemmed from 12 trained observers that were not involved in training or classroom management, but helped to provide covariate survey input on observed improvements.

What was the physiological assessment done?  What does it measure?

Method:

Longitudinal        Cross-sectional           One time, one cohort

Do you see any possible problems with the participants? If so, what?

Overall, the participants were good candidates for observation; however, most of the research was performed in inner-city Chicago which is not a clear representation of the rest of the United States.

Do you see any possible problems with the measures? If so what?

Final conclusions could not be accurately assessed for a long-range widespread application.  Furthermore, the observations were obtained in the morning when students are either very sleepy or overly hyper, depending on parental sleeping schedules and behaviors.  This factor was not mentioned throughout the study and may have impacted the outcome of the results.

What did they find (results)? Were their findings what they thought they would find?

Results showed that a multi-component intervention strategy by training teachers or providing in-class support showed statistically greater benefits for classroom management and, thus, emotional support for the students.  This was exactly what the researchers had hoped to find and the authors called for additional research to perfect the results and a change in public policy to require additional training or more in-class support for providing greater benefits to the students.