Examining the Pathway from Early Head Start Leadership to Child Outcomes

This project aims to pinpoint actions directors can take to support infant and toddler teachers. The results of this study will enhance efforts to stabilize and support the early childhood workforce.

• Sponsor
  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
  Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation Secondary Analyses of Head Start Data
  $99,872

• Principal investigator
  Erin Hamel
  Assistant professor
  Department of Educational Psychology

• Co-principal investigators
  Kristen Bub
  Professor
  Department of Educational Psychology

  Stacey Neuharth-Pritchett
  Professor and senior associate dean
  Department of Educational Psychology

• Active since
  September 2024

Abstract

Early childhood teachers enter the field with a desire to work with young children and families despite the low pay; however, when job demands become too great and working conditions too challenging, they respond less sensitively to children, leave their jobs, or leave the profession entirely. Teacher turnover is especially detrimental to infants and toddlers who rely on teachers to meet their basic needs and to provide consistent, sensitive responses for optimal child development.

Prior research has focused on teachers as the primary target for intervention to improve teacher turnover, well-being, classroom interactions, and child outcomes. These efforts have established a robust body of scholarship. Unfortunately, less attention has been given to the influence of center directors and their roles in supporting early childhood teachers and in creating positive working environments.

We use the Early Head Start Family and Child Experiences Study (Baby FACES) 2022 data set to examine how directors’ efforts to foster teachers’ well-being, create supportive work environments, and reduce caregiver turnover subsequently influence the quality of interactions in the classroom and children’s outcomes. Using structural equation modeling, the project aims to pinpoint actions directors can take to support infant and toddler teachers.

Specifically, we:

• Examine the associations among directors’ supportive behaviors and efforts to reduce turnover, teachers’ well-being, and the work environment
• Test a model of early childhood directors’ leadership for improved teacher well-being, quality of work environments, classroom interactions, and child outcomes

The study is significant because it contributes to the knowledge base for infant and toddler teachers who are less studied in the literature despite the critical role of caregiving at this stage of life. The results of this study will enhance efforts to stabilize and support the early childhood workforce.