Report Publish Date: November 17, 2022
This journal article describes a study that assesses the accuracy of a tool designed to measure equity in classroom interactions between teachers and young children up to third grade.
Using the Assessing Classroom Sociocultural Equity Scale, or ACSES 2.0, the authors found that teachers “rarely engaged in instructional activities focused on racial equity or fairness.”
On average, teachers scored low on the scale’s Challenging Status Quo Knowledge dimension. Teachers averaged midrange scores in the Equitable Learning Opportunities dimension. Scores for Inequitable Discipline averaged at the low end. And teachers rarely incorporated children of color’s lived experiences into class activities, as measured by the Connection to Home Life dimension of the scale. Teachers averaged midrange scores for Personalized Learning Opportunities. Another dimension, RMLs Participation and Engagement, averaged mid to high scores, suggesting racially minoritized learners, or RMLs, were interested and engaged.
The authors found that high Inequitable Discipline scores were associated with poor classroom quality, as measured by a commonly used classroom assessment, Classroom Assessment Scoring System, or CLASS.
Early childhood education has begun to recognize the importance of equity and cultural responsivity in the Pre-K to third-grade classroom. But widely used classroom quality assessment tools do not include equity in their measures or specifically measure the experiences of students of color, referred to by the authors of this article as racially minoritized learners.
The authors wanted to test the accuracy of the ACSES measure of classroom equity and compare its outcomes to a commonly used classroom quality measurement tool called CLASS.
The researchers watched and coded 348 videos from 140 Pre-K to third-grade classrooms in a Midwestern city. Children of color ranged from 9% to 68% of schools’ populations. Of the 65 teachers from four public schools, 95.4% were White. The videos were recorded from 2016 to 2019.
“[A] shift is needed to ensure [racially minoritized learners] are equitable beneficiaries of learning opportunities and positive relationships in [early childhood] classrooms.”
—Molly J. Goldberg, Dalhia D. Lloyd, and Greg W. Welch, University of Nebraska–Lincoln; Gullnar Syed, SRI International; and Stephanie M. Curenton, Boston University
“Findings suggest that ACSES 2.0 is a valid and reliable instrument and shows promise in measuring equitable sociocultural interactions at the classroom level for Pre-K through third-grade classrooms,” the authors write. Educators and researchers who want to study children of color’s classroom experiences and educational outcomes might want to use it.
Research Findings: Despite widespread calls to advance equity in early childhood classrooms, there are few observational measures of equitable classroom processes that can be used for academic research or professional development for teachers. In this study, we investigate the psychometric properties of an observational measure of equitable sociocultural interactions, the Assessing Classroom Sociocultural Equity Scale (ACSES 2.0). Videos (n = 348) were coded from Pre-Kindergarten to third-grade classrooms in an urban city in the Midwest. Descriptive results indicated that teachers rarely engaged in instructional activities focused on racial equity or fairness and infrequently connected lessons to children’s home lives. ACSES showed convergent validity with a widely used measure of teacher–child interactions, the CLASS. Specifically, higher levels of Inequitable Discipline predicted higher levels of CLASS Negative Climate (r(138)=.359, p < .01), and higher levels of Inequitable Discipline predicted lower scores across all other CLASS dimensions. Exploratory factor analysis supported a seven-factor solution for ACSES. Practice or Policy: The results support the usage of ACSES in Pre-Kindergarten and early elementary settings. The implications of ACSES for both research and practice are discussed.
Early Education and Development, November 17, 2022. DOI: 10.1080/10409289.2022.2146392
This study and report was conducted and created by the following people:
