Pathways to effective teaching

Given the importance of effective teaching to children’s development in child care and the difficulty of keeping highly educated teachers in the field, we examined pathways to effective teaching within a group of primarily African-American and Latino teachers working in child care programs serving low-income children. We used classroom observations to assess effective teaching, and clinical interviews and participant observation to understand pathways. Less than one-quarter of the teachers had BA degrees or higher. Only 20% of the teachers had had preservice training, and almost all of the teachers with preservice experiences were the BA level teachers. Over half of the teachers had been mentored as they began teaching either as a mother volunteer or as a beginning teacher. About 40% of the participants talked of staying in the field because of feeling responsible to and for a community; the remainder talked of staying for the children. About 40% of the participants experienced reflective supervision. The participants in this study, even those with less formal education than a BA degree, were more responsive and more engaged with children than participants in two more representative studies. In this sample, after controlling for formal education, responsive involvement could be predicted by staying in the field for the community, being mentored and being supervised. Engaging children in language play could be predicted by formal education and being supervised. Providing language arts activities could be predicted by formal education, being mentored and being supervised.