ABOUT WCER NEWS Events Cover Stories Research News International Research Press WHAT'S THE RESEARCH ON...? PROJECTS All Active Projects All Completed Projects PUBLICATIONS LECTURE SERIES PEOPLE Staff Directory Project Leaders ERG - EVALUATION RESOURCES GROUP RESOURCES Conference Rooms Equipment GRANT SERVICES GRADUATE TRAINING SERVICE UNITS Director's Office Business Office Technical Services Printing & Mail EMPLOYMENT CONTACT INFO MyWCER WORKSPACE LOGIN

A Good First-Grade Experience

First grade is a highly variable experience for children in the U.S., and attempts to assess and improve child readiness should recognize this.

UW-Madison education professor Deborah Vandell and colleagues observed 827 first-grade classrooms in 32 states to describe classroom activities and child-teacher interactions, dimensions of the global classroom environment, and their relations to structural aspects of the classroom and to child behaviors.

The most frequently observed forms of activity were structured teacher-directed activity and whole-class instruction. The largest portion of time was allocated to literacy-related activities. Classrooms were observed to provide more emotional support when there were more adults present.

Teachers' total years of experience were unrelated to ratings of support in the classroom. Years of experience teaching first grade did predict more time devoted to academic activities, albeit to a modest degree. Teachers with more post-high school education provided more emotional support and devoted more time to academic activities.