Investigation of Dimensions of Social-Emotional Classroom Behavior and School Readiness for Low-Income Urban Preschool Children

The present study identified higher-order relationships among teacher assessments of approaches to learning and emotional and behavioral adjustment constructs for urban, low-income preschool children. It examined the unique contribution of these dimensions to cognitive and social competencies and risk of poor academic outcomes. Analyses of a large, representative sample of urban Head Start children revealed two distinct and reliable, higher-order dimensions of classroom adjustment behavior: Regulated and Academically Disengaged Behavior. Both of the dimensions contributed unique variance to the prediction of early mathematics ability and general classroom competencies prior to kindergarten entry, controlling for child demographics. Each dimension also contributed independently to the prediction of academic risk, controlling for child demographics. Implications for practice and policy were discussed.