Classroom Age Composition and Preschoolers' School Readiness: The Implications of Classroom Quality and Teacher Qualifications

Recent research has shown that the age composition of preschool classrooms influences children's early learning. Building on prior research, this snub , examines whether the association between classroom age composition and children's learning and development vary based on classroom quality and teacher characteristics using a subset of the Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES), a nationally representative sample of 3- and 4-year-old children attending Head Start (n = 2,829). Results revealed that the association between age composition and children's academic skills was dependent on classroom quality and that classroom quality was less predictive of children's skills in mixed-age classrooms. Teacher education but not experience also moderated the influence of age composition such that mixed-age classrooms taught by a teacher with higher education were not associated with decreased literacy gains among older children.