| The quality of the learning environment in early childhood settings seems to play as an important a role in the child's development as the quality of the home environment (Dickinson & Sprague, 2002). Research on specific features of the environment may provide valuable information on children's developmental potential (Dickinson & Sprague, 2002). In particular, the investigation of the quality of the environment to promote literacy seems critical, since early literacy skills at school entry may be viewed as particularly important because of its association with later reading skills and the importance it has on school success in general (Cunningham & Stanovich, 1997; Dickinson & Tabors, 2001).; This correlational study explores relationships that exist between quality and preschool children's language and literary development. Participants of this study included 24 preschool classrooms and 428 preschool children (206 boys, 222 girls) enrolled in St. Louis Public Schools. Seventy-four percent of the children were African-American and 19.6% were Caucasian, with 346 students eligible for free or reduced-priced meals.; The findings from this study indicate that global quality and process quality are positively related (r > .67), as well as process quality and preschool children's language and literacy development ( r > .34). Further investigation found that a significant difference exists between the language and literacy development of at-risk and non at-risk preschool children in St. Louis Public Schools. In addition, the findings suggest that the language and literacy development of preschool children are significantly different depending on the quality of the preschool environment in which they are enrolled. The highest proportion of at-risk students were enrolled in classrooms that were rated as Deficient in process quality, which had a negative effect on preschool children's language and literacy scores. Students in Deficient classrooms had the highest proportion of scores at or below the 50th percentile. It was also determined that the highest proportion of language and literacy scores above the 50th percentile was found in classrooms that were rated as having Exemplary process quality. |
