Inside the pre-kindergarten door: Classroom climate and instructional time allocation in Tulsa's pre-K programs

This observational study of 106 pre-K classrooms in Tulsa, Oklahoma provides descriptive data on children's classroom experiences – classroom climate and exposure to academic instruction – and comparisons of Tulsa classrooms with a multi-state sample of pre-K and Head Start classrooms led by comparably educated teachers. We also examined teacher and classroom characteristics that were associated with variation in children's classroom experiences. Compared to other school-based pre-K and Head Start classrooms, teachers in the Tulsa classrooms received significantly higher scores for various dimensions of Instructional Support and Classroom Organization, and devoted significantly more time to academic instruction, notably Literacy and Math Activities. Within the Tulsa sample, children in Head Start classrooms received less exposure to Math instruction, but more exposure to Social Studies activities as compared to their peers in public school pre-K classrooms. Teacher and classroom characteristics were not associated with classroom climate, and only the teachers’ years of experience was associated with greater exposure to Literacy Activities. Major challenges remain in identifying classroom and teacher attributes that contribute to high-quality, educationally rich pre-K environments.