An Analysis of Developmentally Appropriate and Culturally Reponsive Practices and the Learning Trajectories of Kindergarten, First-grade, and Third-grade Children from ECLS-K

Teachers' Beliefs and Practices as Mediators

The results of a two-level HLM analysis of achievement in reading and mathematics at first grade and third grade showed that there were statistically significant variations between classes and in the growth rate between the grades. The effects of the DACRP itself showed no statistically significant effects on young students' learning trajectories. However, when examining the interaction effects with predictors, mediating effects were shown. The study's results suggest that future research should be done to develop effective instruments to examine the effect of DACRP on students' learning; these could include improved research designs and advanced analytic methods.

In other words, half of the items for the cluster, "materials and environmental
adequacy" in kindergarten teachers' DACRP were distributed non- normally.
Table 4.2.1 Univariate Descriptive Statistics of Materials and Environmental
Adequacy ...