Boston Quality Inventory – 2013 for teacher education and for ratio. As in BQI 2010, we found that programs that were not accredited were as likely as accredited programs to have teachers with BAs; given the importance of teachers’ education to the quality of the program, it is not surprising that NAEYC accreditation did not add to the quality of the programs on most indices. However, the research is clear that NAEYC accreditation is important because it supports quality improvement efforts within programs, and is associated with school readiness, and should continue to be a part of a comprehensive strategy to improve program quality for all children. Figure 4 illustrates the differences in quality associated with teacher education and ratio of children per educator in the classroom. Classrooms with a teacher with a BA were 4.8 times more likely to meet the Good benchmark on the CLASS Instructional Supports Index than were classrooms without a teacher with a BA; classrooms with fewer than six children per educator were 1.4 times more likely to meet the Good benchmark than were classrooms with more children per educator.
Figure 4. Proportion of Classrooms Meeting Good Benchmark on CLASS Instructional Supports 40% 30%
Fewer than 6 children per educator, 23% More than 6 children, 16%
BA or more, 29%
20% 10%
Less than BA, 6%
0%
Infant and Toddler Classrooms About half (53%) of centers in the BQI infant and toddler sample are accredited. Among the 45 infant and toddler classrooms we observed, the average ratio of children to educators was 2.92 children per educator, ranging from 1.5 children per educator to 4.5 children per educator during the observation. Educators in infant and toddler classrooms were less likely to hold a BA than were educators in preschool classrooms. In observed infant and toddler classrooms, 40% of the primary educators had completed a bachelor’s degree or more. An additional 38% had completed an associate’s degree and 9% held a CDA. Table 4 summarizes the results of regression analyses of the relation between NAEYC accreditation, teacher education and ratios, and the quality indicators. Given that the proportion of educators with associate’s degrees is almost as high as the proportion with bachelor’s degrees, we included educators with associate’s degrees in the analyses as well; the reference group (the education group not included in the model) is educators with some college.
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