Pre-service teachers' self-reported DAP beliefs In relations to the quality of their early childhood classroom practices

Thesis (M.A.) California State University, Los Angeles, 2012Committee members: Yafen Lo, Allison Fuligni, Rita LedesmaAttainment Level, Classroom Assessment Scoring System, Developmentally Appropriate Practices, NAEYC, Pre-service Teachers, Teacher Beliefs ScaleThis study examined Developmentally Appropriate Practices (DAP) as a guideline for comparing the beliefs and practices of Pre-service teachers, specifically comparing two levels of pre-service teachers who are at the junior level and senior level of their Bachelor's of Art (B.A.) program. Past studies that have examined both DAP beliefs and practices have failed to observe the interactions between pre-service teachers' DAP beliefs and the quality of their classroom management and interaction with children in the preschool setting. Meanwhile, the conclusions in previous studies were drawn based only on the analyzed data collected from self-reported surveys. This study examined the DAP beliefs and practices of pre-service teachers by observing them in a classroom setting when working with young children.The sample participants consisted of a total of 16 California State University of Los Angeles (CSULA) pre-service teachers enrolled in CHDV 220 (n=10) and CHDV 495 (n=6). The questionnaire packets taken by each participant composed of a demographic questionnaire that gathered critical information about each participant's educational background, teaching career, and current fieldwork experience. The packet also included the Teacher Beliefs and Practices Survey (TBPS) created originally by Charlesworth, Hart, Burts, and Hernandez in 1990, and revised by Buchanan and Kim in 2009 to meet the NAEYC guidelines of 1997. Pre-service teachers' practices in the preschool setting were also measured using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS), developed by Pianta, La Paro, and Hamre (2008). Through CLASS, interactions between teachers and children were observed to measure teachers' practices inside a preschool setting through research observations. While a limitation for this study is the relatively small sample size, the results indicated that CHDV 220 pre-service teachers made significant improvements by the end of the 10 week coursework and fieldwork experiences, but have not yet reached the same DAP beliefs and practices as the CHDV 495 pre-service teachers. Therefore, more education is favorable when teaching young children. With more trainings and fieldwork experience, pre-service teachers are able to exercise what they have learned to build a better understanding and have stronger DAP beliefs and practices