Perceived Problem Behaviors in Pre-Kindergarten: The Role of Teacher-Child Racial Match and Teacher-Child Relationship

Abstract

In 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the national enrollment rate for pre-k children ages 3 to 4 was 40% (a drop from 54% in 2019; National Center for Education Statistics, 2022). This is partly due to fewer children in the 0 – 5 age group (23.4 million of 72.8 million children in the United States in 2020; U.S. Census Bureau, 2020). With the increase in enrollment of multiracial pre-k children (National Center for Education Statistics, 2022) and the general projected population increase of children of color (U.S. Census Bureau, 2020), diversity in pre-k classrooms is expected to dominate. By contrast, 79% of United States school teachers are White, and that percentage increases to 90% at predominantly White schools (National Center for Education Statistics, 2022). Many of these teachers have little preservice training related to issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion (Brown et al., 2016; Miller & Mikulec, 2014) which can leave them unprepared once in the field. To counter this deficit, teachers can intentionally deploy critical self-reflection to examine if they are engaging in equitable teaching practices. Unaddressed deficits can lead to misunderstandings, microaggressions, and implicit biases that can manifest in discriminatory behaviors, especially when there are extreme power imbalances between a teacher and a 3- or 4-year-old developing child of color. The disproportionality of suspensions of Black pre-k children is 2.5 times greater than other racial groups of pre-k children and 35.8% of pre-k children expelled and 45% of pre-k children suspended were Black boys outranking other pre-k children (Civil Rights Data Collection, 2021). Black girls made up 20% of pre-k girl enrollment but 54% of pre-k girls suspended (Civil Rights Data Collection, 2021). Expulsion and suspension are stressful and negative experiences for children, their families, and their providers, and can set off a negative trajectory. Research indicates that expulsion and suspension early in a child's trajectory predicts expulsion and suspension later in life. Children who are expelled or suspended from school are as much as ten times more likely to drop out of high school, experience academic failure, hold negative school attitudes, and face incarceration than those who are not. First, this study proposes a new theory, critical race attachment theory (Benabdallah, 2020), to expand teachers' knowledge base by synthesizing critical race theory (Crenshaw et al., 1995) and attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969) in addition to incorporating a self-reflective component. The convergence of these two theories into one comprehensive framework, critical race attachment theory, broadens, strengthens, and deepens the understanding of developmental and cultural intersectionality, supports authentic cultural competency, and encourages the scientific teacher method. Integrating a self-reflective model emphasizing culturally appropriate development as a guiding educational tool to understand the importance of teachers as attachment figures and evidence-based authentic data collection plays an essential role in developing a teacher's pedagogical approach. Second, skewed or unexamined racialized and gendered biases affect perceptions of a child's behavioral performance in the classroom, particularly when the child is Black. To explore this widely accepted phenomenon, a secondary data analysis was conducted on a large quantitative data set from the combined National Center for Early Development and Learning (NCEDL) Multi-State Study of Pre-Kindergarten and the State-Wide Early Education Programs (SWEEP) study (Early et al. 2013). The current study had a sample size of N = 470 children. This sample focused exclusively on Black and White teacher-child pairings and problem behavior scores measured by the Teacher-Child Rating Scale (TCRS; Hightower et al., 1986). In the current study, findings were mixed. Whereas race was not associated with problem behavior, gender was associated with problem behavior. Boys were rated much higher by their teachers, on average, than girls. Thus, critical race attachment theory would be useful in increasing teachers' pedagogical cultural-development knowledge and self-reflective practices. Third, this dissertation provided practical strategies for implementing the critical race attachment theory as a real-world model for secure teacher-child attachment regardless of race and gender. This dissertation is formatted as three manuscripts. The first manuscript emphasizes theory and provides a critical lens to view culturally appropriate teacher-child attachment in early childhood settings using critical race attachment theory. The second manuscript focuses on empirical evidence and utilizes a large dataset to perform secondary analysis utilizing multiple regression to support practical strategies guided by theory. The third manuscript has a practical emphasis and provides the practitioner with useful strategies based on theory and evidence.