Profiles of kindergarten classroom and elementary school contexts: Associations with the first-grade outcomes of children transitioning from head start

Poor-quality classroom and school contexts may impede the academic and behavioral adjustment of low-income students when they transition into kindergarten. Several studies have examined the impact of teacher-student interactions on student progress, whereas others have explored the impact of school-level adversity (e.g., student poverty, school achievement levels). Expanding on prior findings, this study used latent profile analysis to characterize kindergarten contexts in terms of both classroom teacher-student interaction quality and school-level adversity. Following 164 children longitudinally and accounting for functioning in Head Start prior to kindergarten entry, associations between kindergarten context profiles and first-grade outcomes revealed that children who experienced dual-risk contexts in kindergarten (classrooms with poor-quality teacher-student interactions in schools with high levels of adversity) demonstrated the greatest aggression and social difficulties in first grade. Associations between kindergarten context profiles and first-grade academic outcomes were less clear.