Exploring the Features of the Self-Regulatory Environment in Kindergarten Classrooms

Self-regulatory skills are increasingly recognized as critical early education goals, but few efforts have been made to identify all the features of the classroom that actually promote such skills. This study experiments with a new observational measure capturing three dimensions of the classroom environment hypothesized to influence self-regulation: classroom management, emotionally supportive interactions, and direct promotion of self-regulatory skills. These classroom dimensions were tested as predictors of change over the kindergarten year in both self-regulatory and academic skills in a sample of racially/ethnically-diverse low-income children in Tulsa, OK. Results showed that classroom management was associated with small gains in one of four measures of self-regulation, and four of six measures of academic skills. The other dimensions of the environment had weak or no associations with outcomes. These results indicate that further work is needed to refine both models and measures of the self-regulatory environment.