Growing dissatisfaction with high-stakes uses of global early childhood classroom quality assessments has motivated efforts to identify more specific features of teacher-child interactions that support developmental growth. The current study seeks to identify specific, observable teacher behaviors that, over and above such global assessments, either promote or compromise gains in self-regulation skills across the pre-kindergarten (pre-k) year. We looked specifically at teachers’ scaffolding of peer interaction, frequency of behavior disapprovals, and reliance on punitive behavior management strategies. We also examined whether children's fall self-regulation scores moderated associations between these teacher behaviors and children's self-regulation development over the pre-k year. The sample consisted of 1020 low-income 4-year-olds enrolled in a “mixed-delivery” (various program auspices and locations) pre-k program in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Controlling for global pre-k quality, children whose teachers relied to a larger extent on disapproving and punitive behavior management strategies exhibited smaller gains in self-regulation across multiple assessment methods. Modest evidence emerged in support of moderation by initial self-regulation skills. These findings point to the feasibility of identifying practical, observable, and specific teacher behaviors that affect early development and to the need for quality improvement efforts that include an explicit focus on eliminating problematic teacher behaviors.

对全球幼儿课堂质量评估的高风险用途日益不满，促使人们努力确定支持发展成长的师生互动的更具体特征。当前的研究旨在确定具体的、可观察的教师行为，这些行为在此类全球评估之外，促进或损害了整个学前班 (pre-k) 年度自律技能的提高。我们专门研究了教师对同伴互动的支架、行为不赞成的频率以及对惩罚性行为管理策略的依赖。我们还研究了儿童的跌倒自我调节分数是否调节了这些教师行为与学前班儿童自我调节发展之间的关联。样本包括 1020 名低收入 4 岁儿童，他们在俄克拉荷马州塔尔萨参加了“混合交付”（各种项目主持和地点）学前班计划。控制全球学前班质量，教师在很大程度上依赖不赞成和惩罚性行为管理策略的儿童在多种评估方法中表现出的自我调节收益较小。适度的证据支持通过最初的自我调节技能进行适度。这些发现表明，确定影响早期发展的实际、可观察和具体的教师行为是可行的，并且需要进行质量改进工作，包括明确关注消除有问题的教师行为。控制全球学前班质量，教师在很大程度上依赖不赞成和惩罚性行为管理策略的儿童在多种评估方法中表现出的自我调节收益较小。适度的证据支持通过最初的自我调节技能进行适度。这些发现表明，确定影响早期发展的实际、可观察和具体的教师行为是可行的，并且需要进行质量改进工作，包括明确关注消除有问题的教师行为。控制全球学前班质量，教师在很大程度上依赖不赞成和惩罚性行为管理策略的儿童在多种评估方法中表现出的自我调节收益较小。适度的证据支持通过最初的自我调节技能进行适度。这些发现表明，确定影响早期发展的实际、可观察和具体的教师行为是可行的，并且需要进行质量改进工作，包括明确关注消除有问题的教师行为。