Previous research indicates that the Child Observation in Preschool (COP) and Teacher Observation in Preschool (TOP), a companion set of observational tools used to assess the quality of preschool classrooms, capture important aspects of the preschool environment that are associated with children's growth (Farran et al., 2017; Nesbitt et al., 2015; Spivak & Farran, 2016). This study is the first to assess the convergent and predictive validity of these tools in community-based child care centers and compare the tools to the Classroom Assessment Scoring System Pre-K (CLASS Pre-K), a widely used classroom observation tool. We collected COP-TOP and CLASS Pre-K data in 138 classrooms in Georgia as part of a validation study of Georgia's Quality Rated and Improvement System. We also collected child assessment data from 583 preschool-aged children in those same classrooms. Over half of the COP-TOP classroom processes were moderately correlated with at least one of the three CLASS Pre-K domains. COP-TOP classroom processes related to time spent in transition, time spent engaging in sequential activities, involvement in learning activities, and opportunities for math learning were associated with children's math skills, preliteracy skills, and socioemotional development at the end of the year, after controlling for their scores at the start of the year and demographic characteristics. All three CLASS Pre-K domains were significantly associated with children's socioemotional development. We discuss the implications of these results for assessing quality in early care and education programs.

先前的研究表明，学前班儿童观察 (COP) 和学前班教师观察 (TOP) 是一套用于评估学前班课堂质量的配套观察工具，可以捕捉学前环境中与儿童成长相关的重要方面。 Farran 等人，2017 年；Nesbitt 等人，2015 年；Spivak 和 Farran，2016 年）。这项研究首次评估了这些工具在社区儿童保育中心的收敛性和预测有效性，并将这些工具与广泛使用的课堂观察工具 Pre-K 课堂评估评分系统 (CLASS Pre-K) 进行了比较。我们收集了佐治亚州 138 个教室的 COP-TOP 和 CLASS Pre-K 数据，作为佐治亚州质量评级和改进系统验证研究的一部分。我们还收集了同一教室中 583 名学龄前儿童的儿童评估数据。超过一半的 COP-TOP 课堂流程与三个 CLASS Pre-K 领域中的至少一个具有中等程度的相关性。与过渡所花费的时间、参与连续活动所花费的时间、参与学习活动以及数学学习机会相关的 COP-TOP 课堂过程与年底时儿童的数学技能、识字前技能和社会情感发展相关。控制他们在年初的分数和人口特征。所有三个 CLASS Pre-K 领域都与儿童的社会情感发展显着相关。我们讨论这些结果对评估早期护理和教育项目质量的影响。