Erik Ruzek
Biographic Data
| ID | 3597796 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Erik Ruzek |
| GIVEN NAMES | Erik |
| FAMILY NAME | Ruzek |
| SIGNATURE | RUZEK E |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Virginia |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0931-1951 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 27 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 188 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 27 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Associations Between Classroom Processes and Students’ Academic Outcomes from Pre-Kindergarten Through First Grade
One salient feature of classroom processes that has been shown to be a key support for students’ academic performance is the dosage of, or exposure to, academic content. The effects of dosage are presumed to accumulate as students are exposed to content over time. The present study examines associations between students’ academic skills at the end of first grade and average exposure to content in classroom teaching across three grades—pre-k, kind…
Teacher discrimination and student engagement in the context of classroom quality: The mediating effect of relational trust
Measuring Text-Focused Reading Instruction
Helping students engage with complex texts has been a longstanding challenge, though teachers have received little guidance about practices that help students in engaging with texts. This paper provides a range of empirical evidence about a tool designed to provide formative insight into text-focused teaching, which we used to reliably score more than 500 reading lessons in a large district. We describe the structure of the tool, its relationship…
Fostering Early Motivation: The Influence of Teacher-Child Relationships and Interactions on Motivation in the Kindergarten Classroom
Research Findings: The present study examines the unique and joint effects of individual teacher-child relationships and overall quality of teacher-child interactions on the motivation of 2,745 kindergarten children (51% girls; ages 5–6) from an ethnically and linguistically diverse county. Teachers reported the closeness and conflict in their individual relationships with each child. The quality of teacher-child interactions was measured via cla…
The association between and development of school enjoyment and general knowledge
Learning environments can support the development of foundational knowledge and promote children's attitudes toward learning and school. This study explores the relation between school enjoyment and general knowledge from preschool (2016–2017) to kindergarten (2017–2018) in 1359 children (M age = 55, 61 months, female = 50%; 58.5% Hispanic, 17% Black, 10% Asian, 10% White, 5% multiracial/other; linguistically diverse). Cross-lagged panel models s…
The First-Grade Outcomes of Pre-K Attendees: Examining Benefits as a Function of Skill Type, Environments, and Subgroups
This study examined whether pre-K benefits persist through the end of first grade and the extent to which persistence differs based on outcome domains, subsequent classroom environments, and key subgroups of children. Data from 2,351 children living in a large and diverse county in Virginia revealed that the initial benefits of pre-K for academic and executive function persisted through the end of first grade but were 75% to 80% smaller than at k…
Preschool Teachers’ Emotional Exhaustion in Relation to Classroom Instruction and Teacher-child Interactions
The present investigation examined the links between preschool teachers' self-reported emotional exhaustion (n = 117) with the quality of their classroom interactions and the dosage and rigor of their instruction. Research Findings: Although teachers' experience of emotional exhaustion was not associated with the dosage and rigor of instruction, more emotionally exhausted teachers demonstrated lower quality interactions with children in their cla…
Indirect effects of coaching on pre-K students' engagement and literacy skill as a function of improved teacher–student interaction
Differences between Pre-K and Kindergarten classroom experiences: Do they predict children's social-emotional skills and self-regulation across the transition to kindergarten
Coaching Teachers to Improve Students’ School Readiness Skills: Indirect Effects of Teacher–Student Interaction
This study examined indirect associations of MyTeachingPartner coaching with pre-K students’ (N = 1,570; 73% low income) school readiness, via improvements of teachers’ (N = 393; 47% Black; 41% Head Start) classroom interactions. Data were collected across 2008–2009 and 2009–2010 in 10 urban sites across the eastern United States. The number of completed coaching cycles was examined as a predictor of teacher–student interactions, as were direct o…
Family Stress Processes and Children's Self-Regulation
Economic hardship can affect children's development through child–caregiver interactions, which may mediate cascading effects of other family stress processes. This study examined, simultaneously, the relations of financial strain, caregiver general stress, and child–caregiver conflict—each measured at two time points—with child self-regulatory outcomes in a high-poverty sample (age 5–7 years; n = 343). Increase in child–caregiver conflict mediat…
The classroom relational environment and children’s early development in preschool
The present study considered the ways in which interactional quality in the classroom and teacher–child relationships independently and synergistically shaped the early academic, social‐behavioral, and executive function outcomes of 1,498 preschoolers from low‐income families from a large, culturally, and linguistically diverse county. The findings revealed that children who had closer and less conflictual relationships with their teachers demons…
Enrollment in public-prekindergarten and school readiness skills at kindergarten entry: Differential associations by home language, income, and program characteristics
Persistence and convergence: The end of kindergarten outcomes of pre-K graduates and their nonattending peers
The present investigation examined the benefits of pre-K through the end of kindergarten for children from low-income homes who lived in a large and diverse county (n = 2,581) as well as factors associated with a reduction in benefits during the kindergarten year. Results revealed that pre-K graduates outperformed nonattenders in the areas of achievement and executive functioning skills at the end of kindergarten, and also that the benefits of pr…
Projecting the Potential Impact of Covid-19 School Closures on Academic Achievement
As the COVID-19 pandemic upended the 2019–2020 school year, education systems scrambled to meet the needs of students and families with little available data on how school closures may impact learning. In this study, we produced a series of projections of COVID-19-related learning loss based on (a) estimates from absenteeism literature and (b) analyses of summer learning patterns of 5 million students. Under our projections, returning students ar…
Alignment and misalignment of classroom experiences from Pre-K to kindergarten
Using self report surveys to measure PreK children’s academic orientations: A psychometric evaluation
Starting Early: The Benefits of Attending Early Childhood Education Programs at Age 3
This investigation considered the short-term benefits of early childhood education participation at age 3 for 1,213 children from low-income families living in a large and linguistically diverse county. Although no benefits emerged for executive functioning, children who participated in formal early childhood programs at the age of 3 entered prekindergarten the following year demonstrating stronger academic skills and less optimal social behavior…
Perceptions of Relatedness with Classroom Peers Promote Adolescents’ Behavioral Engagement and Achievement in Secondary School
My Teaching Partner-Secondary: A Video-Based Coaching Model
In the My Teaching Partner (MTP) program, coaches engage teachers in six to nine coaching cycles across a school year. Guided by the program's theory, coaches help teachers reflect on the emotional, organizational, and instructional features of classrooms. MTP was originally developed for Pre-K and early elementary classrooms (MTP Pre-K), but the current paper focuses on the secondary school version of this program, MTP-Secondary (MTP-S), given t…
How teacher emotional support motivates students: The mediating roles of perceived peer relatedness, autonomy support, and competence
What Can Student Perception Surveys Tell Us About Teaching? Empirically Testing the Underlying Structure of the Tripod Student Perception Survey
We conducted a theory-based analysis of the underlying structure of the Tripod student perception survey instrument using the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) database ( N = 1,049 middle school math class sections; N = 25,423 students). Multilevel item factor analyses suggested that an alternative bifactor structure best fit the Tripod items, and preliminary evidence suggests that both the general responsivity and the classroom management–spe…
Classroom Level in Educational Effectiveness Research
Measuring Effective Teacher-Student Interactions From a Student Perspective: A Multi-Level Analysis
This study applies multi-level analysis to student reports of effective teacher-student interactions in 50 upper elementary school classrooms ( N = 594 fourth- and fifth-grade students). Observational studies suggest that teacher-student interactions fall into three domains: Emotional Support, Classroom Organization, and Instructional Support. Results of multi-level confirmatory factor analyses indicated that a three-factor model fits between- an…
Using Value-Added Models to Measure Teacher Effects on Students’ Motivation and Achievement
Value-added (VA) models measure teacher contributions to student learning and are increasingly employed in educational reform efforts. Using data from 35 seventh-grade teachers and 2,026 students across seven schools, we employ VA methods to measure teacher contributions to students’ motivational orientations (mastery and performance achievement goals) and their mathematics performance. The analysis suggests less variation in teachers’ contributi…
Projecting the Potential Impact of Covid-19 School Closures on Academic Achievement
As the COVID-19 pandemic upended the 2019–2020 school year, education systems scrambled to meet the needs of students and families with little available data on how school closures may impact learning. In this study, we produced a series of projections of COVID-19-related learning loss based on (a) estimates from absenteeism literature and (b) analyses of summer learning patterns of 5 million students. Under our projections, returning students ar…
The quality of toddler child care and cognitive skills at 24 months: Propensity score analysis results from the ECLS-B
Measuring Effective Teacher-Student Interactions From a Student Perspective: A Multi-Level Analysis
This study applies multi-level analysis to student reports of effective teacher-student interactions in 50 upper elementary school classrooms ( N = 594 fourth- and fifth-grade students). Observational studies suggest that teacher-student interactions fall into three domains: Emotional Support, Classroom Organization, and Instructional Support. Results of multi-level confirmatory factor analyses indicated that a three-factor model fits between- an…
Persistence and convergence: The end of kindergarten outcomes of pre-K graduates and their nonattending peers
The present investigation examined the benefits of pre-K through the end of kindergarten for children from low-income homes who lived in a large and diverse county (n = 2,581) as well as factors associated with a reduction in benefits during the kindergarten year. Results revealed that pre-K graduates outperformed nonattenders in the areas of achievement and executive functioning skills at the end of kindergarten, and also that the benefits of pr…
What Can Student Perception Surveys Tell Us About Teaching? Empirically Testing the Underlying Structure of the Tripod Student Perception Survey
We conducted a theory-based analysis of the underlying structure of the Tripod student perception survey instrument using the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) database ( N = 1,049 middle school math class sections; N = 25,423 students). Multilevel item factor analyses suggested that an alternative bifactor structure best fit the Tripod items, and preliminary evidence suggests that both the general responsivity and the classroom management–spe…
My Teaching Partner-Secondary: A Video-Based Coaching Model
In the My Teaching Partner (MTP) program, coaches engage teachers in six to nine coaching cycles across a school year. Guided by the program's theory, coaches help teachers reflect on the emotional, organizational, and instructional features of classrooms. MTP was originally developed for Pre-K and early elementary classrooms (MTP Pre-K), but the current paper focuses on the secondary school version of this program, MTP-Secondary (MTP-S), given t…
Enrollment in public-prekindergarten and school readiness skills at kindergarten entry: Differential associations by home language, income, and program characteristics
Using Value-Added Models to Measure Teacher Effects on Students’ Motivation and Achievement
Value-added (VA) models measure teacher contributions to student learning and are increasingly employed in educational reform efforts. Using data from 35 seventh-grade teachers and 2,026 students across seven schools, we employ VA methods to measure teacher contributions to students’ motivational orientations (mastery and performance achievement goals) and their mathematics performance. The analysis suggests less variation in teachers’ contributi…
Differences between Pre-K and Kindergarten classroom experiences: Do they predict children's social-emotional skills and self-regulation across the transition to kindergarten
Alignment and misalignment of classroom experiences from Pre-K to kindergarten
Perceptions of Relatedness with Classroom Peers Promote Adolescents’ Behavioral Engagement and Achievement in Secondary School
The classroom relational environment and children’s early development in preschool
The present study considered the ways in which interactional quality in the classroom and teacher–child relationships independently and synergistically shaped the early academic, social‐behavioral, and executive function outcomes of 1,498 preschoolers from low‐income families from a large, culturally, and linguistically diverse county. The findings revealed that children who had closer and less conflictual relationships with their teachers demons…
Using self report surveys to measure PreK children’s academic orientations: A psychometric evaluation
Starting Early: The Benefits of Attending Early Childhood Education Programs at Age 3
This investigation considered the short-term benefits of early childhood education participation at age 3 for 1,213 children from low-income families living in a large and linguistically diverse county. Although no benefits emerged for executive functioning, children who participated in formal early childhood programs at the age of 3 entered prekindergarten the following year demonstrating stronger academic skills and less optimal social behavior…
Preschool Center Quality and School Readiness: Quality Effects and Variation by Demographic and Child Characteristics
This article examines associations between observed quality in preschool center classrooms for approximately 6,250 three- to five-year-olds and their school readiness skills at kindergarten entry. Secondary analyses were conducted using data from four large-scale studies to estimate the effects of preschool center quality and interactions between quality and demographic characteristics and child entry skills and behaviors. Findings were summarize…
The quality of toddler child care and cognitive skills at 24 months: Propensity score analysis results from the ECLS-B
Measuring Effective Teacher-Student Interactions From a Student Perspective: A Multi-Level Analysis
This study applies multi-level analysis to student reports of effective teacher-student interactions in 50 upper elementary school classrooms ( N = 594 fourth- and fifth-grade students). Observational studies suggest that teacher-student interactions fall into three domains: Emotional Support, Classroom Organization, and Instructional Support. Results of multi-level confirmatory factor analyses indicated that a three-factor model fits between- an…
Using Value-Added Models to Measure Teacher Effects on Students’ Motivation and Achievement
Value-added (VA) models measure teacher contributions to student learning and are increasingly employed in educational reform efforts. Using data from 35 seventh-grade teachers and 2,026 students across seven schools, we employ VA methods to measure teacher contributions to students’ motivational orientations (mastery and performance achievement goals) and their mathematics performance. The analysis suggests less variation in teachers’ contributi…
Classroom Level in Educational Effectiveness Research
How teacher emotional support motivates students: The mediating roles of perceived peer relatedness, autonomy support, and competence
What Can Student Perception Surveys Tell Us About Teaching? Empirically Testing the Underlying Structure of the Tripod Student Perception Survey
We conducted a theory-based analysis of the underlying structure of the Tripod student perception survey instrument using the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) database ( N = 1,049 middle school math class sections; N = 25,423 students). Multilevel item factor analyses suggested that an alternative bifactor structure best fit the Tripod items, and preliminary evidence suggests that both the general responsivity and the classroom management–spe…
Perceptions of Relatedness with Classroom Peers Promote Adolescents’ Behavioral Engagement and Achievement in Secondary School
My Teaching Partner-Secondary: A Video-Based Coaching Model
In the My Teaching Partner (MTP) program, coaches engage teachers in six to nine coaching cycles across a school year. Guided by the program's theory, coaches help teachers reflect on the emotional, organizational, and instructional features of classrooms. MTP was originally developed for Pre-K and early elementary classrooms (MTP Pre-K), but the current paper focuses on the secondary school version of this program, MTP-Secondary (MTP-S), given t…
Alignment and misalignment of classroom experiences from Pre-K to kindergarten
Using self report surveys to measure PreK children’s academic orientations: A psychometric evaluation
Starting Early: The Benefits of Attending Early Childhood Education Programs at Age 3
This investigation considered the short-term benefits of early childhood education participation at age 3 for 1,213 children from low-income families living in a large and linguistically diverse county. Although no benefits emerged for executive functioning, children who participated in formal early childhood programs at the age of 3 entered prekindergarten the following year demonstrating stronger academic skills and less optimal social behavior…
Family Stress Processes and Children's Self-Regulation
Economic hardship can affect children's development through child–caregiver interactions, which may mediate cascading effects of other family stress processes. This study examined, simultaneously, the relations of financial strain, caregiver general stress, and child–caregiver conflict—each measured at two time points—with child self-regulatory outcomes in a high-poverty sample (age 5–7 years; n = 343). Increase in child–caregiver conflict mediat…
The classroom relational environment and children’s early development in preschool
The present study considered the ways in which interactional quality in the classroom and teacher–child relationships independently and synergistically shaped the early academic, social‐behavioral, and executive function outcomes of 1,498 preschoolers from low‐income families from a large, culturally, and linguistically diverse county. The findings revealed that children who had closer and less conflictual relationships with their teachers demons…
Enrollment in public-prekindergarten and school readiness skills at kindergarten entry: Differential associations by home language, income, and program characteristics
Persistence and convergence: The end of kindergarten outcomes of pre-K graduates and their nonattending peers
The present investigation examined the benefits of pre-K through the end of kindergarten for children from low-income homes who lived in a large and diverse county (n = 2,581) as well as factors associated with a reduction in benefits during the kindergarten year. Results revealed that pre-K graduates outperformed nonattenders in the areas of achievement and executive functioning skills at the end of kindergarten, and also that the benefits of pr…
Projecting the Potential Impact of Covid-19 School Closures on Academic Achievement
As the COVID-19 pandemic upended the 2019–2020 school year, education systems scrambled to meet the needs of students and families with little available data on how school closures may impact learning. In this study, we produced a series of projections of COVID-19-related learning loss based on (a) estimates from absenteeism literature and (b) analyses of summer learning patterns of 5 million students. Under our projections, returning students ar…
Coaching Teachers to Improve Students’ School Readiness Skills: Indirect Effects of Teacher–Student Interaction
This study examined indirect associations of MyTeachingPartner coaching with pre-K students’ (N = 1,570; 73% low income) school readiness, via improvements of teachers’ (N = 393; 47% Black; 41% Head Start) classroom interactions. Data were collected across 2008–2009 and 2009–2010 in 10 urban sites across the eastern United States. The number of completed coaching cycles was examined as a predictor of teacher–student interactions, as were direct o…
Preschool Teachers’ Emotional Exhaustion in Relation to Classroom Instruction and Teacher-child Interactions
The present investigation examined the links between preschool teachers' self-reported emotional exhaustion (n = 117) with the quality of their classroom interactions and the dosage and rigor of their instruction. Research Findings: Although teachers' experience of emotional exhaustion was not associated with the dosage and rigor of instruction, more emotionally exhausted teachers demonstrated lower quality interactions with children in their cla…
Indirect effects of coaching on pre-K students' engagement and literacy skill as a function of improved teacher–student interaction
Differences between Pre-K and Kindergarten classroom experiences: Do they predict children's social-emotional skills and self-regulation across the transition to kindergarten
Fostering Early Motivation: The Influence of Teacher-Child Relationships and Interactions on Motivation in the Kindergarten Classroom
Research Findings: The present study examines the unique and joint effects of individual teacher-child relationships and overall quality of teacher-child interactions on the motivation of 2,745 kindergarten children (51% girls; ages 5–6) from an ethnically and linguistically diverse county. Teachers reported the closeness and conflict in their individual relationships with each child. The quality of teacher-child interactions was measured via cla…
The association between and development of school enjoyment and general knowledge
Learning environments can support the development of foundational knowledge and promote children's attitudes toward learning and school. This study explores the relation between school enjoyment and general knowledge from preschool (2016–2017) to kindergarten (2017–2018) in 1359 children (M age = 55, 61 months, female = 50%; 58.5% Hispanic, 17% Black, 10% Asian, 10% White, 5% multiracial/other; linguistically diverse). Cross-lagged panel models s…
The First-Grade Outcomes of Pre-K Attendees: Examining Benefits as a Function of Skill Type, Environments, and Subgroups
This study examined whether pre-K benefits persist through the end of first grade and the extent to which persistence differs based on outcome domains, subsequent classroom environments, and key subgroups of children. Data from 2,351 children living in a large and diverse county in Virginia revealed that the initial benefits of pre-K for academic and executive function persisted through the end of first grade but were 75% to 80% smaller than at k…
Measuring Text-Focused Reading Instruction
Helping students engage with complex texts has been a longstanding challenge, though teachers have received little guidance about practices that help students in engaging with texts. This paper provides a range of empirical evidence about a tool designed to provide formative insight into text-focused teaching, which we used to reliably score more than 500 reading lessons in a large district. We describe the structure of the tool, its relationship…
Psychology (26 works) · Early Childhood Education and Development (22 works) · Developmental psychology (18 works) · Mathematics education (15 works) · Parental Involvement in Education (15 works) · Social Psychology (11 works) · Academic achievement (10 works) · Pedagogy (7 works) · Early childhood education (6 works) · Teacher Education and Leadership Studies (6 works)