Jessica Vick Whittaker

Biographic Data

ID4420266
NAMEJessica Vick Whittaker
GIVEN NAMESJessica Vick
FAMILY NAMEWhittaker
SIGNATUREWHITTAKER J V
AFFILIATIONSUniversity of Virginia
ORCID0000-0002-6117-4579
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS32
TOTAL CITATIONS98
AUTHOR COUNT32
EDITOR COUNT0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR2010
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2026
H-INDEX6

  • Associations Between Classroom Processes and Students’ Academic Outcomes from Pre-Kindergarten Through First Grade

    Open AccessTutrang Nguyen, Robert C Pianta et al.ARTICLEEarly Childhood Education Journal2026

    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…

  • Understanding the experiences of non-english-speaking families using child care subsidies

    Open AccessChristina Stephens, Isabelle Fares et al.ARTICLEEarly Childhood Research Quarterly2026

    Families with low incomes struggle to find affordable child care, especially households whose primary language is not English (NE). The federal Child Care Development Fund (CCDF) is a funding mechanism that alleviates child care costs through subsidies. Prior research suggests NE households experience more challenges accessing subsidies and receive CCDF funds at disproportionately lower rates than English-only (EO) households. Less is known about…

  • Pre-kindergarten classroom experiences and child outcomes through first grade

    Open AccessMargaret Burchinal, Robert Pianta et al.ARTICLEEarly Childhood Research Quarterly2026References: 74

  • Developmental Assets at Preschool Entry That Support Dual Language Learners’ Academic Development Through the First Grade

    Christina Stephens, Robert C Pianta et al.ARTICLEEarly Education and Development2025

    Dual language learner children (DLLs) benefit from early childhood education (ECE) and learning multiple languages, but research has predominantly focused on English monolingual children, with limited insight on the ECE and early development of DLLs. This study investigated whether DLLs’ developmental assets assessed at pre-k entry (i.e. English proficiency, social skills, executive function, early child care participation prior to pre-k) support…

  • Teacher-child relationship quality and kindergarten outcomes

    Open AccessElda Ramírez, Jessica Vick Whittaker et al.ARTICLEEarly Childhood Research Quarterly2025Cited by: 1References: 2

  • Associations between school characteristics and learning gains for pre-K attenders and non-attenders

    Open AccessArya Ansari, Natalie A Koziol et al.ARTICLEEarly Childhood Research Quarterly2025References: 1

  • Missing Out

    Amanda Williford, Pilar Alamos et al.ARTICLEEarly Education and Development2024

    Research Findings: Students perceived as struggling to regulate their emotions and behavior are at risk for experiencing classroom and school exclusion beginning in preschool. In this preliminary and exploratory secondary data analysis study, we examined teachers’ self-reported use of classroom-based soft exclusionary discipline practices with kindergarten students whom they perceived as displaying the lowest self-regulation and social skills. In…

  • Fostering Early Motivation

    Monica S Lu, Jessica Vick Whittaker et al.ARTICLEEarly Education and Development2023

    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

    Open AccessJamie Jirout, Erik Ruzek et al.ARTICLEChild Development2023

    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…

  • Results from a randomized trial of the effective classroom interactions for toddler educators professional development intervention

    Open AccessJennifer LoCasale‐Crouch, Francisca Romo et al.ARTICLEEarly Childhood Research Quarterly2023Cited by: 1References: 12

  • Classroom skill compositions and preschoolers’ early academic and executive function outcomes

    Open AccessQingqing Yang, Arya Ansari et al.ARTICLEEarly Childhood Research Quarterly2023Cited by: 2References: 15

  • Patterns of children's readiness at school entry and their association with kindergarten academic and social-emotional outcomes

    Open AccessJessica Vick Whittaker, Jessica E Whittaker et al.ARTICLEEarly Childhood Research Quarterly2023Cited by: 3References: 16

  • The First-Grade Outcomes of Pre-K Attendees

    Open AccessArya Ansari, Kathryn Zimmermann et al.ARTICLEAmerican Educational Research…2023References: 67

    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…

  • Examining the association between neighborhood conditions and school readiness across low and highly segregated school attendance boundaries

    Open AccessTeka Lenahan, Jennifer Locasale-Crouch et al.ARTICLEFrontiers in Education2022

    Neighborhood characteristics are well documented determinants of adolescent and adult health and well-being. One such neighborhood characteristic heavily explored in K-12 research is the role of residential segregation on educational outcomes. Surprisingly, little is known about how community conditions, as well as racial segregation, relate to children’s early school readiness. This is a critical gap in the field as children’s school readiness i…

  • Preschool Teachers’ Emotional Exhaustion in Relation to Classroom Instruction and Teacher-child Interactions

    Open AccessArya Ansari, Robert C Pianta et al.ARTICLEEarly Education and Development2022

    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…

  • Antiracism defined as equitable sociocultural interactions in prekindergarten

    Open AccessStephanie M Curenton, Shana E Rochester et al.ARTICLEChild Development2022

    This study used secondary data from the My Teaching Partner-Math/Science 2013–2016 randomized control trial to explore whether equitable sociocultural classroom interactions (see Curenton et al., 2019) were associated with the skills of 105 four- and five-year-olds (52% boys; drawn from 20 unique video recordings of preschool teachers/classrooms; 43% were Black, Latine, Asian, or other racially marginalized learners). Equitable interactions predi…

  • Differences between Pre-K and Kindergarten classroom experiences

    Open AccessVirginia E Vitiello, Tutrang Nguyen et al.ARTICLEEarly Childhood Research Quarterly2022Cited by: 6References: 21

  • Kindergarten academic and social skills and exposure to peers with pre-kindergarten experience

    Open AccessMargaret Burchinal, Robert C Pianta et al.ARTICLEEarly Childhood Research Quarterly2022Cited by: 4References: 8

  • Behavioral Self-Regulation as a Protective Factor for Children at Risk of Reading Failure

    Karen F Kehoe, Anita S McGinty et al.ARTICLEEarly Education and Development2021

    Research Findings: This study used data from a large-scale kindergarten entry assessment (KEA) to understand how well two state screening measures, administered at school entry, predicted the first-grade reading outcomes of a large sample of first-time kindergarteners (N=5,480) at high risk for future reading failure. We examined young children’s emergent literacy and behavioral self-regulation skills in the fall of kindergarten in relation to de…

  • The classroom relational environment and children’s early development in preschool

    Open AccessTutrang Nguyen, Arya Ansari et al.ARTICLESocial Development2020Cited by: 1References: 15

    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

    Open AccessArya Ansari, Robert C Pianta et al.ARTICLEEarly Childhood Research Quarterly2020Cited by: 7References: 13

  • Persistence and convergence

    Open AccessArya Ansari, Robert C Pianta et al.ARTICLEDevelopmental Psychology2020Cited by: 11References: 3

    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…

  • Alignment and misalignment of classroom experiences from Pre-K to kindergarten

    Open AccessVirginia E Vitiello, Robert C Pianta et al.ARTICLEEarly Childhood Research Quarterly2019Cited by: 5References: 14

  • Using self report surveys to measure PreK children’s academic orientations

    Open AccessErik Ruzek, Jamie Jirout et al.ARTICLEEarly Childhood Research Quarterly2019Cited by: 1References: 13

  • Starting Early

    Open AccessArya Ansari, Robert C Pianta et al.ARTICLEAmerican Educational Research…2019Cited by: 1References: 53

    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…