Skip Navigation
 
ACF
          
ACF Home   |   Services   |   Working with ACF   |   Policy/Planning   |   About ACF   |   ACF News   |   HHS Home

  Questions?  |  Privacy  |  Site Index  |  Contact Us  |  Download Reader™  |  Print      

Office of Head Start skip to primary page contentActing Director Patricia Brown

Information Memorandums (IMs)—2008

The Importance of Teacher-Child Relationships in Head Start
ACF–IM–HS–08–21

 

ACF
Administration for Children and Families

U.S. DEPARTMENT
OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

1. Log No. ACF–IM–HS–08–21

2. Issuance Date: 11/20/08

 

3. Originating Office: Office of Head Start

4. Key Words: Research Brief on Teacher/Child Relationships

 

INFORMATION MEMORANDUM [See Attachment at the bottom]

TO: Head Start and Early Head Start Grantees and Delegate Agencies

SUBJECT: The Importance of Teacher-Child Relationships in Head Start

INFORMATION:

Positive interactions between adults and children, and between children and their peers are among the key elements of overall classroom quality. Teaching teams can be instrumental in fostering the development and maintenance of positive social interactions and a pro-social environment. Strategies that support such interactions are well-researched and documented in early childhood research and other publications. This Information Memorandum (IM) highlights the importance of promoting strong, positive interactions with young children and offers specific examples of some successful strategies.

Building strong adult-child relationships is foundational to young children's school readiness, future achievement, and success later in life. Strong positive relationships with teachers and other adult caregivers within environments that validate the cultural and linguistic backgrounds of children foster positive opportunities for the development of social competence and academic growth.

Promoting positive adult-child relationships is vital for three interrelated reasons:1, 2, 3

  • social relationships form the bases for life-long learning
  • social competence is integrally related to academic success
  • prevention of social and academic difficulties is more effective than remediation

/Patricia E. Brown/

Patricia E. Brown
Acting Director
Office of Head Start

Endnotes

  1. Murray C, Murray KM. Child Level Correlates of Teacher-Student Relationships: An Examination of Demographic Characteristics, Academic Orientations, and Behavioral Orientations. Psychology in the Schools 2004;41(7):751–762. [back]
  2. Pianta RC, Steinberg MS. Teacher-Child Relationships and the Process of Adjusting to School. New Directions for Child Development 1992;57:61–80. [back]
  3. Birch SH, Ladd GW. Children’s Interpersonal Behaviors and the Teacher-Child Relationship. Developmental Psychology 1998;34(5):934–946. [back]

(Download in PDF)

Attachment:

[Attachment] The Importance of Teacher-Child Relationships in Head Start