Procedures
The project received approval from the authors’ university’s Survey and Behavioral Research Ethics Committee (SBREC). The initial step involved the second author meeting with preschool principals to discuss participation and providing a detailed explanation of the study to obtain consent from willing teachers. Once teacher consent was secured, the lead teachers from the selected 18 classes proceeded to rate their relationships with the individual children participating in the study.
To ensure scorer consistency, six research assistants(RA) with master’s degrees in ECE were recruited and divided into three groups of two individuals each, with each group responsible for assessing K1, K2, and K3 children’s SR, SE, mathematics, and vocabulary. These RA attended a comprehensive 2-day face-to-face workshop, including grading practice, where the researchers partnered with the RA to conduct child assessments. Once the RA achieved the same score as the researchers, they began working in pairs to conduct formal assessments.
All assessments were conducted in a quiet preschool room, with four assessments lasting approximately 30 minutes per child. Before the assessment, the researchers established a positive relationship with the child through play to ensure their comfort. At the end, children received stickers as tokens of appreciation for their participation.