Study Says Most 1st Grade Classes Not High Quality

A study of 820 1st grade classrooms suggests that many are not as warm, friendly, and academically stimulating as some experts think they ought to be.

According to the research, published this month in the Elementary School Journal , only 23 percent of classrooms could be judged to be of “high quality” in both their instructional practices and social and emotional climate.

Another 31 percent of classrooms—the largest percentage in the study sample—were deemed to have a positive emotional climate, but a low level of academic quality. Researchers judged 28 percent of the classrooms to be “mediocre”; the remaining 17 percent got a rating...