Quality early care and learning: Exploring child-centered pedagogy a qualitative multi-case study

Abstract Early childhood education (ECE) programs in the United States are experiencing paradigm shifts resulting from the standards-based movement. The notion that all children should be ready to learn when they enter school has resulted in ECE programs attempting to balance a standards-based curriculum with the child-centered approach to learning as part of quality early care and learning. While an association between quality early care and learning has been established by the rating system of the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale (ECERS-3), the Infant/Toddler Environmental Rating Scale (ITERS-R), and the Family Child Care Environmental Rating Scale (FCCERS-R), little is known about how classroom practices meet the developmental needs, interests, and abilities of young children based on children’s zone of proximal development (ZPD). This study aimed to explore toddler and preschool teachers’ and directors’ perceptions about quality early care and learning and determine what strategies are used to integrate children’s developmental needs, interests, and capabilities into classroom practices as part of the child-centered approach to learning. The study used a qualitative method of in-depth interviews and the collection of documents to answer the research questions. Results suggest that adherence to a standards-based curriculum with a teacher-centered approach seems to be at the expense of the constructivist approach to learning.

Since the 1980s, early childhood education in the US has encountered paradigm shifts resulting from several educational changes including Goals 2000, NCLB, and the preschool expansion initiatives. Goal one of Goals 2000: Educate America Act states that all children should be ready to learn when they enter school (McGuinn, 2015;Stedman & Riddle, 1998). Preschool expansion includes funding for preschool children who are enrolled in Title I programs with the intent of providing high quality early childhood education for preschool children (U.S. Department of Education, 2004). The intent of the preschool expansion initiative was to ensure that preschool children are ready to enter kindergarten by establishing a foundation built on academic standards (U.S. Department of Education, 2004). Educational changes with reforms such as Goals 2000 and the preschool expansion initiative have redefined early childhood education.
The goal that all children should be ready to learn when they enter school has resulted in educational changes designed to address academic success of young children, particularly disadvantaged children through what is deemed as quality early care and learning. Some recent educational changes include, but are not limited to, Race to the Top and the Preschool For All Initiative Act (PFAI). Educational change with the PFAI Act requires school districts to create partnerships with private early childhood programs that enroll preschool children, which has resulted in integrating state standards and shifting classroom practices to a traditional K-12 pushdown approach to teaching and learning in preschool classrooms (McGuinn, 2015;U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Education, 2016).
The collaboration between school districts and private early childhood programs reinforced a view that somehow preschool is simply a junior version of K-12 education. While there is a general consensus that early childhood programs need to provide quality early care and learning to young children, there are growing concerns that educational shifts to a more academicallybased approach, teacher accountability, and teachers' beliefs have misrepresented the concept of quality early care and learning (Bassok et al., 2016;Jahng, 2011).

Shifting to a quality rating and improvement system
In 2014, President Barack Obama signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which proposed $2.360 billion in federal Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) funding; however, funding was reduced to $2.358 billion. The CCDBG Act is a bill that provides block grants to states to help low-income parents find childcare for their children. Allocations within the CCDBG appropriated subsidies to states through the Child Care and Development Fund, which required standards for addressing quality early care and learning for infants and toddlers attending these centers (K. E. Lynch, 2014). A standards-based approach for addressing quality early care and learning triggered the development of a national quality rating and improvement system (QRIS), which has been implemented in 42 states (Tout et al., 2018). According to Tout et al. (2018), the QRIS is intended to improve the quality of early care and education in early childhood programs.
Although the intent of the QRIS is to strengthen quality early care and learning in early childhood programs, the central question is: How is quality early care and learning defined in all of these new initiatives? McLaughlin et al. (2016) argued that while quality early childhood programs are essential, particularly for at risk children, definitions of quality care that are used by these expansion initiatives could place young children at risk. McLaughlin et al. (2016) stressed the importance of teacher-child interaction, curriculum, and intentional teaching as key components to a definition of quality early care and learning. While how quality early care and learning is defined and debatable, it is important to place the child at the center of the debate. Dewey (1902) argued that the purpose of intentional teaching is the development of the whole child, acquisition of skills, and self-realization. Dewey (1902) further postulated that curriculum should start and end with the child.

Generalizing quality early care and learning
The National Association for the Education of Young Children's (NAEYC; Copple & Bredekamp, 2009) position statement on developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) has been the hallmark for quality early care and learning since 1987. NAEYC's 2009 position statement on DAP highlights the importance of early childhood educators being knowledgeable about child growth and development as well as their ability to integrating early childhood theory into classroom practices (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009). A child-centered play-based approach to quality early care and learning is beneficial to all young children; however, a review of literature generalizes and defines quality early care and learning within two contexts: (a) structural features referring to teacher education and characteristics of the classroom, which include class size and adult-child ratio and (b) process features referring to teacher-child interactions (Glenn-Applegate et al., 2016;Iruka & Morgan, 2014;Ishimine et al., 2010;Pelatti et al., 2016).
When examining quality early care and learning, the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale (ECERS-3; Harms et al., 2015), the Infant/Toddler Environmental Rating Scale (ITERS-R; Harms et al., 2003), and the Family Child Care Environmental Rating Scale (FCCERS-R; Harms et al., 2007) are widely used assessment tools that are utilized to measure quality from the framework of both structural and process features as part of the QRIS program (Glenn-Applegate et al., 2016). Childcare programs implement the ECERS-3, ITERS-R, and FCCERS-R in order to measure classroom quality (Park et al., 20 12;Setodji et al., 2018). Quality ratings using the ECERS-3, ITERS-R, and FCCERS-R assessment tools are a condition in determining subsidized funding for childcare centers (Park et al. (2012).
While the association between quality early care and learning has been established by the rating system of the ECERS-3, ITERS-R, and FCCERS-R, little is known about how classroom practices meet the developmental needs, interests, and abilities of young children based on children's zone of proximal development (ZPD). The ZPD is based on what children can do, which is based on their developmental stage and their prior experiences. According to Vygotsky the area between what a child can achieve independently and what the child is capable of achieving with assistance by an expert is considered the ZPD (Bodrova & Leong, 2007;Hedges, 2012;Mooney, 2013). Viewing quality early care and learning from a holistic context of child-focused pedagogy places an emphasis on responsiveness to children's developmental needs, interests, and capabilities (Dewey, 1944). This approach highlights the child as an active agent of their learning for the purpose of the construction of meaningful learning experiences and the development of skills within the ZPD (Berk & Winsler, 1995;Dewey, 1944;Piaget & Inhelder, 1969). The ECERS-3, ITERS-R, and FCCERS-R overlook measuring quality early care and learning from such a valuable childcentered perspective.
Although the concept of what is appropriate for young children may be undergoing a paradigm shift due to misconceptions about quality early care and learning (Dickinson, 2002), it is important to place quality early care and learning within the context of whole child development (social, emotional, physical, language, and cognitive development), child-focused pedagogy, and an environment that provides the opportunity for children to critically think and problem solve, thereby fostering the growth and natural evolution of the child (Dewey, 1944).

Child-centered pedagogy
Constructivism is the central focus of child-centered pedagogy (Semmar & Al-Thani, 2015). Children actively take ownership of their learning experiences as they actively explore, investigate, and make discoveries. When considering the diverse needs of young children, child-centered pedagogy can assist early childhood educators to facilitate and scaffold learning based on children's developmental needs, interests, and abilities (Tandon, 2017). Young children grow and develop holistically across all domains (social, emotional, cognitive, language, and physical) which are interconnected, but continuously changing and fluctuating from domain to domain due to brain development, to social interaction, and variations in experiences, particularly cultural experiences (Shabani et al., 2010;Wardle, 2018). Children have different ZPDs depending on experiences and abilities. Changes and fluctuations in domains play a fundamental role in children's ZPD (Bodrova & Leong, 2007). Wardle (2018) accentuated that the variations between the thinking of younger children compared to the thinking of older children underscore the need to separate public elementary schools from early childhood programs.
Piaget argued that young children's thinking is illogical and characterized by egocentrism and symbolic representation (Piaget & Inhelder, 1969;Semmar & Al-Thani, 2015). Vygotsky argued that children need to be active participants in their learning experiences and that as young children socially interact with adults, peers, and their environment, such social and environmental experiences play a fundamental role in the construction of knowledge and children's cognitive and language development (Berk & Winsler, 1995;Hebe, 2017). Researchers have argued that children should be provided with the opportunity to engage in investigative and discovery-based learning, which includes exploration, investigation, problem solving, construction and deconstruction, and discovery as they take ownership of their learning experiences (Fluckiger et al., 2018;Jeffrey & Craft, 2004;M. Lynch, 2015). Placing the child at the center of their learning experiences as they construct knowledge plays an essential role in children's emotional and cognitive development. It can also stimulate brain development, promote collaboration, engagement, critical thinking, and creativity where children's ideas and contributions evolve from simple to complex and concrete to abstract as children maintain ownership of their learning experiences (Jeffrey & Craft, 2004). A child-focused pedagogical approach integrates early childhood theory and child growth and development, whereby classroom practices provide the opportunity for children to experience knowledge and learning not from a scripted system, but from the cultivation and the acquisition of knowledge based on children's interests.

Facilitating with intent
While a range of definitions of quality early care and learning may be found within the literature, it is important to view (a) quality early childhood education within the framework of children as active agents in their learning experiences as they learn through guided child-directed play, and (b) children's learning and development within a cultural context as they construct knowledge (Dewey, 1944;Fleer, 2011;Fluckiger et al., 2018). Within the framework of a guided childcentered construct, the emphasis is not on the use of a scripted curriculum with direct teaching instruction, but on the teacher's role to follow the children's lead while they engage in exploration, investigation, and discovery (Weisberg et al., 2013).
Quality early childhood education should take into consideration: (a) learning environments that are based on children's interest and lend themselves to discovery-based learning (b) multi-cultural responsiveness, (c) responsiveness to children's ZPDs, and (d) a focus on building positive relationships with peers, families, and the community (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009;Dewey, 1902;John-Steiner & Mahn, 1996;Vygotsky, 1978;Wardle, 1999).
The United States is an ethnically diverse country with 72.0% White, Hispanic, or Latino; 18.4% Hispanic or Latino; 12.8% Black or African American; 5.7% Asian; 5.0% some other race; 3.4% two or more races; 0.9% American Indian and Alaska Native; 0.2% Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander (U.S. Census, 2020).
Addressing ethnic diversity in early childhood programs requires cultural competence and the development of self-concept, which should be highlighted within early childhood classrooms to help young children (a) integrate a complex self-identity, especially for multiracial and multiethnic children, (b) make connections to who they are and proudly define themselves, (c) and understand the various ways that people view the world (Wardle & Cruz-Janzen, 2004). A culturally responsive approach to teaching is fundamental to using language and other cultural tools in order to enhance communication and address how children process information as a means of supporting cognitive development (Panhwar et al., 2016).
In order to support the healthy development of young children, it is important to be cognizant of the social histories of all children and place children's learning within a social context (Durden et al., 2015). Child-teacher interactions should focus on creating a learning environment that values the culturally-rich diverse thinking and creative expression of young children based on discovery-based learning and use of the arts (Leggett, 2017). This approach stresses the importance of children being visible in the classroom and connecting children's culture, ideas, and interests to their home environment and community in order to make their learning individually meaningful (Dewey, 1938).
Children actively seek to make sense of their physical and social environments; therefore, a learning environment that highlights stimulating children to freely explore, investigate, inquire, critically think, document, and problem solve based on their interests as part of guided play contributes to children's learning experiences and development (Dewey, 1990;Robson & Mastrangelo, 2017). Robson and Mastrangelo (2017) further argued that facilitating with intent requires educators to function as learners, become aware of their image of the child, understand that children can make valuable contributions to their own growth and development, and be aware of children's interests and capabilities. This places the child at the center of the curriculum and the learning environment (Dewey, 1902).

Curriculum content and early childhood education
The field of early childhood education (ECE) in the US is experiencing cognitive dissonance between implementing DAP classroom practices and adhering to a standards-based approach to classroom practices. There is no consensus regarding consistency in classroom practices. More emphasis is placed on a scripted curriculum that stresses assessing mastery of knowledge and skills at the expense of a child-centered constructivist approach (Nicolopoulou, 2010). Teacher-directed instruction and the standards-based movement have replaced an approach developed from theoretical ideologies regarding the driving force behind children's development and learning on (Fowler, 2017). Some researchers have suggested that to respond to curricular demands and the standards-based movement, the early childhood community can adopt a multi-dimensional framework that balances adult-directed scripted curriculum with child-directed instruction, which includes assessments to determine mastery of knowledge and skills. Many in the field believe this is the only way to justify the ECE profession-regardless of its negative impact on children (Fowler, 2017;Goldstein, 2008). Bagnato and Ho (2006) argued that such curricula is designed to satisfy a high-stakes and accountability framework approach to assessing children, that overlooks young children's developmental needs and individual differences. Bagnato and Ho (2006) further argue that young children's interests, capabilities, and developmental needs are revealed through play. Thus, scaffolding should be active. Dewey believed that children should be active participants in their learning and constructors of their own curriculum. Thus, a child-centered approach acknowledges individual differences and capabilities and respects children's interests and social experiences; therefore, Dewey opposed a teacher-directed curriculum (Sikandar, 2015;Talebi, 2015). Dewey emphasized that the teacher's role is to facilitate learning through the use of developmentally appropriate collaborative activities that promote integrating investigative and discovery-based learning, which provides the opportunity for young children to collaborate and share ideas that contribute to the construction of knowledge (Talebi, 2015;Williams, 2017). Williams (2017) proposed some noteworthy child-centered approaches to classroom practices namely a responsive classroom and place-based education that takes into consideration children's interests, needs, and capabilities within an environment that fosters critical thinking and inquiry.

Literature review
Quality early care and learning has been the focus of considerable research (Iruka & Morgan, 2014;Park et al., 2012;Pelatti et al., 2016). The general agreement is that quality early care and learning is defined within the context of structural features in terms of class size and teacher-child ratio, and in process features in terms of teacher-child interactions and teacher qualification (Glenn-Applegate et al., 2016;Iruka & Morgan, 2014;Ishimine et al., 2010;Pelatti et al., 2016). Iruka and Morgan (2014) utilized the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort to examine the multi-dimensional patterns of process features in childcare centers attended by African American children. Quality early care and learning were based on measurement provisions of caregiver sensitivity and experience. Child assessment was also used to measure reading and mathematical skills. In measuring reading skills, assessments were conducted to measure proficiency in the English language. What was not taken into consideration was acknowledgement of sociocultural dynamics, which plays a role in individual differences, capabilities, and needs of the children. Based on these indicators, results revealed that quality varied in childcare centers attended by African American children and that African American children experienced adequate to good quality center-based care. Jeon and Buettner (2015) examined associations between the QRIS and child academic outcomes of preschool children. Three assessment tools were used to measure children's cognitive skills. The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test 3rd edition (PPVT-III; Jeon & Buettner, 2015) was used to measure children's verbal ability; the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening Pre-Kindergarten (Jeon & Buettner, 2015) was used to measure children's early literacy skills and phonological awareness; and the Woodcock-Johnson Test of Achievement III (WJTA-III; Jeon & Buettner, 2015) was used to measure children's mathematical abilities. QRIS's level was used as representation for structural quality of childcare programs. Results suggested that the association between high QRIS rating scores and children's outcomes in literacy, language, and mathematics might be the result of a smaller adult-child ratio. Jeon and Buettner's (2015) study placed an emphasis on academic and content-based acquisition of knowledge, which underscores assessments to determine mastery of knowledge and skills. What was not made known was measurement of the child-teacher interaction in which intentional teaching takes into consideration children's interest, developmental needs, and capabilities that foster critical thinking and inquiry resulting in children's whole child development. Pelatti et al. (2016) pointed out the importance of meeting the diverse needs of young children from low socio-economic backgrounds and children with disabilities. Pelatti et al. (2016) examined differences regarding structural and process features in publicly funded ECE classrooms to determine if differences existed between classroom-type when controlling for structural features in public funded and inclusive ECE. Inclusive classrooms consist of children with special needs. Quality was measured using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) and three selfreported questionnaires, which assessed structural quality and measured teacher and program characteristics. Although parents and teachers reported that emotional development of children with disabilities was of the utmost importance, results revealed that measurements in the category of emotional support were moderate with a score of 3-5 on a 7-point scale. Results also underscored noteworthy differences between publicly funded and inclusive ECE programs, where inclusive ECE classrooms facilitated more emotional stability when compared to publicly funded ECE programs. Conversely, results revealed differences in instructional support where publicly funded ECE classrooms scored higher compared to inclusive ECE classrooms when controlled for structural quality. Pelatti et al. (2016) pointed out that publicly funded ECE programs place a high value on teacher qualification in that there is an association between higher teacher education and higher process quality ratings. In examining instructional differences, particularly in an inclusive ECE classroom, similar to Jeon and Buettner (2015), child-teacher interaction was not explored when considering children's interest, developmental needs, and capabilities that foster critical thinking and inquiry resulting in whole child development.
While these studies have used an assessment system such as the PPVT-III, WJTA-III, and the CLASS to measure, examine, and define quality early care and learning based on structural and process features (Glenn-Applegate et al., 2016;Iruka & Morgan, 2014;Ishimine et al., 2010;Pelatti et al., 2016), these studies neglect to examine and explain (a) what strategies toddler and preschool teachers used to support responsiveness to children's developmental needs, interests, and capabilities as part of a child-focused pedagogy and quality early care and learning and (b) why such strategies are being used. This could provide insight into how public and private early childhood programs with a quality rating score meet the individual needs of children. More important, this research study could build on Pelatti et al. (2016), who found variations in quality rating scores based on instructional practices between publicly funded ECE classrooms and inclusive ECE classrooms.

Quality rating and improvement system in New Jersey
As part of the QRIS, the State of New Jersey Department of Human Services Division of Family Development (n.d.) has published criteria to help educate families when seeking quality early care and learning programs for their children. The State of New Jersey Department of Human Services Division of Family Development (n.d.) has highlighted various types of early childhood programs that are available to families: (a) family childcare; (b) childcare centers; (c) Head-Start and Early Head-Start; (d) school district preschool programs; and (e) special service school districts for children with special needs. The State of New Jersey Department of Human Services Division of Family Development (n.d.) underscored that within the state of New Jersey, there were 1,598 licensed home-based providers with a total capacity of 7,990 children and 4,169 licensed centerbased providers with a total capacity of 386,738 children. When compared to other states where participating in the QRIS program is mandatory. Participating in the QRIS program is voluntary in the State of New Jersey. In 2017, there were 39 quality-star rated licensed childcare centers, nine quality-rated licensed family childcare providers, and three quality-star rated Head-Start/Early Head Start programs (Tout et al., 2018). The QRIS is commonly known as Grown NJ Kids in the State of New Jersey.
While the intent of the preschool expansion initiative is said to provide quality early care and learning for low-income children with the intent of preparing them academically for entry into kindergarten, the number of preschool expulsions or suspensions has also increased resulting from children's challenging behavior (Gilliam & Shahar, 2006;Stegelin, 2018). According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Education (2016), there has been an increase in preschool expulsions and suspensions of African American children, particularly young boys of color, who experience this traumatic event more than other children. In the State of New Jersey, from 2011-2012, 15% of African American preschool boys were suspended from preschool programs, as compared to 8% of Hispanic boys, 7% of bi-racial boys, and 4% of White boys. Similarly, 9% of African American preschool girls were suspended from preschool programs as compared to 4% of Hispanic girls, 3% of bi-racial girls, and 2% of White girls. When considering children with disabilities, 10% of children identified with an individual family service plan or an individual education plan were suspended (U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, 2014).

Purpose of the study
Since the ECERS-3, ITERS-R, and the FCCERS-R are the preferred assessment tools for measuring quality early care and learning to determine structural and process features as part of the QRIS program (Glenn-Applegate et al., 2016), it is not known how early childhood educators places quality early care and learning within the context of responsiveness to children's developmental needs, interests, and capabilities as part of a child-focused approach to learning. This study aims to close that gap and explore toddler and preschool teachers' and directors' perceptions about quality early care and learning and to determine what strategies are used to integrate children's developmental needs, interests, and capabilities into classroom practices as part of the childcentered approach to learning. Based on the purpose of this research study, the following research questions were constructed: RQ 1. How do toddler teachers, preschool teachers, and early childhood directors perceive their roles within a quality rated public or private childcare center? RQ 2. How is curriculum chosen in a quality rated childcare center? RQ 3. What strategies do toddler teachers and preschool teachers use to include responsiveness to children's developmental needs, interests, and capabilities into classroom practices as part of the child-centered pedagogy?

Significance of the study
We aim to explore toddler teachers', preschool teachers', and early childhood directors' perceptions about quality early care and learning to determine what strategies are used to integrate children's developmental needs, interests, and capabilities into classroom practices as part of a child-centered pedagogy. The results of the study can provide useful data to help stakeholders and educational leaders address gaps in the delivery of quality early care and learning. The study can also help early childhood educators to be mindful of planning developmentally appropriate activities for typically developing young children, children with special needs, and gifted and talented children.

Method and design
Our study aim was to examine and explain what strategies toddler and preschool teachers use to support responsiveness to children's developmental needs, interests, and capabilities as part of a child-centered pedagogy within a quality star rated program and why such strategies are being used. This can provide insight into how public and private early childhood programs with a quality rating score can meet the individual needs of children. The researchers used a qualitative multicase approach which included one-on-one semi-structured audio recorded interviews and the collection of documentation (children's work samples and lesson plans). This approach was used to collect in-depth data regarding the program's curriculum and classroom practices that characterize how quality early care and learning are perceived and what strategies are used to address responsiveness to children's developmental needs, interests, and capabilities. Prior to data collection, this research received IRB approval from the University of Phoenix. All participants provided appropriate informed consent and was informed that they can withdraw from the study at any time without any penalty.

Population
A recruitment letter was emailed to 13 childcare centers in northern New Jersey from a public listing of licensed quality star rated childcare centers. Three centers agreed to participate in the study. The researchers had no prior relationships or knowledge about the three childcare centers that agreed to participate. A total of 12 early childhood educators agreed to participate from the three childcare centers. Participants were not compensated. Teachers and directors were informed that participation was voluntary and that they did not have to participate. Participants consisted of a purposeful sample of three childcare directors, three toddler teachers, and six preschool teachers from public and private childcare centers that are quality rated as part of the Grow NJ Kids program in New Jersey, for a total of 12 early childhood educators.

Data collection
The purpose of this study was to explore the strategies used to integrate children's developmental needs, interests, and capabilities into classroom practices as part of child-centered pedagogy. Data were gathered through in-depth, semi-structured, one-on-one interviews; collection of lesson plans; and children's work samples collected from toddler and preschool teachers. There were no classroom observations. Semi-structured one-on-one interviews with toddler, preschool teachers, and childcare directors were approximately 60 minutes in length. A total of 12 early childhood educators from three childcare centers participated in the study; five were from a publicly funded childcare center and seven were from a private childcare center.

Data analysis
Thematic analysis was used to analyze the collected data. In thematic analysis, open and axial codes are used to unearth patterns, which leads to the development of themes (Terry et al., 2017). Each transcript was read and reread individually in order to extract, organize, and assign open codes to segments of the data relevant to the research questions. We compared and discussed assigned codes that seemed to be relevant to answer the research questions. As an interpretive progressive process of axial coding, we continued to compare codes, generated new codes, and made modifications to existing codes. Codes were categorized and examined to reveal descriptive regularities and patterns of significance to identify themes and to answer the research questions. We compared and discussed each theme to confirm that they did support the research questions.

Results
The purpose of this study was to explore what strategies are used to integrate children's developmental needs, interests, and capabilities into classroom practices as part of child-centered pedagogy. Results provided insight into (a) classroom practices of toddler and preschool teachers and (2) toddler teachers, preschool teachers, and directors' perceptions about quality early care and learning from the framework of a quality rated ECE program. Teachers and directors discussed how the program's curriculum and school district expectations guided classroom practices. Data analysis led to three themes: teacher-content with a focus on subject matter content and assessment of knowledge, childcare as a mini elementary school, and young children as passive recipients of information rather than actively constructing and taking ownership of their discoveries.

Theme 1: Teacher-centered with a focus on subject-matter content and assessment of knowledge
The intent of Research Question 1 was to obtain an in-depth understanding of how toddler and preschool teachers and directors perceive their roles within a quality rated public or private childcare center. Overall, participants in the study explained that the teacher's role is based on teacherinstruction and kindergarten preparedness. Teachers explained that they create and align lesson plans based on the state standards and the program's curriculum and assessment tools. All participants also explained that the teachers' role is to assess children to determine mastery of knowledge and skills. Angela, a preschool teacher of 4-year olds within a private childcare center, illustrated this view stating: So when I'm doing my lesson plan, the way our school has mandated that the teachers do this is, when we're submitting our lesson plans, we have to let them know which objectives we are covering for that week, how it ties into the overall school theme.
Beth a preschool teacher of 4-year olds within a private childcare center also illustrated this view by stating: I am to do lesson planning. I do small group. I do any of like the holiday parties to plan that stuff, and I have to do assessments on the children. We have two forms so I have a Brigance assessment and a Gold assessment.
All participants acknowledged the program's curriculum and assessment as pivotal to their roles in the classroom. Much of the focus was on subject-matter rather than the acquisition of skills from the foundation of whole child development as mentioned by the participants. Reita, a preschool teacher of 4-year olds, illustrated her schedule for teaching subject-matter as part of her lesson planning by stating: So when I'm doing my lesson plan what I may do is say, okay Mondays and Fridays we're working on literacy, Tuesdays and Thursdays we're going to do a math activity, and then maybe on Wednesdays we do science. And so that's what I would plan, okay this is what I need to look at.
Lisa, a childcare program director, explained that the focus is on the curriculum and the 36 objectives of Teaching Strategies Gold. Lisa stated: So we're looking at these objectives of development and learning which is something like there's math, science, language, and literacy and things like that. And we're preparing the lessons based on where the child's skill levels are based on alignment of those objectives.

Theme 2: Childcare as a mini elementary school
Research Question 2 focused on how curriculum is chosen in a quality-rated childcare center. All three childcare directors explained that the center's curriculum was chosen based on the curriculum used by their local school district. These three childcare directors also explained that as part of the QRIS their programs' curriculum must align to state standards. Controlled by the current accountability structure, Linda, a childcare director of a publicly funded program, explained: Well, we're a special case because we contact with the board of education. So as a New Jersey preschool program, we have to follow whatever our school district says our curriculum is going to be. We use the High Scope curriculum.
Linda continued to comment on the differences between a private and a publicly-funded childcare program. Linda stated: Running preschool in public schools is very different than a private provider, private preschool school. So, there are limitations there because the public school has one way of thinking about things, which is not always our way of thinking about things, because they just come from a completely different ideology with completely different perspectives. They're very academic focused.
While Linda described an accountability viewpoint that entails adherence to the local school district, Lisa, a childcare director of a private childcare program, explained that curricular requirements were based on adherence to state standards alignment. Lisa explained: As part of the QRIS, we are required to choose one of three state-approved and aligned curriculums. We chose Creative Curriculum and I chose that curriculum because it was, for lack of better terms, a scripted program and what that means is that there's really a nice guideline for the teachers to be able to follow.
Lisa also commented on the differences between a private and publicly funded childcare program. Lisa stated: Unfortunately, in private early childhood, not school related, the requirements for employment and for a teacher's employment are different than they would be in a public school. Some of the staff may not have been in a classroom setting, may not be familiar with doing lesson plans and things like that. The level of education required for early childhood in the private sector of childcare, they don't have to have degrees so they may not necessarily have that experience. So having a scripted curriculum where the lesson plans are spelled out day by day gives them something to follow.
While Mary, a childcare director of a private childcare program, also explained that curricular requirements were based on adherence to state standards alignment, Mary also aligned her curriculum choice to the local school district. Mary explained: We chose Creative Curriculum because that's what our main school districts use and that's the reason why we picked it. Because we feed, our children go directly to those schools. I don't have other towns that come to me. So, we just follow them. We wouldn't reconsider it unless the schools reconsidered it. So as long as they use Creative, we'll continue to use Creative.
Given that curricular choice was grounded in accountability measures, all classroom teachers described the need to meet curricular demands based on the standard-based movement and accountability. Rebecca, an infant and toddler teacher of 6-18 month old toddlers within a private childcare center, illustrated her view of meeting curricular demands by stating: Looking at the intentional teaching cards and looking at the children in the room with me, in all honesty it felt like a waste of time using these cards because there was like one in particular is a ramp experiment where you have to get an inclined ramp, get some objects around the room, and have the children roll these objects down the ramp and figure out what can roll and what can't, and I have a classroom full of 6-week olds to 3-month olds. There's no way you can implement something like that with them when they can't even grab anything yet. They don't hold their heads up yet.
Many of the preschool teachers expressed the importance of teacher-centered instruction that is influenced by higher scores on quality assessment instruments. Reita, a preschool teacher of 4-year olds within a private childcare center, illustrated these views by stating: On the board, usually on the white board, is a web of investigation and so what we do is, we put, and that's required by Creative Curriculum, to be out and to be displayed. So, if you, I shouldn't say required, what I should say is they like to see that and you would get some extra bonus points if they see it.
Reita continued to explain: I teach my kids to read. If they know their alphabets and we do phonetic awareness and we do all those things together. I had one who left me. He was at a second grade reading level when he left and went to kindergarten. I had a little girl that was with me because she missed the cut off time so she ended up doing pre-K again with me. She learned everything that we taught her. So this year I was teaching her to read. She already knew how to write her first and last name. She already knows her alphabet. She already knows how to count, so I'm teaching her sight words.
Sonia, an educational supervisor at a publicly funded childcare center, illustrated her views of meeting curricular demands based on the standard-based movement and accountability measures by stating: So as a challenge for dealing with our district, I feel like in our center, our philosophy, our mission, and our focus is on the well-being of the whole child. And sometimes it does clash a little bit with the board of ed. where they're expecting certain assessment numbers to be added at a certain level by a certain time of the year. And the kind of community we're working with sometimes is not there yet because we need to build on that other part first. And it's not a huge deal. I believe because at the end the numbers are great. And to me, that's what matters. So people at top are asking for numbers. And we're here dealing with small children's lives.

Sonia continued to state:
And by the way, it's not High Scope that requires the children to go up on levels at a certain time. Actually, High Scope doesn't recommend that at all. That's just our district because they have to show numbers somehow growth and improvement.
Linda confirmed Sonia's views on accountability and stressed how meeting higher ECERS scores impacts nap time, but endorses adherence to a public school structure. Linda stated: It's a little bit of the public school like having to really adhere to that count. Like the day, the six and a half hour day. And then the six and a half hour day with the ECERS. Right. I think that's the conflict. For higher ECERS scores, you need like a really specific amount of time in work time, in outdoor play, you know, in all of the different components. And so that squeezes the nap time a lot. They're still children. Right. So you can't expect like military precision in their movement.
Linda continued to state: I'm having mixed feelings about the school district. Unless the school district themselves as a whole understand early childhood, they're going to continue to try to push it to be like a mini elementary school. The Superintendent and the higher ups within a public school system, they have no concept of what early childhood education is. They just see it as like the step before kindergarten. They're like, why can't we do a kindergarten schedule? They have no concept of what it really is. And so that's the hard part.
The worksheets shown in Figure 1 are examples of classroom activities based on the program's curriculum. These worksheets suggest a letter of the week focus for 9-and 14-month-old children. The candy corn worksheet is a marker activity, which suggests that the 9-month-old is expected to use a marker to color the candy corn. The apple worksheet is a finger paint activity, which also suggests that the 14-month-old child is expected to finger paint the apple. Figure 2 shows a sight word activity for 3-4 year old children that is another example of a classroom activity that is based on the program's curriculum. In this activity the child wrote sight words from picture cards on the chalkboard. The teacher explained that when she asked the child what he wrote, he was expected to say what he wrote.

Theme 3: Young children as passive recipients of information rather than actively constructing and taking ownership of their discoveries
The intent of Research Question 3 was to determine what strategies toddlers and preschool teachers use to include responsiveness to children's developmental needs, interests, and capabilities into classroom practices as part of the child-centered pedagogy. Teachers explained that small group time is used to determine children's developmental level. Isabel, a preschool teacher of 4-year olds within a public childcare center, illustrated this view by stating: Small group time is where we set up the activities. It is where we see where the children are, where we see what their developmental levels are, and then from there we try to also challenge them, and encourage them, and try to move them to the next level. Because there's two groups, I stay with a group of five and my assistant stays with a group of five too. And then we try to go around to every child.
The lesson plan in Figure 3 shows a teacher-directed scripted curriculum in that it states, "begin by saying" and "provide five minute warnings." This lesson plan also shows what teachers and students are expected to do in that, it also states, "I will remind students" and "Students will be able to." The objective for the lesson is for students to identify letters of the alphabet and to name objects that begin with each letter of the alphabet. The lesson plan shows that the lead teacher and assistant SMALL GROUP TIME Class is divided into two groups that are taught the lesson by either the teacher or the teacher assistant.

Teacher Group and Teacher Assistant Group
Objective: Students will be able to identify at least one or more letters of the alphabet. Students will be able to name at least 1 or 2 objects that begin with each letter of the alphabet. Preschool Teaching and Learning Standards and COR: RF.PK.1, d) Recognize and name many upper and lower case letters of the alphabet. L.PK.6) Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, activities and read alouds. RF.PK.2, c) Identify many initial sounds of familiar words. COR: N, O ABC Bingo Materials: ABC Bingo cards, red coins, alphabet flashcards and "Apples and Pumpkins'" flashcards Procedure Beginning: Begin by singing "It's time for small group time, it's time for small group time, hi-ho the Derry-o, it's time for small group time." (Tune to "The Farmer in the Dell). Middle: I will remind students that yesterday we read the story "Apples and Pumpkins" by Ann Rockwell so for today's small group activity we will play a game called ABC bingo using pictures from the story. T will explain the activity step by step by showing them how to play. I will take a picture and ask, "What is this?" (E.g. Apple) Then ask: "What letter does it begin with?" (E.g. A) "What sound does letter A make?" "Do you see that letter on my card?" Allow them to point to the letter on the bingo card. After students have identified the letter on the card, place the red coin on the picture of the letter. Pass the bingo cards, have students choose which bingo card they would like to use, and tell them: "Now it is your turn; I will show you the picture and you will tell me what it is, the letter it begins with, and then you will look on your bingo card. If you have that letter on your card, you will place a red coin on that letter." Encourage students to place the red coin on the picture of the letter if they have the letter that is being called on their bingo card and then name one or two objects that begin with that letter. End: Provide five-minutes warnings. After students have filled all the boxes on the board, call out a letter (e.g., P while making its sound), then ask students to look at their board and if they have it, remove the red coin and place it inside the bag. Continue calling the letters while encouraging children to place the red coins inside the bag as they remove them from their board. (Take notes as students identify and/or name letters and objects). After everyone has put away their coins, sing the ABC song.

SMALL GROUP LITERACY TIME
Class is divided into two groups that are taught the lesson by either the teacher or the teacher assistant.

Teacher Group and Teacher Assistant Group
Objective: Actively participate in read aloud experiences using age appropriate literature in individual, small and large groups. Preschool Teaching and Learning Standards and COR: PT&LS: English Language Arts RL.PK.10 COR: Q Book: La Cosecha de Calabazas/Pumpkin Harvest by Calvin Harris (The story will be read to the whole group) Procedure Beginning: T will start by singing our "story time" song then T will say the parts of the book. As children show the front cover of the book, T will ask, "What do you see on the front cover of the book?" "What do you think the story is about?" Provide enough time for children to answer. Then say, "Let's find out." Middle: T will begin reading and as she reads, she will ask questions related to the story such as "Where do pumpkins grow?" "Have you seen a real pumpkin? Where? T will point to print as she reads as well as to pictures. End: T and students will summarize the story together as students recall part of the story while sharing their favorite part of the story. teacher will have a group of children who will participate in the same activities at the same time. Academic activities are embedded with the State of New Jersey preschool Teaching and Learning Standards and High Scope COR Advantage standards. This standards-based approach is used to assess children to determine mastery of academic knowledge (Goldstein, 2008).
Teachers also explained that assessment tools such as the COR Advantage and the Creative Curriculum Gold are deciding factors in determining children's developmental levels and teacher instruction. Reita stated: And so, I have to first see what it is I'm supposed to be teaching them. And so that Gold book tells me what I should be looking at, and let's say child "A" should be in this color coded bracket, and so I need to look and they need to be assessed on this learning activity, and most of my children need that learning activity and that's how I based what I need to be teaching them.
However, not all the learning was teacher-centered. Teachers integrated free play where children chose what centers they wanted to play in. Despite the integration of center-based free play, teachers explained that the context of play was an opportunity for observations and academic skills in order to support targeted assessment objects and academic learning. Marcela, a preschool teacher of 4-year olds within a publicly funded childcare center, explained: They choose the area. They take the letter of their name and put on the planning board. On the planning board we have all the pictures of the different areas. Then, they go to that area that they choose. They work for 60 minutes and maybe they can be in for their work time playing in the same area, or maybe they choose another area.
Marcela continued to explain the purpose of center time and the alignment to the program's assessment tool. Marcela stated that: COR Advantage is with High Scope High Scope curriculum, and in COR we take anecdotes. We take notes of the children. We observe the children while they are playing, where they are working the different areas. So as teachers, we are going around and we sit. We sit next to the children. We take notes. We listen carefully to what they say, how their playing time is.
Angela shared the connection between center time play and the accountability measures of the standard-based curriculum. She stated, "Center time is free choice. That is the time where I actually get to sit down and see where everyone is." In acknowledging the current accountability and standards-based structure of the QRIS, all participants perceived quality early care and learning from the platform of having qualified teachers with a bachelor's or master's degree, following the program's curriculum, meeting objectives of the program's assessment tool, and assessing children to determine mastery of knowledge and skills, all of which are central to higher scores.

Discussion
These in-depth discussions provided valuable insight into exploring toddler and preschool teachers' and directors' perceptions about quality early care and learning and to determine strategies used to integrate children's developmental needs, interests, and capabilities into classroom practices as part of child-centered pedagogy. Results suggested that teachers perceive their roles from the proposition of a teacher-centered instructional approach of aligning the program's curriculum and assessment tools to teach mastery of academic knowledge. This finding eliminates the need to address the classroom conflict between DAP and NCLB in favor of an approach that implements a standards-based curriculum, classroom instruction, and accountability (Goldstein, 2008).
Results also suggest that teachers attempt use center time where children can engage in free play with the child-centered approach to learning. Teachers saw center time as an opportunity for observations of assessment to determine mastery of academic learning. Small group time was associated with teacher-centered instructional time. Weisberg et al. (2013) place the childcentered approach to learning in the context of guided play where children actively engage in exploration, investigation, and discovery. The teacher's role within this active child-centered paradigm is to function as a facilitator, scaffolding learning rather than functioning in a teachercentered role (Berk & Winsler, 1995;Bodrova & Leong, 2007;Dewey, 1944;Tandon, 2017;Weisberg et al., 2013). Research findings also suggest that children are passive recipients of information.
Although Goldstein (2008) argued that a standards-based curriculum is DAP, study participants described the challenges that they were experiencing with having to adhere to a standards-based curriculum. Linda and Sonia noted this challenge when they described the push to show academic results and to make childcare programs more like a mini elementary school. Sonia and Linda's explanations draw attention to Wardle (2018) who emphasized the need to separate public elementary schools from early childhood programs. Results suggest that adherence to a standards-based curriculum with a teacher-centered approach conflicts with the constructivist approach to learning. In this approach, each child and their unique experiences are not the center of attention, but the curriculum and the teachers are (Bodner, 1986;Tandon, 2017).

Conclusion
In conclusion, the findings of this study can have important implications for classroom practices where early childhood educators take into consideration typically developing young children, children with special needs, and gifted and talented children. Findings of the study also suggest that a teacher-centered approach to instructions with a focus on assessing mastery of academic knowledge conflicts with constructivism. While teachers reported that children's interests were incorporated into center time, and assessments were used to integrate children's developmental needs and capabilities into classroom practices, teachers did not fully explain how their classroom practices address cultural diversity and met the developmental needs of children with unique developmental special needs as part of a QRIS program.

Limitations and further research
Although contributions of this multi-case study are limited by the small sample size of private and public childcare centers in the state of New Jersey, transferability highlights to what degree findings from these three childcare centers regarding quality early care and learning applies to other childcare centers. The location of the study can be another potential limitation in that classroom practices pertaining to QRIS in New Jersey may vary in other states. Teachers and childcare directors did not fully explain how they meet the needs of children with unique developmental special needs as part of a QRIS program. This is a potential area for future research.

Ethics approval and consent to participate
We confirm that the work covered in this manuscript that involved human participants has been conducted with IRB approval from the University of Phoenix. Written consent was also obtain from participants to publish potentially identifying information such as detailed comments from interviews, photographs, participants qualifications.

Availability of data and material
We wish that all datasets on which the conclusions of the manuscript rely be presented in the main research study. Presentation of the data in the manuscript may be made freely available to any researchers who wish to use them for non-commercial purposes.

Authors' contributions
We wish to acknowledge the contributions of Dr. Johnston who was a major contributor for critically for reviewed the manuscript and provided final approval for publication.

Citation information
Cite this article as: Quality early care and learning: Exploring child-centered pedagogy a qualitative multi-case study, June Cade, Francis Wardle & Jan Otter, Cogent Education (2022), 9: 2144589.