DOI: 10.3886/icpsr38290.v1
title: Study of Coaching Practices in Early Care and Education Settings (SCOPE), United States, 2019
title: Version 1

description: The Study of Coaching Practices in Early Care and Education Settings (SCOPE), funded by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), aimed to examine the range of coaching options utilized in the early care and education (ECE) field. SCOPE examined how the prevalence, implementation, combination, and tailoring of coaching features vary across center-based classrooms and family child care (FCC) homes serving preschool-age children. In addition, the study explored programmatic and systems-level factors related to the implementation of coaching. The SCOPE project was a mixed-methods study conducted in seven states and focused on centers and FCCs that serve preschool-age children from families with low incomes. It primarily examined coaching in programs funded through a Head Start grant or serving children receiving Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) subsidies, and used a purposive sampling approach. From February through July 2019, the research team implemented web-based surveys with center directors, center teachers, FCC providers, and coaches.
description: The Study of Coaching Practices in Early Care and Education Settings (SCOPE) surveys were guided by the research question: How do the prevalence, implementation, combining, and tailoring of coaching features vary across early care and education (ECE) classrooms and family child care (FCC) homes? To answer this question, the surveys had two primary goals: (1) to identify and define core features of coaching to support instructional practice, and (2) to document how coaching features are implemented in center-based and FCC settings serving preschool-age children from families with low incomes.
description: <strong>Survey development.</strong> The research team developed web-based surveys (with paper and phone options) for coaches, teachers and family child care (FCC) providers, and center directors. The center director and coach surveys were each designed to take respondents 30 minutes to complete. The teacher and FCC provider survey was designed to take 35 minutes. The Study of Coaching Practices in Early Care and Education Settings (SCOPE) surveys asked about coach training and supervision; background characteristics of coaches and teachers or providers; structural (caseload, dosage, and communication) and process (goal setting, coaching strategies, coaching activities) features of coaching; center director involvement and supports; center context; challenges to coaching; and perceptions of coaching usefulness and coaching relationships. <strong>Survey data collection.</strong> Surveys were conducted from February to July 2019. Center directors, center teachers, FCC providers, and coaches received an email welcoming them to the study and with a personalized link to an online version of the SCOPE survey. They were offered the option of completing the survey on paper or over the phone, but only one respondent (a center teacher) selected a paper option. Teachers and FCC providers could complete the survey in English or Spanish (the center director and coach were offered surveys only in English). Three FCC providers and five center teachers responded to the survey in Spanish. All participants were given an honorarium as a thank you for participating in the study ($20 to center directors, center teachers, and coaches, and $40 to FCC providers). Connected respondents were recruited, where possible. Many coaches' caseloads included both centers and FCCs, but for the questions in the SCOPE survey that were focused on coaching activities, they were asked to report about their work in the type of setting they were connected to for the study sample. In other words, coaches who worked with a center teacher in the SCOPE sample were asked to think about their coaching work with center teachers when responding to their survey. Coaches who worked with an FCC provider in the SCOPE sample were asked to think about their coaching work with FCC providers when responding to their survey. Directors, teachers, and FCC providers were asked to report about the coaching they received from the coach they were paired with in the SCOPE sample.
description: Response Rates: For early care and education (ECE) centers, 77 surveys were released to center directors and 66 were completed (86 percent response rate). For ECE center teachers, 167 surveys were released and 130 were completed (78 percent response rate). For coaches working with a center, 74 surveys were released and 70 were completed (95 percent response rate). For family child care (FCC) providers, 46 surveys were released to FCC providers and 38 were completed (83 percent response rate). For coaches working with an FCC, 36 surveys were released and 30 were completed (83 percent response rate).
description: Presence of Common Scales: The Study of Coaching Practices in Early Care and Education Settings (SCOPE) used the short version of the Early Childhood Work Environment Survey (ECWES). Several Likert-type scales were also used. The study drew on items used in prior studies of coaching and, when needed, adapted the items for use in SCOPE. Prior studies included First 5 LA's Los Angeles Early Educators Advance study (LA Advance); the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation's Early Learning Mentor Coach study, the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey 2014, the National Survey of Early Care and Education, and Head Start Classroom-based Approaches and Resources for Emotion and Social Skills Promotion; and the Texas School Ready End-of-Year Survey.
description: The Study of Coaching Practices in Early Care and Education Settings (SCOPE) used a purposive sample. First, the study selected states known to have coaching focused on instructional practice in a range of early care and education (ECE) settings. The study then selected centers and family child care (FCC) providers within states that served preschool-age children from families with a low income (with a primary target of settings that received funding from a Head Start grant or served children through Child Care and Development Fund subsidies) and that engaged in coaching to improve instructional practice in the classroom or FCC home. Within states, the research team identified settings through administrative data and by seeking nominations from entities knowledgeable about or engaged in coaching. At the respondent level, the study aimed to recruit participants from each center and FCC who were connected: For each center, the center director, a coach, and one to four teachers in the center who worked with the coach were recruited. For each FCC, the FCC provider and a coach were recruited; it was expected that some of the FCC providers in the sample would be working with the same coach (that is, some coaches in the sample were connected to two FCC providers in the sample, and one coach was connected to three FCC providers). This was allowed in order to achieve the expected sample of FCC providers. The study required that each FCC provider or teacher had been working with their coach for at least four months or four visits.
description: Datasets: DS0: Study-Level Files DS1: SCOPE Coach Survey DS2: SCOPE Teacher and Family Child Care Provider Survey DS3: SCOPE Center Director Survey
description: Early care and education center directors, teachers, family child care (FCC) providers, and coaches associated with centers and FCC homes that serve preschool-age children from families with a low income, and that engage in coaching aimed to improve instructional practice in the classroom or FCC home.
description: web-based surveyFor additional information on the Study of Coaching Practices in Early Care and Education Settings (SCOPE), please visit the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) website.