Efficacy Study of a Professional Development Intervention to Strengthen Organizational Conditions and Effective Teaching in Early Education Settings
Author: Pacchiano, Debra M.
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Program Effectiveness,Faculty Development,Intervention,Early Childhood Education,Teacher Effectiveness,Capacity Building,Instructional Design,Educational Practices,Urban Schools,Administrators,Preschool Teachers,Low Income Students,Minority Group Students,Program Implementation,Fidelity,Educational Indicators,Data Collection,Child Development,Comparative Analysis,Educational Strategies,Feasibility Studies,Instructional Leadership,Organizational Development,Hierarchical Linear Modeling

Decades of evidence demonstrates that high-quality, well-implemented early education can positively impact the learning trajectories of vulnerable, high-needs young children. Yet, the majority of publicly-funded programs nationwide struggle to implement to quality standards with fidelity and fail to significantly advance children's early achievement. In Fall 2011 the first author was awarded a three-year Investing in Innovation (i3) development grant from the US Department of Education to implement and evaluate a Professional Development Intervention (PDI) for community-based early childhood teachers and administrators based on the five essentials supports framework. The PDI aimed to build: (1) teachers' capacities with ambitious instruction; that is, intentionally designing standards-aligned, data driven instruction, and deliberately implementing evidence-based &quot;general&quot; pedagogical practices such as those measured by the Classroom Assessment Scoring System; and (2) administrators' systemic supports for teachers' effectiveness by strengthening the frequency and coherency of the instructional guidance and professional learning supports they provide teachers. Implementation occurred from January 2012 to November 2014 in five publicly-funded, community-based, birth to five early learning programs in a large, urban, city in the Midwest. Participants included 15 predominantly female administrators of color (i.e. center owners, directors, and direct supervisors); and 60 predominantly Black and Latino infant, toddler, and preschool teachers in the above five programs serving approximately 600 low-income children of color. The implementation study was to document the fidelity of implementation of the PDI at coach, teacher, supervisor, leader, center, and PDI program levels, and explore fidelity issues. Six key components were measured for fidelity of implementation, with each key component comprised of indicators specifying what is observable and able to be measured as &quot;implemented as planned.&quot; Teacher ratings of children's development and learning were collected quarterly (Spring 2012 through Fall 2014) in treatment and comparison programs using Teaching Strategies GOLD (GOLD). The research suggests that the PDI is feasible in community-based settings, and that administrators are able to learn and cultivate specialized skills of instructional leadership and be willing to overcome related challenges of organizational development. Figures and tables are appended.