Enhancing Early Care and Education Through Reflective Supervision

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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The goal of this clinical trial is to test an enhancement to early care and education, which is a professional development series that includes a foundational training and skill development workshops focused on training and supporting early learning supervisors in Reflective Practice and Supervision. Directors and education coordinators within state pre-kindergarten programs, and the teachers they supervise, will be the focus of this research. Hypothesized outcomes include promotion of reflective capacity and supervisory skill in supervisors, more effective supervisor-supervisee interactions, increases in reflective functioning and well-being in supervisees, increases in positive teaching practices and observed classroom quality, and increases in adaptive social-emotional development among children alongside prevention of emotion regulation difficulties. Researchers will compare whether these outcomes differ between participants who are currently receiving the Reflective Supervision enhancement and participants who are in the waitlist control condition.

Official Title
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Enhancing Early Care and Education Through Reflective Supervision to Promote Adaptive Emotion Regulation in Young Children

Conditions
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Emotion Regulation

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Reflective Supervision Enhancement


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Supervisor in Rhode Island state pre-kindergarten program Exclusion Criteria: Does not meet inclusion criteria above

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Prevention
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Interventional Model Description: Participants (i.e., early learning supervisors) will be randomized to the experimental condition (i.e., the Reflective Supervision enhancement) or the waitlist control condition (i.e., business-as-usual).
Masking: Single


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Reflective Supervision Enhancement<br>The Reflective Supervision enhancement is a professional development series for supervisors of state pre-kindergarten programs that is designed to build skills in using Reflective Supervision with teachers. The goal of the Reflective Supervision enhancement is to provide supervisors with foundational knowledge in Reflective Practice and Supervision and increase their use of Reflective Supervision principles and practices within their work. The series consists of a day-long foundational training and nine skills-focused workshops. Supervisors are expected to receive 8 hours of foundational training prior to the start of the academic year, and nine 2-hour monthly small groups over the course of the academic year. | Behavioral: Reflective Supervision Enhancement<br>* The Reflective Supervision enhancement is a professional development series designed to train and support directors and education coordinators supervising state pre-kindergarten classrooms in using a reflective supervision approach with their staff.<br>|
| No Intervention: Business-As-Usual Waitlist Control<br>Supervisors in the business-as-usual waitlist control condition will supervise teachers as-per-usual (i.e., using standard administrative supervision), and will be eligible for the typical array of professional development opportunities that may be offered to them. These supervisors will receive the Reflective Supervision enhancement the following academic year. | |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Change from Baseline Teaching Progress Assessment at 9 months | Rhode Island Department of Education record review | At baseline (beginning of academic year), and in 9 months | 
| Change from Baseline Teaching Progress Assessment at 12 months | Rhode Island Department of Education record review | At baseline (beginning of academic year), and in 12 months | 
| Change from 9-month Teaching Progress Assessment at 12 months | Rhode Island Department of Education record review | At 9 months (end of academic year), and in 12 months (beginning of next academic year) | 
| Change from Baseline Observed Classroom Quality at 9 months | Pre-K Classroom Assessment Scoring System, scores range from 1 (minimally characteristic) to 7 (highly characteristic), with higher scores indicating higher classroom quality | At baseline (beginning of academic year), and in 9 months | 
| Change from Baseline Observed Classroom Quality at 12 months | Pre-K Classroom Assessment Scoring System, scores range from 1 (minimally characteristic) to 7 (highly characteristic), with higher scores indicating higher classroom quality | At baseline (beginning of academic year), and in 12 months | 
| Change from 9-month Observed Classroom Quality at 12 months | Pre-K Classroom Assessment Scoring System, scores range from 1 (minimally characteristic) to 7 (highly characteristic), with higher scores indicating higher classroom quality | At 9 months (end of academic year), and in 12 months (beginning of next academic year) | 
| Change from Baseline Child Social-Emotional Functioning as assessed by Cognitive Toybox at 9 months | Rhode Island Department of Education record review | At baseline (beginning of academic year), and in 9 months | 
| Change from Baseline Child Emotion Regulation at 9 months | Social Competence Scale - Teacher Version, Emotion Regulation subscale, scores range from 0 to 4 with higher scores indicating greater emotion regulation | At baseline (beginning of academic year), and in 9 months | 
| Change from Baseline Child Prosocial/Communication Skills at 9 months | Social Competence Scale - Teacher Version, Prosocial/Communication subscale, scores range from 0 to 4 with higher scores indicating greater prosocial/communication skills | At baseline (beginning of academic year), and in 9 months | 
| Change from Baseline Child Social Competence at 9 months | Social Competence Scale - Teacher Version, Total Social Competence Score, scores range from 0 to 4 with higher scores indicating greater social competence | At baseline (beginning of academic year), and in 9 months | 
| Change from Baseline Child-Teacher Relationship Quality at 9 months | Student-Teacher Relationship Scale - Short Form, scores range from 1 to 5 with higher scores indicating a more positive relationship | At baseline (beginning of academic year) and in 9 months | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Change from Baseline Supervisor Reflective Capacity at 9 months | Reflective Supervision Rating Scale, Adapted Version, scores range from 1 to 4 with higher scores indicating greater reflective capacity | At baseline (beginning of academic year) and in 9 months | 
| Change from Baseline Supervisory Competence at 9 months | Supervisor Self-Assessment, scores range from 1 to 5 with higher scores indicating greater supervisory competence | At baseline (beginning of academic year) and in 9 months | 
| Change from Baseline Supervisor Reflective Functioning at 9 months | Reflective Functioning Questionnaire, scores range from 1 to 7 with higher scores indicating greater reflective functioning | At baseline (beginning of academic year) and in 9 months | 
| Change from Baseline Supervisor Well-Being at 9 months | Professional Quality of Life Scale, scores range from 1 to 5 with higher scores indicating greater well-being | At baseline (beginning of academic year) and in 9 months | 
| Change from Baseline Quality of Reflective Supervision Relationship at 9 months | Reflective Interaction Observation Scale, scores range from 1 to 5 with higher scores indicating a higher quality relationship | At baseline (beginning of academic year) and in 9 months | 
| Program Climate assessed by Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised | Rhode Island Department of Education record review | At 9 months (end of academic year) | 
| Change from Baseline Supervisor Reflective Capacity at 9 months assessed by teacher-report | Reflective Supervision Rating Scale, scores range from 1 to 4 with higher scores indicating greater reflective capacity | At baseline (beginning of academic year) and in 9 months | 
| Change from Baseline Teacher Reflective Functioning at 9 months | Reflective Functioning Questionnaire, scores range from 1 to 7 with higher scores indicating greater reflective functioning | At baseline (beginning of academic year) and in 9 months | 
| Change from Baseline Teacher Well-Being at 9 months | Professional Quality of Life Scale, scores range from 1 to 5 with higher scores indicating greater well-being | At baseline (beginning of academic year) and in 9 months | 
| Change from Baseline Child Academic Functioning as assessed by Cognitive Toybox at 9 months | Rhode Island Department of Education record review | At baseline (beginning of academic year) and in 9 months | 
| Change from Baseline Child Academic Skills at 9 months | Social Competence Scale - Teacher Version, Academic Skills subscale, scores range from 0 to 4 with higher scores indicating greater academic skills | At baseline (beginning of academic year) and in 9 months | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Reflective Supervision, Reflective Capacity, Early Care and Education, Social-Emotional Development