ERF Impacts on Teachers and Classroom Practices

In assessing the impact of ERF on teachers and classroom practices, we examined the following outcomes:

• teacher knowledge and skills
• the general quality of the preschool environment
• the quality of language, early literacy, and child-assessment practices and environments

Within each of these outcome areas, we examined measures for several domains. We also examined impacts on selected subgroups of teachers and classrooms.

Teacher knowledge and skills. We expected that ERF preschools would enhance teachers' knowledge and skills through professional development. Overall, we find that ERF had positive impacts on the hours of teachers' professional development during the 12 months preceding the spring 2005 survey and that it increased the proportion of teachers receiving professional development through mentoring.

• ERF increased the number of hours of professional development that focused on language and early literacy topics by 48 hours (6 days) over the 12 months preceding the survey.

• A higher proportion of ERF teachers than teachers in unfunded programs reported receiving professional development on language or literacy topics and on curriculum topics through mentoring or tutoring. The program's impact on the proportion of teachers receiving mentoring or tutoring on language and literacy topics was 41 percentage points.

• A larger proportion of ERF teachers than teachers in unfunded programs reported receiving workshop training on language and literacy topics. The program's impact on the proportion of teachers receiving workshop training on language and literacy topics was 41 percentage points.

ERF did not induce centers to raise the wages of their teachers who had received additional professional development through the program.

General quality of the preschool environment. This study examines teacher behaviors and environmental factors that relate to the general quality of the preschool classroom environment. We selected general quality measures, including teacher behaviors and classroom environment, that previous research has found to be positively correlated with young children's cognitive skills and emotional development (Vandell and Wolfe 2000; NICHD Early Childhood Research Network 2002, 2003, and 2006). However, given its correlational nature, this research is not conclusive. Further, the study examines the measures of teacher instructional practices and classroom environment that are closely related to ERF's emphasis on language and emerging literacy skills.

In the spring, ERF had pervasive impacts on the general quality of the preschool classroom—the classroom language environment, materials, and teaching practices that support early literacy, and child-assessment practices. In particular, ERF

• Increased the lead teachers' sensitivity and the quality of interactions toward children by approximately one standard deviation relative to what we would have expected in the absence of the program.

• Improved the quality of the assistant teachers' interactions with children by 0.79 standard deviations.

• Had positive impacts on measures of the organization of the classroom environment; effect sizes exceed one standard deviation.

• Significantly improved lesson planning.

• Increased the overall quality of the classroom-learning environment, measured by the total TBRS score (the average across subscales measuring general classroom quality and the language and early literacy environment).

• Increased the general quality of teacher-child interactions as measured by the ECERS-R teaching and learning subscale.

Quality of language, early literacy, and child-assessment practices and environments. In the spring, ERF had impacts on all domains of classroom language, early literacy, and assessment practices. Specifically

• Oral language use by both the lead and assistant teachers

• Book-reading practices that include introducing new vocabulary, using expressive voice, and asking open-ended questions during the book-reading session

• Phonological awareness activities that promote knowledge of letter and word sounds

• Print and letter knowledge materials and activities to promote letter recognition and the association between sounds and letters

• Written expression and early writing activities

• Child screening and progress assessments on a regular basis to plan instruction

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