Susan H. Landry

Examining the Cost-effectiveness of Continuous Improvement Models for Preschool Teachers: Balancing PD Structures to Match Teacher Need

Many states estimate that half of their students arrive at kindergarten already far behind where they need to be in order to succeed. There is growing consensus that high quality preschool experiences can lay a strong foundation for school readiness even among economically disadvantaged children. However, there is a mismatch between the preparation of most early childhood educators and the preparation needed to optimize classroom practices. Support from parents in the home environment can al...

The purpose of this project is to compare the efficacy of two distinct approaches for providing professional development support to child care teachers: remote, video-based coaching and in-classroom coaching. Both approaches seek to increase the quality of child care teachers’ language and literacy instruction and positive responsiveness to children in order to improve children’s school readiness skills. While support has been found for both coaching approaches, each method has i...

The purpose of this study is to determine if the combination of two proven interventions-one delivered in the classroom (The Early Education Model-TEEM) and one delivered in the home (Play & Learning Strategies-PALS)-results in a synergistic versus additive effect on children's school readiness skills (i.e., social, language, early literacy) and early kindergarten reading and social competence. This study bridges the gap between the school and home environments for pre-kindergarten children...

The number of English language learners (ELL) has grown considerably in recent years, and the number of children classified as limited English proficient rose 76 percent in a 10-year span. The ELL population is also impoverished: over three-quarters of Spanish-speaking ELL children in the United States come from low-income families. Many of these children are at risk for developing disabilities and special education referrals. Yet there is a lack of empirically validated instructional approa...

This project will evaluate the effectiveness of the two language/literacy curricula for pre-kindergarten children in Head Start and public school pre-K programs. Complementary research will investigate the conditions under which each curriculum achieves the greatest impact on children's developmental outcomes.