Project Activities
Key project activities include the development of an online course and coaching sessions, field tests to examine feasibility and usability of the intervention, and a pilot study to evaluate the promise of the intervention to improve teacher practices and children's literacy skills.
Structured Abstract
Setting
The study will take place in Head Start programs in urban areas in Georgia and Michigan.
Sample
Study participants will include Head Start teachers and a diverse group of children and families. Head Start teachers will participate in the initial field tests (N = 16, 8 from each site, Years 1-2) and the pilot study (N = 48, 12 intervention, 12 control from each site, Year 3). A sample of 480 children will participate in the pilot study.
Intervention
The fully developed intervention will include a series of online learning modules and monthly coaching sessions. The online modules will contain informational text, video exemplars, practice-based learning experiences, and progress monitoring tools. Teachers will be expected to complete one learning module each month. Teachers will receive two online, individualized coaching sessions each month. Coaches will assess teacher practices, provide feedback, and engage teachers in self-reflection about their teaching and ways to make improvements.
Research design and methods
The research team will develop, refine, implement, and evaluate the promise of the intervention over a four-year period. In Years 1 and 2, they will develop the online learning modules, obtain feedback from expert reviewers, and conduct a series of feasibility studies with early childhood teachers. Researchers will use data collected at each point in the iterative development process to inform revisions of the intervention components. In Year 3, researchers will conduct a pilot study to examine the promise of IWRITE PD to enhance teachers' classroom practice and children's literacy skills. The research team will randomly assign classrooms to treatment and control conditions, collect pre- and post-test data from teachers and children, and conduct classroom observations. In Year 4, researchers will conduct data analyses and make final revisions to the intervention components.
Control condition
For the pilot study, teachers randomly assigned to the control condition will have access to business-as-usual professional development opportunities.
Key measures
Primary measures include direct child assessments, teacher surveys, and observational tools. The Writing Resources and Interactions in Teaching Environments and the Early Language and Literacy Classroom Observation will be used to measure teachers' literacy practice. Researchers will assess child outcomes using standardized measures of writing, print concepts, letter knowledge, phonological awareness, narrative production, motor skills, and self- regulation skills . Measures include the Name Writing, Spelling, and Letter Knowledge subtests of the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening-Kindergarten, the Preschool Word and Print Awareness Assessment, the Test of Preschool Early Literacy, the Narrative Assessment Protocol, the Motor subtest of the Early Screening Inventory-Revised, and the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task.
Data analytic strategy
The research team will conduct descriptive analyses to examine feasibility and usability data, including coding coach and teacher data and reviewing website login tracking data to teacher usage of content in the online modules. For the pilot study, researchers will conduct analyses to evaluate the impact of the intervention on teachers' classroom practices and child outcomes. The research team will use a multilevel modeling approach to account for nesting.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Products and publications
Products: Researchers will produce a fully developed teacher professional development intervention for preschool teachers to improve teacher practices and children's literacy skills, as well as peer-reviewed publications.
Journal article, monograph, or newsletter
Bingham, G.E., Quinn, M.F., McRoy, K., Zhang, X., & Gerde, H.K. (2018). Integrating Writing into the Early Childhood Curriculum: A Frame for Intentional and Meaningful Writing Experiences. Early Childhood Education Journal (2018) 46:601–611.
Gerde, H.K., Goetsch, M.E., and Bingham, G.E. (2016). Using Print in the Environment to Promote Early Writing. The Reading Teacher, 70, 283–293.
Quinn, M.F., Gerde, H.K., & Bingham, G.E. (2016). Help me where I am: Scaffolding writing in preschool classrooms. The Reading Teacher, 70 (3), 353-357.
Supplemental information
Co-Principal Investigator: Gary Bingham (Georgia State University) and Ryan Bowles (Michigan State University)
Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.
