Project Activities
The researchers will evaluate the fully developed system of program-wide supports (PWS-PMT) needed for high-fidelity, program-wide implementation of the Pyramid Model with programs that include children from low-income families. The study will involve 44 early childhood programs/centers (e.g., community childcare, Head Start) with 22 programs randomly assigned to intervention and 22 to a business as usual (BAU) control condition. The programs will be in Florida and Tennessee and will serve at-risk children ages 3 to 5 years.
Structured Abstract
Setting
The study will take place in early childhood programs that include children from low- income families including childcare and Head Start centers.
Sample
The research team will recruit 44 centers. Within each center, the team will recruit individuals who serve in the role of administrator, coach, and behavior support personnel as well as all teachers in classrooms serving children ages 3 to 5 years. The researchers expect to include 44 administrators, 44 coaches, 44 behavior support personnel, 132 teachers, 88 family members, and 1320 children.
PWS-PMT is a system of supports for implementing the Pyramid Model program- wide in early childhood settings. PWS-PMT is a comprehensive set of processes, practices, and materials for programs to use in delivering program-wide supports. The research team will support programs across 3 years by an external coach (i.e., from the research team) to develop and implement program-wide supports which include (a) creating a leadership team, (b) assessing and nurturing staff buy-in, (c) creating and teaching program-wide expectations, (d) developing and implementing professional development plans with teachers including ongoing coaching, (e) designing and implementing a behavior support process for children with severe and persistent behavior challenges or social emotional needs, and (f) using data-based decision making.
Research design and methods
The research team will randomly assign 44 programs to PWS-PMT and business-as-usual control conditions. The research team will provide training and external coaching to program leadership teams in the PWS-PMT group, conduct fidelity observations, collect classroom data, ask teachers to report on children's social and behavioral skills, and assess children's early academic and executive function skills. Analyses will be conducted to examine the effects of external coaching on the implementation of PWS-PMT by program leadership teams and the subsequent effects on teacher implementation of Pyramid Model practices and changes in children's social, emotional, behavioral, early academic, and executive function skills.
Early childhood programs/centers assigned to the treatment condition will receive training, external coaching, and materials to implement PWS-PMT and will be compared to programs implementing business-as-usual practices. The relationship between implementing PWS-PMT with fidelity, changes in teacher implementation of Pyramid Model practices, classroom quality, teacher-child interactions, and child outcomes (i.e., challenging behavior, social-emotional development, early academic skills, executive function) will be assessed.
Control condition
The business-as-usual control group will continue implementing typical practices and receive training after all data collection activities are complete.
Key measures
Key measures for this project include the Supporting Program-wide Implementation Fidelity Instrument, the Teaching Pyramid Model Observation Tool, the Classroom Observation Scoring System, the Social Skills Improvement Scales, the Woodcock Johnson Letter-Word identification, and Applied Problems subscales, and two executive function measures (Head, Toes, Knees, Shoulders; Peg Tapping).
Data analytic strategy
The research team will use a three-level blocked randomized design with programs as the unit of randomization and students nested within classrooms and classrooms nested within programs. To estimate the effects of PWS-PMI, the researchers will use ordinary least squares regression (OLS) to examine program-level outcomes and hierarchical linear models to examine classroom and student-level outcomes. For program level outcomes, which are not nested within higher level clusters, the research team will use OLS with covariate adjustment to estimate effects.
Cost analysis strategy
The researchers will evaluate the costs associated with the activities and outputs of the PWS- PMT intervention as part of a cost effectiveness analysis. The approach will follow the ingredients costing method.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Project contributors
Products and publications
The research team will provide data on the effects of PWS-PMT on program, teacher, and child outcomes and the costs associated with the intervention; produce a data set that can be used by other researchers; prepare and submit research publications; and develop and disseminate materials for administrators and teaching staff. Results will be presented at national conferences for audiences of state and local program leaders, practitioners, and researchers. A fidelity tool for measuring program-wide implementation will be widely disseminated.
Related projects
Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.