Scaling Up a Language and Literacy Development Program at the Pre-Kindergarten Level

The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of "business as usual" to that of 4 professional development (PD) programs for teachers of at-risk preschool children. The team implemented a 2 x 2 design to cross mentoring and progress monitoring conditions among the 4 PD programs. Specifically, some teachers received both in-classroom mentoring and detailed, instructionally linked feedback concerning children's progress in language and literacy. Some teachers received no mentoring but did receive the detailed, instructionally linked feedback concerning children's progress. Some teachers received in-classroom mentoring but only limited feedback on children's progress, which was not linked to curricular activities. Finally, some teachers received no mentoring and only limited feedback concerning children's progress. All 4 PD conditions included the same year-long, facilitated online course that emphasized language and literacy instruction, practice of learned material in one's classroom, and participation in online message boards with fellow teachers. Across 4 states, 158 schools (N = 262 classrooms) were randomly assigned to 1 of the 4 PD conditions or business as usual.