Exploring Barriers to Early Childhood Teachers' Implementation of a Supplemental Academic Language Curriculum

• In Event: How Implementation Science and Design Thinking Can Be Nurtured in Research That Addresses Wicked Problems

Abstract

Purpose: This study used the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF; Atkins et al., 2017) to examine barriers to early childhood teachers’ implementation of a supplemental academic language curriculum – Developing Talkers – with the goal of identifying possible behavior change techniques to overcome barriers. The wicked problem educators and researchers sought to iteratively address was the 30 million word gap low-income students face relative to peers (Hart & Risley, 1995). Students who enter kindergarten with stronger language abilities are less likely to develop later reading difficulties (e.g., Dickinson, 2011).
Theoretical framework: The TDF is a collection of theories relevant to intervention implementation, with various theoretical perspectives and constructs grouped into 14 domains that explain possible determinants of behavior. To apply the TDF, we began by identifying the target teacher behaviors within the intervention of adequate fidelity of implementation and teacher use of evidence-based practices for increasing oral language skills. The Developing Talkers approach seeks to increase young children’s academic language skills through shared book reading and extension activities. Academic language skills include the ability to use a range of sophisticated vocabulary and inferential language to comprehend more than what is explicitly stated in texts and articulate sophisticated ideas that go beyond the immediate context.
Methods: Across three past studies, total participating teachers included 208 pre-kindergarten and 39 kindergarten teachers serving a majority of students from economically-disadvantaged families. Study 1 used the academic language curriculum in English instructional settings that included pre-kindergarten and kindergarten settings. Study 2 was a randomized control trial that utilized a Spanish version of the curriculum in small-group settings within bilingual pre-kindergarten classrooms. Study 3 was a randomized control trial using a derivative of the English curriculum as well as additional literacy and family engagement supports in Head Start pre-kindergarten classrooms.
Data sources: We used a mixed-methods approach that included quantitative fidelity measures of adherence, dosage, and responsiveness. Qualitative data included focus groups, open-ended surveys, and interviews with teachers and their coaches. These data sources were designed to encourage responses related to potential barriers to these target behaviors.
Results: Findings indicate heterogeneity in teachers’ fidelity of implementing curricula as designed, despite high satisfaction with the program. Teachers struggled particularly with adherence to verbal scaffolding procedures, which were less scripted than other components. We identified multiple barriers to implementation, such as: competing priorities for instructional time; limited teacher knowledge and skills; teacher difficulties with behavioral regulation, memory, attention, or decision processes; and concerns about the consequences of implementing the curriculum with some dual language learners or young, 3-year-old children.
Significance and wicked problems: To improve uptake of academic language curricula and practices, we mapped identified barriers onto eight potential behavior change techniques for school leaders and educators. We further consider how future adaptive professional development approaches might address individual barriers teachers face. For example, self-monitoring, personalized messages, educative curricula with graded tasks are all possible techniques that could be used to address the wicked problem of closing the language gap faced by young children who are experiencing poverty.

Authors

• Tricia A. Zucker, McGovern Medical School at University of Texas Health Science Center Houston

• Erin Jacobs, University of Texas Health

• Sonia Cabell, Florida State University