Adapting to Remote Learning in Early Childhood Education: Lessons Learned from a National Survey

• In Event: Poster Session 01
  In Poster Session: PS 01 Topic - Solicited Content: COVID-19 Related

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have deleterious effects on education. In the United States, most schools closed in March 2020, interrupting learning for nearly 57 million children (Peele & Riser-Kositsky, 2020). Approximately 60% of American children under the age of five were impacted by these closures (United States Department of Education, 2015). To continue instruction during the pandemic, educators are providing remote or distance learning opportunities (e.g., lessons/learning activities sent to caregivers; virtual whole, small group, or individual sessions, etc.) outside of traditional brick and mortar settings. Most of what we know about instruction provided virtually has focused on school-aged children and research on early childhood educators (ECEs) is scarce. This presentation will describe the development and administration of a questionnaire for ECEs (teaching children 2-5 years old) and examine successes and barriers of remote instruction provided during the pandemic. The Early Childhood Remote/Distance Learning Questionnaire was developed in stages using procedures outlined by the commonly accepted stages of an instrument development process (AERA, APA, & NCME, 2014; McCoach, Gable, & Madura, 2013). Individual items were created to obtain descriptive information because this questionnaire wasn’t intended to measure constructs. Content validity was assessed using four approaches when creating the questionnaire: (a) identification of the purpose of the questionnaire and the target group (i.e. early childhood educators), (b) creation of a blueprint of questionnaire items with a school district leadership team, (c) cognitive interviews with five early childhood educators working across the United States, and (d) expert panel review by six early childhood researchers. A total of 848 ECEs working in a variety of settings (e.g., Head Start, special education self-contained and inclusion classrooms, child care, private preschools) completed the questionnaire containing 37 closed-ended and 7 open-ended questions. Both quantitative (variations, comparisons, correlations) and consensual qualitative research (Hill, Thompson, & Williams, 1997) analyses will be applied to summarize the questionnaire results. Findings from this questionnaire will contribute to identification of: (a) guidelines for how to structure remote learning and reopen socially distanced classrooms; (b) best practice recommendations when remotely administering assessments, delivering instruction, or collaborating with teammates, paraprofessionals, therapists, and families; (c) high quality resources and effective strategies to support families and young children with varying needs via remote learning; (d) effective professional development sessions and continued training needs for remote learning; and (e) equity in the access to remote learning opportunities for all children especially those from marginalized subgroups (e.g., racial, disability). As we respond to the wide reaching impact of the pandemic, the results from this study will shed light on ECEs’ adaptation to remote instruction and inform future efforts to optimize young children’s academic, behavioral, and social emotional success. All questionnaire data was collected during a 20-day period (7/25/20-8/13/20). Analyses are underway and the paper that corresponds to this presentation will be completed prior to the conference.

Authors

• Meaghan McKenna, University of Kansas
  Presenting Author

• Xigrid Soto-Boykin, University of Kansas
  Non-Presenting Author