Fidelity of Implementation in a Randomized Control Trial Study: The Effect of Virtual Professional Development

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: Use of Classroom Observations to Reveal Relationships Between Evaluative and Structural Program Components

Abstract

We investigated the effect of an ongoing, intensive, and structured virtual professional development (VPD) on the fidelity of implementation in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) study implemented in seven Texas school districts. Virtual observations were collected three times at the beginning, middle and the end of the school year in 116 Grade 1 classrooms. Results indicated that VPD had a statistically significant impact on teachers’ fidelity of implementation. Experimental teachers overperformed teachers in control condition in student involvement, level questioning, application ESL strategies, providing affective and cognitive feedback, and presenting more English material to encourage ELLs participated in classroom activities.

Authors

• Cindy Lynn Guerrero, Texas A&M University - College Station

• Shifang Tang, East Texas A&M University

• Fuhui Tong, Texas A&M University - College Station

• Rafael Lara-Alecio, Texas A&M University - College Station

• Beverly J. Irby, Texas A&M University - College Station