The Impacts Of Professional Development For Early Childhood Educators On Trajectories Of Classroom Quality

• In Event: 1-160 - ECE Workforce Supports, Experiences, and Wellbeing: Determinants and Consequences for Classroom Processes and Child Outcomes

Integrative Statement

Objectives
In recent years, researchers and policymakers have turned to professional development programs as a level to improve classroom quality in early education settings (Hamre et al., 2012). Although recent research finds evidence of seasonal patterns of classroom quality over the course of the school year (e.g., Buell et al., 2017; Malmberg et al., 2010), there is little evidence regarding whether and how teachers’ participation in professional development affects these patterns of quality. In the present study, we examine how teachers’ participation in a coaching program aimed at improving the quality of teacher-child interactions affects trajectories of classroom quality over the course of one school year. We additionally examine whether the patterns of treatment impacts on trajectories of growth relate to children’s early language and literacy outcomes.
Methods
The present study includes 305 preschool teachers from the National Center for Research on Early Childhood Education Professional Development Study. Preschool teachers across nine U.S. cities were randomly assigned to a web-based coaching program or to a control group (Pianta et al., 2017). Teachers received feedback from coaches on videos of instruction submitted throughout the year. Each video was scored using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASSTM; Pianta, LaParo & Hamre, 2008).
First, we use growth curve analysis to examine whether participation in the NCRECE coaching impacted teachers’ trajectories of growth in classroom quality over the course of the school year. Specifically, we estimate conditional growth models for each of the three CLASSTM domains that include treatment status each phase as a predictor of growth.
Second, we will use a growth mixture modeling approach to examine whether impacts on trajectories of classroom quality relate to child outcomes. We will first examine whether there are latent subgroups of CLASSTM score growth trajectories, and whether specific subgroups are associated with improvements in children’s early language and literacy development. We will then estimate multinomial logistic regression models to examine whether assignment to the coaching intervention impacted teachers’ membership in these subgroups.
Preliminary Results
Preliminary results suggest that coaching impacted patterns of classroom quality over the school year. While levels of emotional support scores among control group teachers were relatively stable, teachers assigned to receive coaching showed modest growth over the year. Statistically significant differences in emotional support between treatment and control group teachers emerged partway through the school year and persisted through the end of the year. In contrast, both treatment and control group teachers showed improvements in instructional support throughout the year. However, coaching led to accelerated growth in this domain, resulting in larger program impacts towards the end of the school year.
Preliminary results from growth mixture models also indicate the presence of multiple distinct subgroups of trajectories within each of the three CLASS domains. Additional analyses will examine whether coaching impacted teachers’ membership in these subgroups, and whether children’s gains in early language and literacy outcomes differ across these subgroups. We will discuss implications of this work for policy and research on efforts to improve instructional quality in early childhood education programs.

Authors

• Kathryn Gonzalez, Harvard University
  Presenting Author

• Olivia Healy, Northwestern University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Luke Miratrix, Harvard University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Terri Sabol, Northwestern University
  Non-Presenting Author