The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a professional development intervention on teachers implementation of the Teaching Pyramid model. The Teaching Pyramid is a classroom-wide approach for fostering social-emotional development and addressing challenging behavior. The professional development intervention consisted of training and distance coaching. The study had two goals: (a) to examine the differential effects of training and distance coaching versus training alone on teachers implementation of the Teaching Pyramid model, and (b) to examine relations between Teaching Pyramid implementation and child behavior and social skills. Participants were 33 Head Start teachers in nine centers that were assigned randomly to one of two treatment groups. Both groups participated in an interactive 1-day training on the Teaching Pyramid model and created individualized action plans. Following training, the training plus coaching group (n=16) received weekly distance coaching, via electronic mail, on their individualized action plans. The training only group (n=17) created individualized action plans but did not receive follow-up support on those plans. Outcome measures assessed teachers implementation of the Teaching Pyramid model and changes in classroom social climate and teacher-child interactions. In addition, relations between teachers implementation and changes in childrens challenging behavior and social skills were examined. Two types of teacher-response methods (surveys, focus groups) were used to evaluate teachers perspectives about and satisfaction with the professional development intervention. Distance coaching was associated with statistically significant improvements in classroom climate. Teachers who participated in distance coaching sessions more frequently had promising improvements in several outcomes. Implications of study findings for professional development research and practice are discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VANDERBILT/oai:VANDERBILTETD:etd-07212010-151520 |
| Date | 02 August 2010 |
| Creators | Meeker, Kathleen Marie Artman |
| Contributors | Mary Louise Hemmeter, Ann Kaiser, Patricia Snyder, Mark Wolery |
| Publisher | VANDERBILT |
| Source Sets | Vanderbilt University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-07212010-151520/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to Vanderbilt University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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