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Impact of Professional Development on Preschool Teachers
Core Function: Technical Assistance and Outreach Training, Research and Evaluation
The University of Washington, along with the University of Florida, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee are collaborating on a project that focuses on the development and evaluation of professional development interventions using embedded instruction practices. Several approaches will be compared to determine which hold the most promise for helping teachers implement embedded instruction practices with young children with disabilities.
The project will involve 48 teachers of young children with disabilities and 120 children with disabilities, across three states. Eligible teachers are those working in preschool classrooms that enroll at least three children with disabilities who have an Individualized Education Program (IEP). Children eligible for the study must have an IEP and be between 3 and 4 years of age at pretest.
Outcome measures include a rating scale to evaluate the quality of instructional goals, an observational measure to document implementation of planned learning opportunities, and an observational coding system to evaluate implementation of embedded learning trials. In addition, children's engagement, school readiness, language, emergent literacy, behavior, and social skills will be assessed. Finally, administrators will be interviewed to identify the contextual variables that might mediate or moderate the effect of professional development on teachers' use of embedded instruction, and they will complete self-report rating scale measures on embedded-instruction interventions and the social validity and the sustainability of the interventions.
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