Training Teachers to Use Effective Strategies for Promoting Children’s Early Literacy Development

1. Training Teachers to Use Effective Strategies for Promoting Children’s Early Literacy Development Mary Louise Hemmeter University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

2. The current study was the pilot study for a field initiated research project funded by the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (CFDA 84.324C): The effects of group and individual interventions on emerging literacy in preschoolers (Hemmeter & McCollum, 2003).

3. Overview of the Presentation • Introduction • Methodology • Results and Discussion • Ongoing study • Questions?

4. RationaleThe importance of emerging literacy • Relationship of early reading ability to later reading • Impact of literacy on other developmental domains (cognitive, behavioral, motivation) • Poor reading limits economic and social opportunities • Concern about need for interventions designed specifically for young children

5. Teacher training • Adequate training as an indicator of quality in early childhood programs • Emerging literacy is a primary area of focus in Head Start, child care and public preschools • Inadequately trained teachers may not effectively facilitate children’s learning and address learning outcomes in emerging literacy

6. A collaborative training model • Drawbacks of traditional training • Acquisition of knowledge • One-time/short-term training • Lack of follow-up after the training • May not involve teachers in their own learning - less likely to continue to implement after the training is over

7. A collaborative training model • Adult learning principles • Positive climate • Mutual planning • Diagnosis of learning needs • Translation of needs into objectives • Management of learning experience • Evaluation of outcomes

8. Purpose of the Study • To assess the effects of a collaborative training model on promoting early childhood teachers’ competence across three literacy skill clusters

9. Primary Research Question • To what extent will the training package (introductory information, participatory curriculum development, ongoing observation, coaching, and feedback) impact teachers’ use of early literacy strategies?

10. In Addition: • We were also interested in assessing children’s outcomes before and after the intervention

11. Participants-Teachers

12. Participants-Children • Average return rate = 67% across 5 classrooms (range = 38%-100%) • Ranged in age from 3.25 to 5.42 years old at pretest (mean = 4.49 years old)

13. Design • A multiple baseline design across three skill clusters was replicated with each of five teachers • Baseline, intervention, and maintenance conditions for each skill cluster

14. Baseline • Occurred during activities the teacher selected for each specific skill set • The teacher was asked to “do what she normally does” • Observations occurred two to three times per week

15. Intervention • Provision of introductory information • Review the teaching skills in the cluster • Link these to children’s outcomes • Participatory planning • Provide examples from the teachers’ own data • Generate examples for skills that the teacher did not perform or seldom performed • Discuss modifications for specific children based on teacher’s identification of need • Ongoing coaching and feedback • Booster training

16. Maintenance • At least once every three sessions following the completion of the intervention for each skill cluster

17. Instrumentation and Procedures • Teacher behavior (grouped into skill clusters) • Pre-post child performance on literacy

18. Skill Clusters and Associated Children’s Outcomes • Skill Cluster A: Comprehension/vocabulary/information/narration • Expanding vocabulary • Listening comprehension • Retelling stories • Constructing connected narrative • Using environmental print

19. Skill Cluster B: Phonemic awareness/alphabet principle • Sound-letter match • Letter recognition • Letter naming

20. Skill Cluster C: Print concepts/written language • Awareness of print • Using print for different purposes • Conventions of print • Concept of written “word” • Writing

21. Data Collection Intervention skill clusters • Using discrete categorization (occurrence vs. nonoccurrence) • Converting to percentages for each skill cluster during the baseline, intervention, and maintenance conditions • Lasting 10 to 30 minutes for each skill cluster • Marking and tallying the occurrence (√) or nonoccurrence (blank) of behavior for each item in the skill clusters (on the checklists)

22. Reliability-3 Skill Clusters • Practiced observations in 2 classrooms and achieved interrater reliability of 80% • A minimum of 20% of all observation sessions with at least one reliability check occurring during the baseline, intervention, and maintenance conditions for each cluster for each teacher • Any reliability checks that were less than 80% resulted in a booster session to review behavioral definitions

23. Children’s Literacy Performance • Individual Growth Development Indicators (IGDIs) (University of Minnesota, 1998) • Measures children’s expressive language and early literacy • Standardized tool consisting of three subtests: picture naming, alliteration, and rhyming • Total number of correct responses in each subtest is the score

24. Children’s Literacy Performance • Book Handling Knowledge (Clay, 1993) • Assesses children’s mastery of book handling skills • Only assessed 12 questions (of 22) that were adapted • The Carrot Seed (by Ruth Krauss, pictures by Crockett Johnson, 1973), was used to embed the questions into the assessment procedure

25. Reliability-Children’s Literacy • Practiced on 3 preschoolers prior to the study • Additional children were assessed until interrater reliability reached 95%

26. ResultsTeachers’ use of literacy skills • Example of the graphs • Data summary table for all five teachers across 3 skill clusters during baseline, intervention and follow-up phases

27. Baseline Intervention Follow-up Booster Cluster C Cluster B Cluster A

28. Children’s Literacy Development

29. Social Validation • Understanding of emergent literacy before and after training • Satisfaction regarding the content of training • Competence in developing a curriculum and arranging a literacy-enriched environment • Impact of intervention on children’s language • Usefulness of the training • Future use and suggestions

30. What Was Most Useful? • “It increased my awareness of how important emergent literacy is to young children. I also learned ways to enhance literacy in my classroom.” • “I found the immediate feedback with suggestions for improvement to be the most useful (part).”

31. What We Learned • It makes sense to focus on one skill at a time, rather than all at once • The use of individual observational data was a great motivator for teachers • Examples of what the skills looked like in action helped to solidify teachers’ understanding of the skill set • It takes time to learn a skill – focus, multiple opportunities, feedback

32. What We Learned • Some skill sets are easier/harder than others • Planning is essential • A focus on emergent literacy teaching can make a huge difference for children • Ongoing support is the key to a successful intervention especially when a teacher has limited teaching experience

33. Current Study • What are the effects of a classroom wide literacy intervention on preschool children’s early literacy skills? • 11 Teachers - seven randomly assigned to intervention, 6 randomly assigned to control condition • Collaborative training model • 2 day training institute • Ongoing coaching and feedback • Monthly meetings • Pre and post-test • Children’s skills • Teacher beliefs and practices

34. Checklist-Cluster A

35. Checklist-Cluster B

36. Checklist-Cluster C