Educating the Educators: Effective Practices for Early Childhood Teachers' Training and Professional Development (original) (raw)

Enhancing Teacher Support to Optimize Early Childhood Education

This study investigates the intricate relationships between different dimensions of teacher support and key aspects of educational practice within the early childhood education context. Utilizing correlation analysis, significant associations were unveiled between collaborative learning environment, mentoring and guidance, emotional support, classroom resources and materials, and critical domains such as content knowledge and pedagogy, learning environment and diversity of learners, curriculum and planning, and assessment and reporting. Results underscored the pivotal role of classroom resources and materials in enhancing curriculum development, assessment, and reporting processes, alongside the significant impact of emotional support on fostering inclusive learning environments and effective assessment practices. While collaborative learning environments and mentoring and guidance exhibited varying degrees of influence across different domains, their contributions to promoting positive educational outcomes were evident. These findings shed light on the multifaceted nature of teacher support and its profound implications for effective teaching and learning practices, emphasizing the importance of cultivating supportive environments to facilitate optimal student learning and development in early childhood education settings.

An experimental study evaluating professional development activities within a state funded pre-kindergarten program

Reading and Writing, 2011

This paper describes the implementation and evaluation for scaling up a comprehensive early childhood teacher professional development program into 11 communities across 2 years with funding through state legislative actions. The comprehensive program had four major components based on results from a previous multi-condition random assignment study across four states. The previous results demonstrated that the most optimum approach for supporting children's school readiness included: (1) teacher on-line professional development with facilitation, (2) classroom mentoring, (3) implementation of a research-based curriculum, and (4) technology-driven progress monitoring that informed instruction. The comprehensive professional development program was evaluated in a new state program designed to bring childcare, Head Start, and public school pre-kindergarten together into integrated partnerships. In Year 1, 220 teachers serving 3834 children were randomly assigned to either receive the comprehensive program or not. Teachers who served as controls in Year 1 received the program in Year 2, and those who received the program in Year 1 participated for an additional year in Year 2, allowing for examination of the effects of one versus 2 years of participation. The program improved teachers instructional practices relative to controls, and a second year of participation resulted in greater gains in children's language and literacy. Results support the need for well-integrated, comprehensive professional development for early childhood educators.

Developmentally Appropriate Teacher Education “Practicing What We Preach

2011

hen the Louisiana Board of Education initiated a new structure for teacher certification, a team of educators at Louisiana State University (LSU) created an early childhood program for teachers of children from preschool age to 3rd grade. W Educators at the university level, primary grade teachers, and preschool teachers collaborated to develop a program based on an assumption that if teacher education students participate in developmentally appropriate instruction as students, they will develop a deep and meaninghl understanding of developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) (Bredekamp & Copple, 1997) that they can implement in their teaching practices. The team's planning was grounded in the knowledge base of several areas: the literature regarding developmentally appropriate practices (Bredekamp & should reflect current knowledge about how adults learn. In the university classroom, the needs of the whole person should be addressed by facilitating each student's physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and language development through learning experiences that are individualized, activity-based, and studentselected. Teacher educators should assess progress in addition to achievement of skills and learning with ongoing, authentic, performance-based observations and assessments. Such a program should model an emergent curriculum, building upon students' interests and current abilities to enable them to accomplish certain learning objectives, with a pathway to learning that is individualized in pace and in direction.

Diverse Pathways in Early Childhood Professional Development: An Exploration of Early Educators in Public Preschools, Private Preschools, and Family Child Care Homes

Early Education & Development, 2009

This paper presents a naturalistic investigation of the patterns of formal education, early childhood education training, and mentoring of a diverse group of urban early childhood educators participating in the Los Angeles: Exploring Children's Early Learning Settings (LA ExCELS) study. A total of 103 preschool teachers and family child care providers serving primarily low-income 3-and 4-yearold children in Los Angeles County provided data on their education, training, and beliefs about teaching. This sample worked in public center based preschool programs including Head Start classrooms and State preschool classrooms (N=42), private non-profit preschools including community based organizations and faith-based preschools (N=42), and licensed family child care homes (N=19). This study uses a person-centered approach to explore patterns of teacher preparation, sources of support, supervision, and mentoring across these 3 types of education settings, and how these patterns are associated with early childhood educators' beliefs and practices. Findings suggest a set of linkages between type of early education setting, professional development, and supervision of teaching. Public preschools have the strongest mandates for formal professional development and typically less variation in levels of monitoring, whereas family child care providers on average have less formal education and more variability in their access to and use of other forms of training and mentorship. Four distinct patterns of formal education, child development training, and ongoing mentoring or support were identified among the educators in this study. Associations between professional development experiences and teachers' beliefs and practices suggested the importance of higher levels of formal training for enhancing the quality of teacher-child interactions. Implications of the findings for changing teacher behaviors are discussed with respect to considering the setting context.

Early childhood teacher preparation programs in the United States (National Report)

A study describing characteristics of early childhood teacher education programs offering certification, associate's degrees, bachelor's degrees, and graduate degrees, including the number of such programs, faculty characteristics, coursework and practica offerings, and challenges facing faculty in meeting the needs of the workforce, based on a interviews with department chairs and program directors at institutions of higher education