Practice makes perfectible: The impact of training and rehearsal on program fidelity

ABSTRACT

Intervention fidelity is essential to the implementation of effective educational programs and research. Providing rigorous facilitator training is one method of promoting intervention fidelity. This study documents the rehearsal paradigm and the fidelity of the implementation of a theatre-in-education intervention. The intensive facilitator training schedule, designed to ensure that each actor-teacher had a high level of facilitator expertise and could faithfully administer the program, successfully fostered intervention fidelity. Although the rigorous training paradigm described in this article was designed to prepare professional actor-teachers to administer a theatre-in-education intervention with preschool children in Head Start and their teachers, the depth, breadth, and rigor of the training paradigm can inform other forms of educator preparation and instruction.

La fidelidad de la intervención es esencial para la implementación de programas educativos y de investigación eficaces. Proporcionar una formación rigurosa al facilitador es un método para promover la fidelidad de la intervención. Este estudio documenta el paradigma del proceso de ensayo y la fidelidad en la implementación de una intervención de teatro en la educación. El programa intensivo de capacitación de facilitadores, diseñado para asegurar que cada actor-maestro tuviera un alto nivel de experiencia como facilitador y pudiera administrar fielmente el programa, fomentó con éxito la fidelidad de la intervención. Aunque el riguroso paradigma de entrenamiento descrito en este artículo fue diseñado para preparar a los actores/profesores profesionales para administrar una intervención de teatro en educación, con niños preescolares cursando la Iniciación Básica, y sus maestros, la profundidad, amplitud y rigor del paradigma de entrenamiento puede apoyar otras formas de preparación e instrucción de los educadores.

Acknowledgments

I would like to express my appreciation to Lynda Zimmerman for granting me permission to conduct research on the Creative Arts Team’s Early Learning Through the Arts: New York City Wolf Trap Program and to the members of the Creative Arts Team who agreed to participate in this study. I would like to thank New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services/Head Start, Pat Hussey, and each of the Head Start centers that granted me permission to conduct my research. In addition, I would like to gratefully acknowledge Barbara Alexander Pan, Catherine E. Snow, Paul L. Harris, and Terrence Tivnan, whose advice and support guided the study on which this article is based.

Funding

This research was supported in part by a Head Start Research Scholars Dissertation Grant. I would like to express my gratitude to the Administration for Children and Families Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation for funding this study.

Notes

¹ Head Start is a U.S. government-funded preschool program for children whose families are at or below the poverty line.

² This study refers to members of the Creative Arts Team by their first names to reflect the way that they are addressed within the culture of the CAT organization.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported in part by a Head Start Research Scholars Dissertation Grant. I would like to express my gratitude to the Administration for Children and Families Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation for funding this study.