Sustaining High-Quality Teaching and Evidence-Based Curricula: Follow-Up Assessment of Teachers in the REDI Project

Abstract

Research Findings: Recent research has validated the power of evidence-based preschool interventions to improve teaching quality and promote child school readiness when implemented in the context of research trials. However, very rarely are follow-up assessments conducted with teachers in order to evaluate the maintenance of improved teaching quality or sustained use of evidence-based curriculum components after the intervention trial. In the current study, we collected follow-up assessments of teachers 1 year after their involvement in the REDI (REsearch-based, Developmentally Informed) research trial to evaluate the extent to which intervention teachers continued to implement the REDI curriculum components with high quality and to explore possible preintervention predictors of sustained implementation. In addition, we conducted classroom observations to determine whether general improvements in the teaching quality of intervention teachers (relative to control group teachers) were sustained. Results indicated sustained high-quality implementation of some curriculum components (the Promoting Alternative THinking Strategies curriculum) but decreased implementation of other components (the language/literacy components). Sustained intervention effects were evident on most aspects of general teaching quality targeted by the intervention. Practice or Policy: Implications for practice and policy are discussed.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This project was supported by the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development Grants HD046064 and HD43763. The authors would like to thank the administration and teaching staff of the Blair, Huntingdon, and York County Head Start programs participating in the REDI project. They are especially indebted to Gloria Rhule and Harriet Darling for providing supervision to the REDI trainers, and to Julia Gest, Linda Scheffer, Laura Lance, and Sandy Jones for the hours of support they provided to the teachers. Celene E. Domitrovich and Mark T. Greenberg are authors of the Preschool PATHS Curriculum, have a royalty agreement with Channing Bete, Inc., and receive income from PATHS Training LLC. This has been reviewed and managed by Penn State's Individual Conflict of Interest Committee.

Notes

Note. Sample size is N = 20 for correlations with intervention quality (intervention classrooms only) and N = 37 for teaching quality (intervention and control classrooms). PATHS = Promoting Alternative THinking Strategies.

^a Teaching Style Rating Scale.

^b Classroom Assessment Scoring System.

^c Classroom Language and Literacy Environment Observation.

†p < .10. *p < .05. **p < .01.

Note. PATHS = Promoting Alternative THinking Strategies; TSRS = Teaching Style Rating Scale; CLASS = Classroom Assessment Scoring System; CLEO = Classroom Language and Literacy Environment Observation.

†p < .10. *p < .05. **p < .01.

Note. Summary scale scores are in bold. TSRS = Teaching Style Rating Scale; CLASS = Classroom Assessment Scoring System.

^a Reverse scored.

†p < .10. *p < .05. **p < .01.

Note. CLASS = Classroom Assessment Scoring System; CLEO = Classroom Language and Literacy Environment Observation.

†p < .10. **p < .01.