Web training: Pre-K teachers, literacy, and relationships

描述(由申请人提供)： 对幼儿园前课堂进行的大规模观察性研究表明，即使有经验的、有资质的教师使用相同的课程，但总体来说，课堂质量和练习的平庸和高度多变性。大多数教育工作者认识到，正在进行的培训和对高质量实施的支持对于确保早期教育经验的价值至关重要，特别是对于面临早期学校失败风险的儿童。因此，拟议的项目评估了两种基于网络的培训条件，旨在支持教师在国家资助的周课堂上实施早期识字、口语和社会关系/自我调节技能的综合课程。两种培训模式将实施两年，并在这项纵向研究中进行比较：1)网络培训，即教师(N=110)接受课程中的研讨会培训，并可以访问包含额外材料和范例的网站；2)网络咨询，即教师(N=110)接受与其他条件相同的研讨会和培训，但他们还接受每周在线的、以网络为媒介的咨询，重点是实施课程。网络咨询条件为教师提供关于他们实施的课程的直接反馈，并就如何提高实施质量提供咨询。六个学部将被随机分配到这两个条件下(每个学部3个)，这些学部的所有学前教师将在连续两个学年的一个条件下入学。将在两个干预年和第三个非干预后续行动年定期收集对课堂质量和教学实践的观察。在每一干预年，将从每个学龄前教师的教室中随机挑选4名儿童(总共1,760名)，并对他们进行语言和识字的直接评估。学前教师和观察为这些孩子提供关于社会关系和自我调节的信息。所有学龄前儿童将通过教师关于识字、语言和人际关系/规则的报告进行评估，作为无治疗对照。所有儿童(两个实验条件下的儿童和人口控制中的儿童)将被跟踪到幼儿园和一年级，教师问卷评估语言、识字和社会关系/规则。我们假设，在两种治疗条件下的儿童在一年级之前会表现出更大的儿童成绩增长，并且网络咨询组的增长速度将明显高于网络培训(和不治疗)组。我们进一步假设，网络咨询组和网络培训组之间的儿童结果差异将通过更高质量的课程实施作为接触网络咨询的功能来调节。除了课程之外，这项研究的结果还直接影响到培训和实施作为加强学校准备的一个关键因素的重要性，并提供了关于通过互联网大规模提供培训的有效性的信息。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Large-scale observational studies of pre-kindergarten classrooms indicate overall mediocrity and a high degree of variability in classroom quality and practices, even when experienced, credentialed teachers use the same curriculum. Most educators recognize that ongoing training and support for high quality implementation is critical to ensuring the value of early education experiences, particularly for children at-risk of early school failure. Thus the proposed project evaluates two conditions of Web-based training designed to support teachers' implementation of an integrative curriculum in early literacy, oral language, and social relationship/self-regulation skills in state-funded week classrooms. Two models of training will be implemented for 2 years and compared in this longitudinal study: 1) Web-Training, in which teachers (N=110) receive workshop training in the curriculum and have access to a Website with additional material and examples, and 2) Web-Consultancy, in which teachers (N=110) receive the same workshop and training as the other condition but who also receive weekly, live, Internet-mediated consultation focused on implementing the curriculum. The Web-Consultancy condition provides teachers with direct feedback on lessons they implement and consultation about how to improve quality of implementation. Six school divisions will be randomly assigned to these two conditions (3 each) and all pre-k teachers in those divisions will be enrolled in one condition fox 2 consecutive academic years. Observations of classroom quality and teaching practices will be collected regularly during the two intervention years and in a third non-intervention follow-up year. In each intervention year 4 children will be randomly selected from each pre-k teacher's classroom (N=1,760 total) and administered direct assessments in language and literacy. Pre-k teachers and observations provide information on social relationships and self-regulation for these children. The entire pre-k population will be assessed using teacher report of literacy, language, and relationships/regulation as a no treatment control. All children (those in the 2 experimental conditions and those in the population control) will be followed into kindergarten and first grade with teacher questionnaires assessing language, literacy, and social relationships/regulation. We hypothesize that children in both treatment conditions will show greater growth in child outcomes through first grade and that the Web-Consultancy group will show a significantly greater rate of growth than will the Web-Training (and no-treatment) groups. We further hypothesize that the differences in child outcomes between the Web Consultancy and Web Training groups will be mediated by higher quality implementation of the curriculum as a function of exposure to the Web Consultancy. The results of this study have direct implications for the importance of training and implementation as a key factor enhancing school readiness, apart from curriculum, and provide information on the effectiveness of delivering training at-scale over the Internet.