Description:
As early education grows in the United States, in-service professional development in key instructional and interaction skills is a core component of capacity building in early childhood education. In this article, we describe results from an evaluation of the effects of MyTeachingPartner, a web-based system of professional development, on language and literacy development during prekindergarten for 1,338 children in 161 teachers' classrooms. High levels of support for teachers' implementation of language/literacy activities showed modest but significant effects for improving early language and literacy for children in classrooms in which English was the dominant language spoken by the students and teachers. The combination of web-based supports, including video-based consultation and web-based video teaching exemplars, was more effective at improving children's literacy and language skills than was only making available to teachers a set of instructional materials and detailed lesson guides. These results suggest the importance of targeted, practice-focused supports for teachers in designing professional development systems for effective teaching in early childhood programs. (author abstract)
Resource Type:
Reports & Papers
Funder(s):
United States. Department of Health and Human Services;
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (U.S.);
United States. Administration for Children and Families;
United States. Department of Health and Human Services. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation;
United States. Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services
Country:
United States