Family, Life Course, and Society Commons^™

An Exploratory Study Of Early Childhood Coaches’ Practices And Professional Learning Needs, Rachel E. Schachter, Holly Hatton-Bowers, Hayley Jackson, Lisa Knoche

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Coaching is increasingly being used as a mechanism to improve the quality of early childhood education. Yet, for coaching outside of researcher-controlled interventions, limited information details coaches’ reports of their practices’ professional learning needs. We addressed this gap via an exploratory study utilizing online questionnaires of 91 coaches working with educators in a Midwestern US state across 12 coaching initiatives. Most participants had less than 5 years of experience working as an early childhood coach. Almost a third coached for multiple initiatives. Coaching occurred via multiple formats and often addressed behavior management and social emotional development regardless of the coaching …

Promising Findings That The Cultivating Healthy Intentional Mindful Educators’ Program (Chime) Strengthens Early Childhood Teachers’ Emotional Resources: An Iterative Study, Holly Hatton-Bowers, Caron Clark, Gilbert R. Parra, Jessica L. Calvi, Michael Yellow Bird, Pearl Avari, Jaclynn Foged, John Smith

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Findings suggest that an eight-week mindfulness compassion-based program, Cultivating Healthy Intentional Mindful Educators (CHIME), is a feasible professional development intervention for early childhood (EC) teachers to support their emotion regulation and psychological and workplace well-being. We offer preliminary evidence that learning about mindfulness, self-compassion, and social-emotional learning supports EC teachers in strengthening their knowledge and application of practices to be more mindful and less emotionally reactive and emotionally exhausted at work. In analyzing both EC teacher feedback and survey data from two pilot studies, there was promising evidence that participating in CHIME enhanced awareness of emotions and the development of …

Guidelines For Selecting Professional Development For Early Childhood Teachers, Rachel E. Schachter, Hope K. Gerde, Holly Hatton-Bowers

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Engaging teachers of young children in effective in-service professional development is a critical component of establishing high quality early childhood education. However, not all professional development offerings are effective in imparting new knowledge, enhancing teacher practice, or improving child outcomes, making it difficult for teachers and directors to select professional development that will benefit their centers. This paper critically reviews the research literature on professional development for early childhood education to identify what features of professional development make a difference for teacher interactions and children’s learning and development. Guidance is provided for selecting professional development opportunities which meet the needs …

Contextual Factors Influence Professional Development Attendance Among Child Care Providers In Nebraska, Dipti Dev, Aileen S. Garcia, Alison Tovar, Holly Hatton-Bowers, Lisa Franzen-Castle, Zainab Rida, Linda Reddish, Jasmin Smith, Christy Burger, Danae Dinkel, Donnia Behrends, Emily Hulse, Susan M. Sheridan

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Objective: To examine contextual factors that may influence child care providers’ motivators for attending nutrition-related training and their preferences and barriers to attending professional development training.

Design: Cross-sectional survey completed between January and April 2017.

Setting: Licensed child care programs (n = 1,490) across urban and rural Nebraska.

Participants: Child care center directors (n = 336) and family child care home providers (n = 1,154).

Main Outcome Measures: Motivators, preferences, and barriers of child care providers for attending professional development.

Analysis: Descriptive statistics and multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted.

Results: Top motivators for attending nutrition-related training included meeting licensure …

Needs Assessment For Informing Extension Professional Development Trainings On Teaching Adult Learners, Nathan W. Conner, Dipti Dev, Katherine Krause

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

As society becomes more information saturated, Extension must evaluate its educational programming and delivery methods used to facilitate adult learning. Extension professionals must have a comprehensive understanding of how adults learn. Accordingly, we conducted a needs assessment as a basis for providing professional development trainings focused on teaching adults. Our objective was to identify Extension professionals' professional development needs related to designing and facilitating programming based on andragogy. We developed a survey instrument that addressed andragogy-related topics and administered it to Extension professionals. The results indicated that professional development centered on andragogy was needed by and relevant to the study …

Effectiveness Of Large-Scale, State-Sponsored Language And Literacy Professional Development On Early Childhood Educator Outcomes, Shayne B. Piasta, Laura M. Justice, Ann A. O'Connell, Susan A. Mauck, Melissa M. Weber-Mayrer, Rachel E. Schachter, Kristin S. Farley, Caitlin F. Spear

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

The current study investigated the effectiveness of large-scale, state-sponsored language and literacy professional development (PD) intended to improve early childhood educators’ knowledge, beliefs, and practices. PD was offered in a real-world context and delivered at scale across the state, implemented by an independent contractor. Educators (n = 535) were randomly assigned to participate in one of three types of PD: 30 hrs of language and literacy PD presented in a workshop format, 30 hrs of language and literacy PD plus monthly coaching, or PD on alternative topics (comparison). Baseline and outcome measures were collected by an independent research team to …