Impact of professional development on preschool teachers’ conversational responsivity and children's linguistic productivity and complexity

Early childhood educators’ understanding of early communication: Application to their work with young children

“…They indicated a desire for more professional development in this area. These findings are consistent with other research in this area that found ECEs feel that they require further training in speech, language and communication development (McDonald and Proctor, 2015;Mroz, 2006;Piasta et al, 2012). ECEs highlighted the need to establish strong relationships with children and their families and to gather information about the children's skills and behaviours in other social contexts in order to effectively communicate with the children.…”

Online child care training in the United States: a preliminary investigation of who participates, what is offered, and on which topics the workforce is focusing

“…In this case, research suggests that single, 1-or 2-h beginner-level workshops are not adequate for teachers with minimal prior levels of knowledge about, or experience with, the focus of the training (Manning and Avery 2007;Moreno et al 2015;Zaslow 2014). In fact, if the aim is to support the type of teacher-child interactions which are necessary for enhancing young children's early learning outcomes, additional research demonstrates that effective training requires intensive, sequential learning opportunities, as well as ongoing support and feedback (Early et al 2017;Fabiano et al 2013;Gerde et al 2014;Hamre et al 2012;Ota and Berghout Austin 2013;Pianta 2011;Pianta et al 2014;Piasta et al 2012;Yamauchi et al 2013). In light of this research base, beginner-level online training appears to be less likely to support the aim of state and federal process quality-focused policies.…”

“…In this case, a single workshop may not be adequate, especially if teachers have minimal prior levels of knowledge about, or experience with, the focus of the training (Manning and Avery 2007;Moreno et al 2015;Zaslow 2014). And, if the aim of training is to improve early childhood pedagogical practices as a means for also enhancing the level of teachers' interactions with infants, toddlers, and preschoolers, and/or young children's learning outcomes, greater amounts of intensive training and/or training plus coaching may be necessary (Campbell and Milbourne 2005;Early et al 2017;Fabiano et al 2013;Gerde et al 2014;Hamre et al 2012;Koh and Neuman 2009;Neuman and Cunningham 2009;Ota and Berghout Austin 2013;Pianta 2011;Pianta et al 2014;Piasta et al 2012;Yamauchi et al 2013). Winton et al (2016) argue that a third important factor to consider when designing training is the way in which it will be delivered, especially in light of the needs of the individual receiving it and the content of what is being learned.…”

Improving Language-Focused Comprehension Instruction in Primary-Grade Classrooms: Impacts of the Let’s Know! Experimental Curriculum

“…To date, we are aware of few curricula or programs that are designed to improve children's skills across these multiple dimensions of oral language (but see Clarke et al, 2010;Williams, 2005;Williams et al, 2004;Williams et al, 2005). Given evidence showing that early primary-grade teachers provide relatively a limited quantity of language-focused comprehension instruction (Connor et al, 2006;Justice et al, 2008;Walpole, Chow, & Justice, 2004), even in the context of adopting language-focused curricula (Connor et al, 2006;Justice et al, 2008;Pence et al, 2008;Pianta, Mashburn, et al, 2008;Walpole et al, 2004), the present study examined whether pre-K -grade 3 teachers' use of the Let's Know! supplement affected proximal and distal classroom processes corresponding to language-focused comprehension instruction.…”

“…Importantly, the extent to which teachers used these techniques was associated with children's language growth during pre-K (Jackson et al, 2006;Pence et al, 2008;Pentimonti & Justice, 2010;Powell et al, 2010). More recently, Pianta and colleagues examined classroom quality in pre-K settings, based on the Language Modeling domain of the CLASS, as teachers implemented a language-focused curriculum (Pianta, Mashburn, Downer, Hamre, & Justice, 2008). Examination of CLASS scores at two-week intervals over the academic year showed that teachers implementing the language-focused curriculum in absence of coaching showed no changes in their provision of language-focused instruction over the academic year.…”