Webinar: Opening the Black Box of Coaching in Early Care and Education Professional Development and Quality Improvement: Session Recording from ACF’s National Research Conference on Early Childhood 2020

Publication Date: May 6, 2021

Session Speakers:

  • Elizabeth Cavadel, Mathematica
  • Shannon Monahan, Mathematica
  • Mary Louise Hemmeter, National Center on Early Childhood Development, Teaching, and Learning
  • Allyson Dean, National Center on Early Childhood Development, Teaching, and Learning
  • Ann Rivera, Administration for Children and Families

Introduction

This recorded session from ACF’s National Research Conference on Early Childhood 2020 (NRCEC 2020) featured a presentation on the We Grow Together Professional Development System (WGT) field test (beginning at time marker 22:45) alongside presentations from two other projects.

A quarter of early care and education (ECE) teachers in centers and a third of listed home-based child care providers reported receiving some form of coaching or mentoring in 2012 (National Survey of Early Care and Education, 2012). However, what “coaching” actually is varies greatly across early care and education settings. In 2017, Head Start program directors were most likely to report using practice-based coaching, while over half reported other coaching models (Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey, 2017). In addition to the variety of approaches, ECE coaching clearly differs in other ways, including delivery methods and personnel. Moreover, flexibility and individualization are the norm in ECE coaching.

Primary Research Questions

  1. What are the different features of coaching and how are they implemented?
  2. Which aspects of coaching make a difference for improving ECE practices?
  3. What should we pay attention to when evaluating professional development efforts that involve coaching?

Purpose

This NRCEC 2020 session featured a presentation on the We Grow Together Professional Development System (WGT) field test (beginning at time marker 22:45) alongside two other projects that have recently sought to understand variation in coaching and studied, implemented, or supported different coaching models across early care and education settings.

Key Findings and Highlights

Presenters shared their insights about features of coaching and how to assess what aspects of coaching make a difference for improving ECE practice.

Methods

This is a recorded session from NRCEC 2020.

Citation

Webinar: Opening the Black Box of Coaching in Early Care and Education Professional Development and Quality Improvement: Session Recording from ACF’s National Research Conference on Early Childhood 2020. OPRE Report #2021-73, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.