There's no I in Coach: The Effectiveness of Different Coaching Techniques on the Implementation of an Evidence-Based Teaching Framework

Eastin, S. (Shiloh)¹, Giordano, K. (Keri)¹, Calcagno, B. (Briana)¹, , , , ,
¹Kean University

 

Submission type

Poster only

Scheduled

Hallway, 10-07-2019, 15:30 - 17:00

Keywords

professional development, early childhood, social-emotional learning, Internal coaching, Peer coaching, Early childhood professional development

Summary

Coaching is becoming widely recognized as a tool to help early childhood educators enhance thier teaching and build professional skills. Although effective, the use of an external coach can be cost-and time-prohibitive. This study examined the effectiveness of internal peer coaches as compared to external coaches in implementation fidelity of an evidence-based framework aimed at enhancing the social-emotional competencies of young learners in early childhood classrooms. Fifteen Head Start teachers and 125 of their students participated in this study. The intervention consisted of training on practice-based coaching, training on the social-emotional framework, and eight weeks of coaching (eight teachers participated as internal peer coaches and seven received external coaching).  Pre- and post-data included an assessment of fidelity to the framework and evaluation of individual child social skills. Overall, results suggest that internal peer coaches were more effective at supporting the implementation of practices with fidelity. Although more research is needed, peer internal coaching can be considered as a potential effective solution to the challenges of working with an external coach.

Auteurs