Early Achievements - Shaping Early Language and Literacy Skills

Overview

Language skills are important for long-term reading comprehension success. Yet there are limited instructional approaches available for prekindergarten (pre-K) teachers to use in their inclusive classrooms to boost literacy-related language skills in children with and without language delays or disorders. In the first part of this study, the investigators will develop a teacher training program focused on building pre-K children's language-based literacy skills. Teachers will be trained and will use the strategies that they learn during literacy-related activities in their inclusive pre-K classrooms. Their students' language-related literacy skills will be measured before and after their training. Based on teacher feedback and child assessment information, the training program will be revised. In the final part of the study, a preliminary randomized control trial (RCT) will be done using the revised training approach. The results of the RCT will help the investigators know if the teacher training program helps to improve the effectiveness of teachers' instruction and their students' development of language-related literacy skills. The primary goal of this research study is to determine whether study-trained pre-K teachers in inclusive early childhood education classrooms use more effective teaching strategies than teachers who do not receive the training. A secondary goal of this research study is to determine if this teacher training program strengthens language-related literacy skills for students with and without language disorders or delays. The research team hypothesizes that teachers who participate in the training program will use effective teaching strategies more often than teachers who do not receive the training. Additionally, the investigators predict that teachers who receive the training will feel more confident teaching early language-based literacy skills to their students (with and without language delays/disorders) than teachers who do not receive the training. Researchers also predict that students taught by teachers who receive the training will perform better on language tests when compared to their peers in classrooms where the teacher training program was not used.

The primary goal of this research study is to determine whether Early Achievements - Shaping Early Language and Literacy Skills (EA-SHELLS) training improves teachers' implementation of the EA-SHELLS instructional approach in their inclusive prekindergarten (pre-K) classrooms. A secondary purpose of this research study is to determine the effects the EA-SHELLS instructional approach on pre-K children's (with and without language disorders/delays) language-related emergent literacy skills (vocabulary, syntax, narrative representation, and listening comprehension). The investigators hypothesize that teachers who participate in the EA-SHELLS professional development program will show greater use of evidence-based instructional strategies (the EA-SHELLS approach) and greater self-efficacy relating to language-related literacy instruction compared to teachers who do not receive the training. Additionally, the investigators predict that students taught by teachers receiving the training will perform better on testing measures when compared to their peers who do not receive supported classroom instruction. An iterative development process was utilized for this study. Phase 1 (initial development and implementation) and Phase 2 (iterative development and implementation of the intervention) took place prior to this clinicaltrials.gov submission. A total of 17 teachers and 87 students completed the full research program in these phases. Preliminary results show significant positive outcomes on student and teacher measures. In Phase 3 (randomized control trial), investigators will further test the above hypotheses by collecting data from teacher and student participants at pre-treatment, midpoint, and post-treatment time points in comparison to teachers and students who do not receive the training. The duration of the study will last approximately 14 weeks. Teachers may be randomly assigned to receive either the full training or no training until after post-treatment data are collected. Teachers in the EA-SHELLS trained group will attend the 6-hour virtual EA-SHELLS workshop and participate in approximately 14 in-person coaching sessions. During this EA-SHELLS training period, data will be collected on teacher and student participants in both arms of the trial.