Preparing Preschool Teachers to Engage in Reliable and Individualized Progress Monitoring Practices using an Online Asynchronous Training

The PI will iteratively develop, refine, and pilot test the online training and teacher assessments across four years. Years 1 and 2 will focus on the development and refinement of the training and assessments through field tests, focus groups, and iterative single-case studies. In Year 1, the PI will develop the online training and assessments and conduct a field test to gather feedback on the usability and functionality of the training and assessments. Using the results of the field test, the PI will revise the training and assessments. In Year 2, the PI will conduct a focus group with preschool teachers for the purpose of gathering data on the cultural relevance of the content presented in the training. A series of single-case design studies will be used to iteratively evaluate the effects of the training on teacher content knowledge and implementation (using the measures developed and refined in Year 1). The training and assessments will be further refined in preparation for the pilot study. In Year 3, a randomized controlled trial will be conducted with approximately 27 preschool teachers and 81 children to evaluate the impact of the online training on teachers' fidelity with progress monitoring practices and children's progress on individualized goals. Year 4 of the project will be focused on data analysis and preparation of products and materials for dissemination. In addition to examining the promise of the online training for improving teacher and child outcomes, the PI will evaluate the cost to implement the training.