Using Implementation Science to Improve Adoption of Curriculum-Based Assessments Among Early Childhood Teachers

Abstract

Despite the importance of child assessment data in early childhood education, teachers struggle with its use in their work. This study uses an implementation science approach to explore facilitators and barriers to teacher use of child assessment practices in three Head Start centers and tests a specific strategy to improve teacher practice. This study explores two research questions: (1) How do teachers perceive their current assessment practices in terms of use and level of difficulty? What do teachers believe about child assessment practices? How do teachers perceive their use of child assessment data for individualizing instruction? What do organizational leaders believe are the individual and organizational level facilitators and barriers related to child assessment practices? (2) What is the impact of employing one specific implementation strategy identified by teacher/center leaders on the quality of teacher-child assessment practices? Data was generated from 43 teacher surveys, 7 interviews with center leaders, and an audit of child assessment data entered by 16 teachers in the study sites. The study found that teachers report they are skilled in completing child observations, collecting observation data, entering data into an assessment database, and using data for lesson planning. Teachers are less confident in choosing a developmental level for each child. Most teachers in the study trust their judgment of student progress more than assessment, but many also consider assessment practices part of their professional responsibility. Teachers were less likely to agree that assessment practices benefit their students, make their jobs easier or were supported by their coworkers. Head Start leaders revealed several organizational-level facilitators of teacher assessment practices, including policies requiring assessment and mandated organizational support, such as financial resources for ongoing professional development, technology solutions, and compliance practices that keep assessment practices in place. Individual-level facilitators that support teacher assessment practices include an educated workforce with long tenures and commitment to the classroom. Barriers to teacher adoption of child assessment practices reported by leaders include English language comprehension of complex child development concepts, insufficiently protected time, a high volume of required observation data, and teaching team incompatibility. A few leaders felt assessment practices were inconsistent with this local Head Start's organizational culture around relationships. Teachers and leaders in this study hypothesized that a lower data volume would help improve teacher assessment practices. This feedback inspired a small-scale study where the required data was halved for three months. An audit process of child observation records assessed four data quality elements of child assessment data completed by teachers before and after the reduction in required data. Teachers completed the first three elements in both pre-and post-intervention periods, with similar average scores. The individualization of observation notes showed modest improvement between pre-and post-intervention periods. The overall average score for all data quality elements increased slightly from 30.0 (pre-intervention) to 32.7 (post-intervention). This study provides Head Start leadership with targeted data for decision-making. This study demonstrates how implementation science frameworks and evaluative thinking can be used to tackle practical problems in complex settings. Following a systematic assessment of known implementation facilitators and barriers, this study piloted a specific implementation strategy for improving teacher practice and generated targeted data for improving teacher practice. Replicating the approach used in this study –the use of targeted studies of specific implementation strategies – will improve teacher use of child assessment practices.