“Does this actually work?”
This is the question school leaders ask when considering new intervention options. School leaders are tasked with choosing what is best for their students and their educators, often under pressure to show quick and measurable results. This question reflects commitment to student success, but it also opens a conversation about how to define success in the early stages of an intervention. Findings from a recent randomized controlled trial of BEST in CLASS-PK, an evidence-based program to support young children with behavioral challenges, invites a broader definition of intervention success: that meaningful and sustainable change in student behavior begins with a shift in educator buy-in and practice.
For more information about the costs associated with implementing the intervention, see our latest presentation at the National Research Conference on Early Childhood (NRCEC).
How Change Happens in the Classroom
Research consistently points to the importance of teacher practices in shaping young children’s outcomes and the need to provide teachers with adequate support.1,2 In early childhood settings, high-quality teacher-child interactions are warm, responsive, and engaging. These kinds of interactions are associated with children’s literacy, behavior, and academic outcomes.3,4,5
BEST in CLASS-PK (Behavioral, Emotional, and Social Training: Competent Learners Achieving School Success) is designed with this evidence in mind. As a Tier 2 intervention, it enhances teachers’ use of evidence-based practices with specific students who need supplemental skill building in the classroom, supported by Practice-Based Coaching (PBC). Additional information about the model and its components is available in our previous posts: BEST in CLASS: What Coaches and Teachers Say About It. Part 1: Coach Perspectives and BEST in CLASS: What Coaches and Teachers Say About It. Part 2: Teacher Perspectives.
Meaningful Shifts in Teacher Practice
Teachers who participated in BEST in CLASS-PK demonstrated meaningful improvements in several core practices. Compared to teachers who did not receive the BEST in CLASS-PK training and ongoing PBC support, BEST in CLASS-PK teachers used more behavior-specific praise and instruction about classroom rules with children who needed additional support. These practices help to create classroom environments that are predictable, supportive, and instructionally focused. Teachers who use behavior-specific praise provide children with clear, positive reinforcement about what they are doing well. Teaching about and reminding students of classroom rules creates more consistent and predictable expectations. Because young children are developing self-regulation skills and learning about classroom expectations, these teacher practices can play an important role in supporting children’s engagement and learning throughout the day.
Our researchers observed that teachers participating in BEST in CLASS-PK demonstrated meaningful improvements in several core practices:
- Greater use of instructive feedback when responding to children’s challenging behaviors, helping turn behavioral moments into learning opportunities by guiding children toward more appropriate responses and behaviors.
- More opportunities for children to actively respond during instruction.
- More positive interactions and fewer negative interactions.
For additional details about teacher outcomes, including effect sizes, see the Effective Practices to Support Young Chidlren: Insights from A Multi-State Evaluation of BEST in CLASS Brief.
What About Child Outcomes?
Although teachers participating in BEST in CLASS-PK showed improvements in their interactions with children with elevated challenging behaviors, we did not observe statistically significant impacts for children’s problem behavior or social skills after the 14-week coaching period. However, teachers and coaches in the study anecdotally described noticing positive changes in children’s day-to-day behavior and interactions in the classroom.
These findings together highlight an important point about how change happens in classrooms: improvements in adult practice precede measurable changes in child outcomes. Teacher practices need to become consistent and sustained before child-level changes emerge.
It is also important to consider the realities of implementation in authentic classroom settings. Research has consistently shown that implementing and sustaining evidence-based practices can be difficult due to competing demands, staffing and workforce challenges, limited time, and broader system-level barriers.6,7,9 That’s where school leaders play a critical role. School leaders become important in championing sustained and high-quality implementation of programs by supporting educators’ success.
Rethinking What Counts as Success
When evaluating interventions designed to support young children’s behavior, it may be helpful to think beyond immediate child outcomes alone. Early signs of success may also include the degree of implementation support leaders provide to educators as well as improvements in teacher practices and the classroom conditions that support children every day.
School and district leaders might consider questions such as:
- Do teachers have access to strong coaching and support systems?
- Are schools creating conditions that allow evidence-based practices to be implemented with high quality and sustained over time?
- Are teachers changing what they do daily in the classroom?
- Are practices becoming more intentional and consistent?
BEST in CLASS-PK offers one example of how positive change can be possible when strategies are practical and relevant to teachers, when teachers have time to practice and reflect on new skills, and when supportive coaching relationships are in place to help sustain implementation over time.
Footnotes
2 Brock, M.E., & Beaman-Diglia, L.E. (2018). Efficacy of coaching preschool teachers to manage challenging behavior. Education and Treatment of Children 41(1), 31-48. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/etc.2018.0001.
3 McCabe, P. C., & Altamura, M. (2011). Empirically valid strategies to improve social and emotional competence of preschool children. Psychology in the Schools, 48(5), 513-540. https://doi-org.sri.idm.oclc.org/10.1002/pits.20570
4 Denham, S. A., Bassett, H. H., & Zinsser, K. (2012). Early childhood teachers as socializers of young children’s emotional competence. Early Childhood Education Journal, 40(3), 137-143. https://doi-org.sri.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/s10643-012-0504-2
5 Hamre, B. K., & Pianta, R. C. (2001). Early teacher–child relationships and the trajectory of children’s school outcomes through eighth grade. Child development, 72(2), 625-638. https://doi-org.sri.idm.oclc.org/10.1111/1467-8624.00301
6 Boyd, B.A., Kucharczyk, S., Wong, C. (2016). Implementing evidence-based practices in early childhood classroom settings. In: Reichow, B., Boyd, B., Barton, E., Odom, S. (eds) Handbook of Early Childhood Special Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi-org.sri.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28492-7_17
7 Fagan, A. A., Bumbarger, B. K., Barth, R. P., Bradshaw, C. P., Cooper, B. R., Supplee, L. H., & Walker, D. K. (2019). Scaling up evidence-based interventions in US public systems to prevent behavioral health problems: Challenges and opportunities. Prevention Science, 20(8), 1147-1168. https://doi-org.sri.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/s11121-019-01048-8
8 Wackerle-Hollman, A., Spencer, T. D., Artman-Meeker, K., Kelley, E. S., Durán, L., & Foster, M. E. (2021). Multi-tiered system of supports in early childhood: Identifying gaps, considerations for application, and solutions. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 56, 201-212. https://doi-org.sri.idm.oclc.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2021.03.010
Topics: Educator professional development and support School-based supports and systems Social–emotional and behavioral challenges