Georgia’s Pre-K Professional Development Evaluation

The Georgia’s Pre-K Professional Development Evaluation is a three-year, Race to the Top-funded study of the impact of specific professional development models on teacher-child interactions. The purpose of the study, conducted by scientists from the University of North Carolina’s Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute and Child Trends, was to evaluate the impact of two professional development models, Making the Most of Classroom Interactions (MMCI) and MyTeachingPartner (MTP), on teacher-child interactions in Georgia’s Pre-K classrooms when tested under real-world conditions. The final report and executive summary are posted below.

Almost 500 Pre-K lead teachers were randomly assigned to MMCI, MTP, or a control group that received typical professional development. The research team found that both the MMCI face-to-face training and the MTP remote coaching model improved the emotional support Pre-K teachers provided children through their interactions. MMCI also improved instructional support, one of the strongest predictors of children’s learning. Because of the rigorous design, we can be confident that any differences between the groups at the end of the study were caused by the professional development activities and that the findings reflect the type of change we would anticipate among Georgia’s Pre-K teachers if these models were broadly implemented.

Based on the results of the first study, Georgia’s Pre-K implemented three new CLASS-based professional development models. FPG Child Development Institute began an evaluation of these models in 2014-2015. The report posted below highlights findings from the first and second year of the evaluation.

Direct questions about this evaluation to Diane Early at diane_early@unc.edu or Dr. Bentley Ponder at BFTSResearch@decal.ga.gov.

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