Webinar: Responsive Relationships in the ECE Workforce: Improving Knowledge and Care for Young Children: Session Recording from the Society for Research in Child Development 2021 Biennial Meeting

Publication Date: November 15, 2021

View an accessible version of this video with audio descriptions

Session Speakers

  • Louisa Tarullo, Mathematica (Chair
  • Juliet Taylor, University of Washington
  • Sarah Lang, The Ohio State University
  • Shannon  Monahan, Mathematica

Introduction

We Grow Together (WGT) is a research-based professional development (PD) system for caregivers working with infants and toddlers in center-based care and family child care homes. As part of WGT, teachers and caregivers work with their PD providers (mentors, coaches, supervisors) using resources delivered through a website. The system supports caregivers in planning and using the WGT practices through relationship- and practice-based coaching.

WGT was developed as part of the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation’s (OPRE’s) Professional Development Tools to Improve the Quality of Infant & Toddler Care (Q-CCIIT PD Tools) project.

This recorded session from the Society for Research in Child Development 2021 Biennial Meeting (SRCD 2021) featured a presentation highlighting findings from a field test of WGT (beginning at time marker 40:01) alongside presentations from two other projects not funded by OPRE. Taken together, these projects illustrate how web-based professional development approaches aim to target coach-caregiver interactions to improve caregiver-child interactions.

The presentations in this session examine three web-based approaches that build on evidence about supporting adult change through coaching relationships with caregivers serving infants and toddlers: (1) FIND, a video-based coaching program that identifies and strengthens positive interactions between caregivers and children; (2) the VLS Momentum pilot that offers caregivers a free, online, comprehensive foundational early care and education training via trained coaches who observe/model practices and offer feedback; and (3) the WGT PD system, which provides online PD resources and local trained coaches who help caregivers engage in high-quality interactions to support children’s development.

Reference in this recorded session to commercial products or services does not constitute an endorsement by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, the Administration for Children and Families, or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

 

Primary Research Questions (RQ)

  1. How do caregivers describe their relationship with their PD provider?
  2. Does PD provider support for using WGT influence changes in caregivers’ interactions with infants and toddlers?

 

Purpose

This SRCD 2021 session featured a presentation highlighting findings from the field test of WGT (beginning at time marker 40:01) alongside two other projects not funded by OPRE also examining coaching relationships with caregivers serving infants and toddlers.

Key Findings and Highlights:

Presenters shared their insights about how coach-caregiver interactions can serve as a model for caregiver-child interactions.

 

Methods

This is a recorded session from SRCD 2021.

 

Citation

Webinar: Responsive Relationships in the ECE Workforce: Improving Knowledge and Care for Young Children: Session Recording from the Society for Research in Child Development 2021 Biennial Meeting. OPRE Report #2021-228, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.