Impacts of the Arizona System Ready/Child Ready Professional Development Project on Preschool Teachers' Self-Efficacy

Abstract

Funded through a No Child Left Behind of 2001 (NCLB) grant, this research examines the effects of the Arizona System Ready/Child Ready Early Childhood Professional Development Project (AzSRCR) on the self-efficacy of 256 educators who participated in AzSRCR over a 3-year period. The AzSRCR program was a federally funded, statewide higher education partnership that provided assistance for early childhood practitioners earning associate degrees in early childhood education. The program aimed to improve the professional knowledge and skills of preschool practitioners and ultimately enhance the preschool readiness of children living in low-income communities and underserved areas of the state. The data in this study were collected from AzSRCR program evaluations. Free-write and focus group data were analyzed to develop major themes common across the data set. The Lamorey-Wilcox self-efficacy scale (2003) was also administered, the results of which were triangulated with the qualitative data from the program evaluations and other quantitative data. The results showed an increase in participants' sense of self-efficacy, including expressions of confidence in their own math and reading abilities over the course of the AzSRCR program.