Preparing Undergraduate Pre-service Teachers Through Direct and Video-Based Performance Feedback and Tiered Supports in Early Head Start

Abstract

Video-based peer coaching and tiered supports were used to promote pre-service teachers’ developmentally appropriate adult–child interactions during a semester-long learning module focusing on education, care, and early intervention for infants and toddlers. Undergraduate majors (n = 19) in their second year of an early childhood teacher education program were enrolled in a field-based birth-to-three experience. The module under study took place during one of eight semesters of guided field based apprenticeship, with classroom teachers and early childhood faculty providing constant direct supervision and field-based instruction. Faculty collaborated with Early Head Start teachers to implement a system of tiered supports including universal, targeted, and intensive strategies and interventions derived from principles of multitiered systems of support; video-based peer coaching served as a support at each level of this framework. The field-based module took place in Early Head Start classrooms, where candidates were assessed weekly on developmentally appropriate practice using the CLASS (LaParo et al. in Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) manual, toddler. Paul H. Brookes, Baltimore, 2012). Peer coaching groups provided weekly feedback on uploaded video clips of student-led classroom activities. These supports positively influenced undergraduates’ interaction behaviors; interviews revealed dimensions of their personal and professional growth. Implications for teacher preparation and further research are discussed.