Having a supported and well-trained early care and education (ECE) workforce is critical for young children’s positive development (Burchinal, 2018; Early et al., 2007). Children who receive high quality ECE from well-educated teachers have a greater likelihood of positive short- and long-term outcomes, including higher grades in formal schooling (Bakken et al., 2017; Campbell et al., 2012), higher graduation rates (Campbell et al., 2012), and better physical and mental health (Campbell et al., 2014; Muennig et al., 2011). ECE teachers want to provide high-quality care and they want professional development (PD) that strengthens their skills (Ackerman, 2004). However, we know that high-quality care for children is explicitly connected to the wellbeing of ECE teachers and the support professionals receive (Kraft et al., 2018; Werner et al., 2016). Valuing ECE teachers involves attention to many factors, including PD opportunities that not only enhance their work, but can lead to formalized credentials, and correspondingly, career advancement (Institute of Medicine and National Resource Council [IMNRC], 2015).

While ECE teachers wish to do their best work, the research is clear that teachers without sufficient training are less likely to provide high-quality ECE, which can adversely affect children’s development (Brunsek et al., 2020; Manning et al., 2019). We know that within the U.S., roughly 40% of ECE direct care professionals do not hold any ECE credential, which may include a state certification or Child Development Associate (CDA) credential (National Survey of Early Care and Education Project Team, 2023). Offering a comprehensive system of PD that attends to the needs of those already working in the field but who have not yet completed foundational ECE training is one way to maintain a diverse workforce that is representative of the children and families served (James et al., 2020; Whitebook, 2014; Zinsser et al., 2019). It may also be one critical mechanism through which we can eliminate educational disparities in ECE (Iruka, 2020) by helping more children have access to well-trained ECE teachers.

In this paper we describe one research-informed program that was specifically designed to support in-field professionals’ access to a foundational credential in ECE (i.e., a CDA; Washington & Roberson Jackson, 2016). The CDA credential is recognized throughout the United States as an entry-level credential for ECE teachers and child care providers. As a part of completing one’s CDA, ECE teachers complete 120 h of training in eight foundational subject areas (e.g., supporting children’s development, building relationships with families, professionalism), prepare a professional portfolio documenting their learning, participate in a credentialing visit with a professional development specialist who observes the teacher’s practices in the classroom, and complete a comprehensive exam on developmentally appropriate practice. This combination of activities required by the CDA process supports teachers’ development of the skills needed to provide high quality ECE. The training hours obtained during our program supported requirements of the CDA credential and participants simultaneously earned State certified PD hours. In addition, their training could also be applied toward an Associate of Arts degree, further supporting in-field teachers’ career development.

The VLS Momentum project was a collaboration between the university, a local non-profit, and the local municipality to help ensure licensed childcare centers providing publicly funded child care (PFCC) could enter, remain, or potentially increase their rating in the State’s quality rating and improvement system (QRIS) by providing free, foundational PD to un-credentialed center-based ECE teachers. Following the National Professional Development Center on Inclusion’s (2008) conceptual definition of PD in early childhood, we considered PD within this project to encompass a structured set of teaching and learning experiences that were designed to support in-field teachers’ acquisition of professional knowledge and skills. The specific PD approach in this pilot was modeled after that of U.S. military-affiliated childcare programs where all newly hired staff who do not yet hold a degree in ECE/child development are provided a standard and comprehensive curriculum on child development and receive individualized feedback from a coach. In this paper, we describe the planned program, what was implemented, and examine who was served by the project and their perceptions of the experience.

Research on Supporting In-Field Professionals

Across the U.S., there is variation in the required minimum training required to be an ECE teacher, depending on the state of residence or ECE oversight body within the State. As highlighted in Transforming the ECE Workforce (IMNRC, 2015), these disparities, in combination with systemic inequities that harm minoritized children and families (Iruka, 2020), make it difficult to ensure high-quality ECE experiences for all young children. To address the variation in ECE quality (Whitebook et al., 2018), a variety of PD programs have been developed to enhance ECE teachers’ instructional practices (Whitebook, 2014).

However, providing PD does not always lead to improved classroom quality and children’s developmental outcomes (see Egert et al., 2018), likely due to different characteristics of PD (e.g., content and format) or teachers’ varying needs. That said, there is growing consensus about the types of PD that are most beneficial for securing quality ECE; PD that ensures all ECE teachers have “foundational knowledge and competencies” and the ability to apply their obtained knowledge to their practices is critical (IMNRC, 2015). As such, PD that includes coaching continues to receive recognition as an effective PD strategy for its capacity to enhance teachers’ practices (Egert et al., 2018; Kraft et al., 2018; Son et al., 2013). Coaching in ECE has been differentially defined (Lang et al., 2024), but for our work we define coaching as a relationship-based approach focused on helping the teacher use new practices in context [National Center on Early Childhood Development, Teaching and Learning (NCECDTL), n.d.].

Development and Overview of Virtual Lab School

The Virtual Lab School (VLS) is a hybrid PD system (see https://www.virtuallabschool.org/) originally developed for use by U.S. military-affiliated childcare centers that provides an example of the types of foundational, comprehensive, and competency-based PD that has been shown to be effective by providing a standardized training system. The VLS online training system includes research-informed lessons, demonstration videos, job-embedded activities, and supports for reflective practice. Pairing online content with individualized coaching support, the VLS PD system was designed to support the teacher’s developing competence as they learn and demonstrate a dynamic set of practices to support children.

Each of the courses within the VLS follows a systematic framework to support the learner’s acquisition of knowledge and demonstration of key practices. This approach, referred to as the “LEAD Framework,” provides the learner with opportunities to Learn, Explore, Apply, and Demonstrate their knowledge relative to a particular subject by offering evidenced-based information, visual demonstrations, and relevant tools and strategies to support implementation along with prompts to encourage self-reflection. This LEAD structure is similar to the Know-See-Do-Improve framework used by the U.S Administration for Children and Families, Office of Child Care and Head Start (n.d.). Each lesson within the VLS follows this LEAD framework and consists primarily of text, one to two practice-based videos, reflection activities, self-administered quiz questions with immediate online feedback, and implementation resources.

The VLS Momentum Pilot

Pending an upcoming requirement in Ohio that centers serving children receiving PFCC be rated one star or higher in the state’s Quality Rating and Improvement system and worries about the potential loss of publicly funded ECE spaces (Koury et al., 2019), the research team administering the partnered with the local municipality and a non-profit to pilot the use of the VLS PD system in community-based child care centers in one county. This pilot, VLS Momentum, attempted to increase QRIS ratings of participating childcare centers by increasing the credentials of the ECE teachers, a key component of programs’ quality rating score. The immediate goal was to provide the teachers in the participating centers with the training and coursework necessary to obtain their CDA while simultaneously providing free, flexibly delivered, state-approved PD hours. As the university that developed the VLS PD system, we were able to leverage the online content for this pilot project, and funding from a local non-profit and the university made the pilot possible.

The VLS Momentum project was modeled after the VLS as described above. Participating teachers were asked to complete 21 online courses which included foundational topics such as creating safe and healthy environments and supporting children’s physical, cognitive, language, and social-emotional development. After completing 15 foundational courses, teachers worked through additional modules on more advanced topics such as supporting children with challenging behaviors and trauma-informed care in childcare settings. These combined 21 courses were designed to fulfil the 120-hour training requirement across all domains of content required by the CDA credentialing process. Based on how the VLS PD program works in military child care programs, how each course counted within the State’s professional registry, and lead coaches’ expertise in providing CDA support, we asked that teachers complete the online courses in the order listed in Table 1.

Table 1 VLS Momentum course completion by participating teachers
Full size table

As shown in Fig. 1, participating teachers worked with their coaches in a completion cycle that emphasized reflective practice and competency building. Advancement through the coursework depended on participants’ demonstration of competence as assessed by their coaches. As participants engaged in the online activities, coaches provided supportive, constructive, and reflective feedback (see the Head Start Practice-Based Coaching Framework; NCECDTL, n.d.). to refine teachers’ understanding, facilitate reflection, and support implementation of presented concepts within their classrooms. When a participant completed all activities associated with an online module, their coach evaluated their content knowledge and practical competency to ensure participants were able to implement the covered skills before moving on to a new module. If, upon review, the teacher needed more support to demonstrate competence, the coach provided additional guidance and opportunities to refine teachers’ practice. This emphasis on competence rather than completion was a key part of the VLS Momemtum project, helping ensure participants (1) were well prepared for their CDA exam and observational assessment, (2) had a completed portfolio to share with their CDA assessor, and (3) earned VLS Momentum certificates which could be leveraged as course credit hours toward an A.A. degree in the field.

Fig. 1
figure 1

Course completion cycle

Full size image

Coach Qualifications and Training

Coaches on the VLS Momentum project were hired by the university and served as external supports to participating teachers and ECE programs. To support their success, we required that coaches have at least a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education or a related field and experience as ECE teachers. They were also required to have previous experience working with adult learners as PD providers or instructional coaches. To prepare them for VLS Momentum-specific coaching, each coach completed 15 Foundational courses that make up the VLS Training & Curriculum Specialist (T&CS) track and six Focused Topic courses over three weeks. The T&C track was designed to prepare coaches to use the VLS in their work to support teachers who are completing VLS Momentum training. Coaches also met biweekly with the VLS Momentum Lead Coach for support and reflective supervision and participated in monthly group coaching and development sessions to discuss the overall functioning of the pilot.

The Coaching Process

We planned for approximately 1.5–2 h of coach time per week per teacher, inclusive of both direct and indirect coaching activities, administrative tasks, and travel time to coaching locations. These direct coaching activities included, among others, observing in classrooms, modeling strategies for participating teachers, and engaging in goal-setting conversations while the indirect included activities such as providing written feedback on submitted activities, reviewing teachers’ post-course knowledge assessments, and compiling supplemental resources. Throughout a typical week, coaches held meetings with participants, read and provided written feedback on course activities, assessed teachers’ knowledge and competencies through observations and material review, and met with coaching team members to continue their own development as coaches. Prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, these activities occurred primarily in person, but transitioned to virtual activities when COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders took effect locally.

Current Study

Our planned implementation is outlined above. Within this study we examine implementation of the VLS Momentum program by analyzing programmatic course completions, PD hours earned, and engagement between coaches and teachers. We also examine participating teachers’ and coaches’ perceptions of the VLS Momentum PD system and their professional growth.

Specific Aims

  1. 1.

    Describe and critically examine the implementation of a hybrid, competency-focused PD intervention within the context of community-based ECE. Implementation components include teachers’ progress through the courses and completion rates, teachers’ perceptions about the usefulness of the courses, and the execution of coach-teacher interactions.

  2. 2.

    Assess key facilitators and barriers to teachers’ success from the perspective of participating teachers and PD coaches.

Methods

Recruitment

Center and teacher recruitment occurred between August 2019 and January 2020, with rolling onboarding of centers and teachers during this time. We began recruiting centers from those identified by our community partner as programs that would benefit from additional support to meet the state’s upcoming QRIS requirement (i.e., that all programs serving children receiving PFCC achieve at least a one-star [out of five] QRIS rating by September 2020; see Koury et al., 2019). We focused first on those centers not yet in Ohio’s QRIS (i.e., without a QRIS rating) that served children receiving PFCC and that could serve at least 45 children under 2.5 years old. We then expanded our recruitment efforts sequentially to unrated centers with lower enrollment capacity, 1-star rated centers, and finally centers rated at 2 stars or above. To maximize resources and effort, the goal was to recruit at least three teacher participants within each center, but we made exceptions to this requirement at the end of the first recruitment phase when it was clear we had ample capacity.

Our recruitment progression was designed to maximize support opportunities for the centers with the most limited resources and that fulfill critical childcare needs in the area (i.e., programs that provide spaces for low-income families with infants and toddlers). An analysis of the childcare landscape in Columbus, Ohio estimated that if these centers were unable to meet the new state requirements and were forced to close, approximately 21,000 young children and their families would lose access to care (Koury et al., 2019). While participating in the VLS Momentum project did not guarantee that centers would meet the new requirements, PD and credentialing of staff are key contributing domains toward a center’s quality rating, so centers that did agree to participate were likely to reach the 1-star benchmark. In addition, an increase in a center’s QRIS rating meant higher reimbursement rates for children receiving PFCC. Future Ready Columbus distributed information about our program at their events and to centers on their mailing list, and we also contacted eligible centers via telephone in the order specified above.

The VLS Momentum team created partnerships with interested centers, so that directors understood the benefits for their program and how they could support participating staff. Once a center indicated they were interested, a VLS Momentum recruitment representative, most often the lead coach, visited the center to explain the program, answer any questions, and ask center leadership to sign a “program agreement” (see supplemental materials). Interested teachers then met one-on-one with a VLS Momentum representative (most often the lead coach) to explain the program and answer any questions. Teachers were also asked to sign a “teacher agreement” which outlined what they could expect and what was expected of them as a part of their participation (see supplemental materials). Once teachers signed the teacher agreement, they were assigned a coach and officially enrolled.

We invited all teachers who had not yet earned a foundational credential in ECE (i.e., those without a CDA, A.A. or B.S. degree) to participate. We did not require that teachers consent to participate in the research portion of the project to participate in the PD opportunity as the primary goal was to reach as many teachers who wished to obtain a credential. Instead, we offered research opt-in opportunities at four points: (1) At initial in-person enrollment (for teachers enrolling prior to March 2020), (2) At the start of the fully online program (during April 2020 or later due to COVID-19-related disruptions), (3) At training completion, and (4) 3 months after the end of the full project.

This research was approved by the university’s Institutional Review Board and participants who opted in to provide more information provided written informed consent (pre-COVID-19) or completed an online consent process (during COVID-19).

Participants

Our full programmatic sample included teachers employed by 37 privately-operated childcare centers in a large metropolitan area. Of the participating centers, 51% did not yet have a quality rating through our state’s QRIS system and 54% were in areas identified as at great risk of experiencing childcare disruptions following the State’s new mandate. All participating programs served at least some families who received PFCC.

Because of the design choice described above, our research sample likely differs from our full programmatic sample, and different individuals consented to participate in different research activities across the course of the project. The full programmatic sample of teachers included 221 individuals who were employed within the 37 participating centers. 117 participated in the preschool teacher-oriented curriculum and 104 in the infant-toddler track. Eighty of these teachers consented to participate in at least some of the research activities which included additional surveys about themselves, their practices, and their experiences in the VLS Momentum pilot. For this study, we examined completion records, general coach-teacher engagement strategies for the full programmatic sample, and teachers’ perceptions of the VLS Momentum program from the research-consented sample. Self-administered surveys including demographic questionnaires were distributed to research participants over the intervention period, but not all research-consented participants provided demographic data.

Of those teachers who participated in the project and provided demographic information, 96% identified as female. Responding participants had between 0 and 21 years of experience in the field (n = 28, m = 6.79, SD = 7.156) and were between 20 and 60 years old at the end of the study (n = 36, m = 36.8, SD = 10.0). All participants who provided demographic information spoke and wrote in English (n = 29), nearly half of respondents (n = 13) also reported speaking a language other than English including Arabic, Chinese, French, Somali, Spanish, and Tagalog. Participants responding to our post-test survey (n = 36) were asked to select all racial groups with which they identified. The majority selected White (64%), 29% selected Black or African American, and 9% Asian. 9% of responding teachers identified as multiracial. Of the responding teachers, 7% also identified as Hispanic or Latine.

Seven coaches served during the intervention, of whom five completed interviews for the research project (see below). Each full-time coach served between 20 and 25 teachers at between 2 and 8 ECE centers, though coach caseloads fluctuated when teachers left the VLS Momentum project or their employing centers, as new centers were on-boarded, and as coaches moved on to new roles outside the VLS. The coaching lead and program leader served approximately 15 and 5 teachers at a time, respectively, given that both provided additional support and development to the full-time coaches. Each participating ECE center was assigned one coach to maximize travel efficiency and the strength of relationships between coaches and participating centers. All coaches were female, had previously been ECE teachers, and had previous experience either as childcare administrators or coaches. Five coaches (including the project lead and lead coach) stayed for the full duration of the project while two coaches left after 8 and 12 months, respectively. All were native English speakers. Two coaches identified as Black and five as White. None of the coaches identified as Hispanic or Latina.

Measures

This study utilizes three types of data: (1) PD data collected during the actual training period (i.e., participants’ engagement in the VLS Momentum; engagement between coaches and participants in the pilot), (2) surveys completed by research participants throughout the study (i.e., participants’ perceptions), and (3) interviews completed with coaches after the end of the study (i.e., successes and challenges of the VLS Momentum PD project). Each type of data provided a different avenue for exploring the implementation of the project.

Participant’s Engagement in VLS Momentum

Time stamps were used to investigate the participants’ engagements throughout the VLS Momentum PD coursework (i.e., at program enrollment, at the beginning of a course, and when teachers completed each course). Those were recorded by the VLS online platform. We used these time stamps to calculate the number of days it took participants to complete coursework and the number of courses enrolled in and completed.

Engagement Between Coaches and Participants in VLS Momentum

The engagement between coaches and teachers was measured by the types and number of contacts during the pilot including the COVID-19 pandemic. These were collected via a standard project email address, Google voice logs of calls and texts, and debrief forms that coaches completed after every in-person or virtual coaching conversation focused on course competency (see Fig. 1, step 4). Emails were also reviewed by the research team who created general categories to reflect the main content of the correspondence (Table 2).

Table 2 Categories of email content and codes within each category
Full size table

Participants’ Perceptions

Research participants were invited to complete surveys which included questions about their perceptions of the VLS Momentum program. We examined participants’ satisfaction using Likert-type questions asked at the conclusion of the training and at 4-months post training (see Tables 3 and 4, respectively). In addition, within these surveys, participants were asked a few open-ended questions, such as “What else could your child care center have done to help support your VLS Momentum Training? What was most helpful overall about the VLS program?”

Table 3 Short-term post-intervention feedback
Full size table
Table 4 Long-term post-intervention feedback
Full size table

Successes and Challenges of the VLS Momentum PD Project

Coaches were invited to participate in a semi-structured interview about the project, including facilitators and barriers to engagement. They could participate either orally or through writing. If they chose to participate orally, they chose from either a videoconference or phone conversation. If they preferred to write their answers, they chose to answer via email or an anonymous online form. Coaches could also choose to opt in or out of follow-up questions. A member of the research team who had previously served as a coach on similar projects and who was not directly involved in the VLS Momentum project developed the semi-structured interview guide for coaches (see supplemental materials) with input from other members of the research team, several of whom had also served as coaches in previous roles. Of the project’s seven original coaches, five participated in the interviews. One coach chose the videoconference option, and the remainder chose to participate in writing, with three of these choosing email and one opting for the anonymous online form. All participating coaches also agreed to answer follow-up questions as needed via email or phone.

Analysis

We analyzed survey data using a combination of basic descriptive statistics and content analysis (Krippendorff, 2018) of the short-answer responses.

Analysis of coaches’ responses involved a content analytic approach by a member of the research team who aggregated and summarized the responses before sharing aggregated information with the rest of the research team. This arrangement maximized participating coaches’ privacy as some continued to be employed as part of the broader VLS project.

Results

VLS Momentum Implementation

Participants had the opportunity to complete 21 VLS courses through their involvement with VLS Momentum. These courses were delivered to participants as designed and presented on the publicly available website (https://www.virtuallabschool.org/), with the exception of military childcare specific content, that was adjusted to meet the needs of community-based ECE providers. Each participant completed a set of required activities to support their understanding of the material and preparation for the CDA accreditation process. Table 1 shows the number of participants who enrolled in and completed each course and the estimated clock hours required for successful completion of each course. Overall, participants completed a median of 4 courses (M = 7.62, SD = 7.25) during the 15 months of the intervention. Participating teachers earned a cumulative 4,347 h of STATE-Approved PD credit through their participation. Those who completed at least one course earned an average of 32.7 Ohio-Approved hours (Mdn = 18, SD = 32.4), with 58 participants exceeding Ohio’s minimum standard of 20 h biennially for staff employed by QRIS-rated programs.

Teachers’ Progress Through VLS Momentum

Of the 221 originally enrolled participants, 133 completed at least the first course. As shown in Fig. 2, the number of individual participants completing courses declined over time, with 47 participants reaching benchmark 1 (i.e., sufficient hours earned to reach the second level of Ohio’s Career Pathway structure), 30 reaching benchmark 2 (e.g., completion of all 15 foundational courses that are directly aligned with the CDA competencies), and 21 completing the full series and fulfilling the 120-hour PD requirement for CDA credential eligibility.

Fig. 2
figure 2

Number of participants completing each course

Full size image

Figure 3 illustrates participants’ progression through courses across the project period. Some participants met the first benchmark and moved on to the second phase as early as five months into the project while others were still completing courses from among the first eight at the end of the project period, fifteen months after beginning. Participants varied widely in their course completion speed, with a median of 41 days between enrollment in and completing an individual course (range = 8–204), and a mean of 211 days (SD = 125.1) between participants’ first course enrollment and their final course completion. For those who completed the full series of 21 courses, they did so in a mean of 333 days (range = 195–452, SD = 67.5) for an average of 16 days spent per course. As would be expected, time in the program was strongly positively correlated with the number of courses completed (r = .7, p < .001).

Fig. 3
figure 3

The number of course completions by project month

Full size image

Teachers’ Perceptions of VLS Momentum

In addition to earning PD credit, on the survey administered immediately following the pilot, responding teachers (n = 23) overwhelmingly indicated that they found the program helpful and supportive of their professional development (Table 3). Themes evident in participants’ short answer responses emphasized the program’s comprehensiveness, the benefits of coaching in addition to coursework, and the level of personal commitment needed to be successful. Overall, participants described the program as “well worth the time” and encouraged other early childhood educators to “Do it!” Teachers responding to the long-term follow-up survey (n = 27) continued to have favorable opinions of VLS Momentum and its impact on their work (Table 4). Most had recommended the VLS platform to other ECE teachers and continued to use the VLS materials in their work. Reflecting on their experience with coaching, nearly all participants reported still using information and strategies their coach taught them and recalled their interactions positively.

Coach-Teacher Interactions

Coaches were given flexibility to work with their assigned teachers in the modes of communication that worked best for them as a dyad and to use these as needed throughout the project period. As shown in Table 5, coaches used different forms of communication to differing degrees and initiated 78% of contacts between coaches and participants. Overall, 41.8% of coach communications involved sending or receiving emails, while another 33.1% involved phone communication (making and receiving calls, receiving voicemails, or missed calls); 25.1% were conducted through text message. The dominant mode of communication also varied widely between coaches. In reviewing the content and purpose of a sample of coach-teacher email communication, we found that approximately 60% of the emails sent and received were related to content of the VLS Momentum, with clarification of concepts and feedback provided to teachers. An additional quarter were relationship-focused, and just under 20% were technical in nature, dealing with scheduling, website problems, and supporting participants with technology.

Table 5 Percentages of contact types by coach
Full size table

Outside of the brief communications coaches and teachers engaged in by phone, email, and text, the primary contact between coaches and participants occurred during what we termed “debrief” sessions. Coaches used these debrief sessions to check for understanding and reinforce the online course content as well as to provide an opportunity for participants to demonstrate skills and receive additional support. Over the course of the project, coaches conducted a total of 1,876 debrief sessions. Participants who completed the full VLS Momentum program (n = 21) received an average of 29 debrief sessions (SD = 7.17), for a mean of 1.4 sessions per course, with a range of 1 to 7 (SD = 0.34). While we did not capture duration in terms of minutes per session, coaches anecdotally reported that these sessions typically lasted approximately 30 min but could vary in length based on teacher need.

Facilitators and Barriers to Success

According to Teachers

We asked teachers a variety of questions on the short- and long-term follow-up surveys about what supported and hindered their progress through the courses. Themes from teachers’ responses around what supported their success included strong, positive relationships with their coaches; coaches who were able to clarify and reinforce difficult concepts; and having the opportunity to complete the online VLS Momentum activities and meet with their coaches during the workday rather than on their own time. Themes from their responses around barriers to progress include difficulty finding time to complete the online component of the training; delays in communication between teachers and coaches, particularly at key transition points (e.g., completing one course and enrolling in the next); difficulty navigating through activities on mobile devices; and disruptions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. These themes were further reflected in the number of participants endorsing the specific barriers shown in Table 6 during the long-term follow-up.

Table 6 Factors teachers endorsed as contributing to difficulty participating in VLS Momentum
Full size table

When asked about what their centers did to help support their progress, nine of the 24 responding teachers reported either “nothing” or indicated that the center only allowed project staff to come into their centers but did not support them in any other way. Another eight reported that their centers provided them with time to meet with their coaches and complete coursework. Five described their centers providing them with material support such as computers and help scanning and faxing materials that needed to be submitted for state scholarships. Four of the responding teachers indicated that their centers provided them with specific resources for improving their classrooms in line with what they learned from the online coursework and coaching interactions.

In responding to questions about what supports they wished centers had provided, nearly half of respondents (n = 11) noted that they did not feel there was anything else their centers could have done to help them. Of those who did identify additional supports they wanted from their centers, a quarter of teachers mentioned wanting more time, both for completing the online coursework and VLS activities and for meeting with their coach. Other participants desired additional resources and opportunities to apply the material they learned, with two indicating that they did not have the classroom materials needed to implement what they learned and another noting that their program struggled to follow licensing rules and guidelines, which made implementation of best practices challenging. Several others also wanted more encouragement and recognition from their center’s administration.

According to Coaches

Interviews from coaches revealed similar facilitators and barriers. Coaches universally agreed that the time (or lack thereof) teachers were able to spend completing program activities was critical to their success. They noted that those who were able to successfully complete the full curriculum were those who had the support of their center directors. Teachers who had more difficulty were those who were less skilled with technology and those whose English language skills were still developing, as well as those who experienced adverse events in their personal lives during the project.

Coaches also noted that teachers’ personal motivations for participation seemed to influence their success over and above external circumstances. Coaches used words like “driven to succeed,” “committed,” “dedicated,” and “highly motivated” to describe the teachers that they perceived as more successful. They described teachers who were less successful as teachers who felt “forced into it” due to pressure from center management or, in some cases, because they were required to participate to remain employed. One coach observed that, of the teachers on her caseload who were required to participate by their center’s management, none successfully completed all 21 courses. She described many of these teachers as having left either their jobs or the ECE field entirely during the project period.

Discussion

This study offers important insight into potential models and strategies for enhancing un-credentialed, ECE teachers’ knowledge and skill in research-based ECE practices, while simultaneously supporting their professional trajectory toward formalized credentials. The hybrid approach of providing accessible online ECE PD, paired with the support of a trained coach, may offer one key pathway for meeting the diverse needs of in-field teachers while maintaining a focus on professional competency. As evidenced in the results, the VLS Momentum program adapted to the needs of the participating teachers by supporting them at an overall course pace that fit within their lives, and by using diverse forms of communication (i.e., phone calls, texts, emails, in-person and virtual visits) to provide feedback and maintain engagement. Although only 21 of the 181 originally enrolled teachers completed the full program, 133 teachers accumulated at least six PD hours they could apply toward their CDA application, and 58 teachers met the minimum biennial requirement of 20 h of state-approved PD. Supporting ECE teachers with limited formal education takes a variety of approaches, and, as highlighted in the results, teachers and coaches offered suggestions relative to strategies that facilitated engagement, as well as barriers to teachers’ success.

Consistent and Variable Support

From the post-implementation and long-term follow-up survey, a majority of responding teachers indicated that the VLS Momenum project helped to make them better teachers (even those who did not complete the full intervention), and that the online PD paired with support from their coach was useful and facilitated their growth. Participating teachers endorsed the online training and believed that the components of the LEAD framework were supportive of their learning. Indeed, 100% of survey respondents indicated that they shared material from the training with coworkers and families. Further, continued access to tools such as the VLS may be important for sustaining implementation after training completion, as teachers can continue to reference the publicly available resources.

Flexibility embedded in the VLS Momentum program allowed coaches to use a variety of contact methods to engage with teachers. Although at least one synchronous meeting (in-person prior to COVID-19 or virtually via phone or live chat technologies after) was required per course, intermediate feedback, reminders, and touch-bases could happen in ways that were preferred by coaches and teachers. Within their coaching meetings, coaches encouraged one another to try different forms of communication and shared successes with contacting teachers in a variety of ways. Several coaches mentioned this flexibility in modes of communication as important to their work and described using different modalities for different participants and different purposes.

In addition, as highlighted in the variability in the number of debrief sessions (i.e., synchronous feedback and modeling sessions occurring after the completion of course activities) that teachers received throughout the project, some teachers needed more support to achieve competency within a particular course before progressing. This kind of flexibility accommodates providers at all levels of skill but may be particularly helpful when supporting uncredentialed, in-field teachers who may have varying levels of experience with higher education or more rigorous forms of PD (James et al., 2020; Whitebook et al., 2016).

Although responding participants overwhelmingly endorsed the program in post-intervention and follow-up surveys, and many teachers benefited from participation by garnering at least some PD hours, there was substantial variability in the number of courses participants completed as well as the time needed to complete a course. For example, even at the end of the project, some participants were still working on completing one of the first eight courses. Though COVID-19 and the associated economic and personal stressors likely impacted some participants’ success, COVID-19 was not the only barrier impacting teachers’ completion. While the VLS Momentum program provided a general timeline to participants, outlining how teachers could complete the full program in 10 months, the program also “met teachers where they were” in terms of their skills and availability, and let teachers control their own course pacing, which is different from other long-term coaching-inclusive professional development efforts in early childhood (e.g., Downer et al., 2024). In the sections that follow we outline the participant- and coach-identified facilitators and barriers to timely completion, but future research should examine other factors that may influence PD completion, such as content order, variability in coach feedback or engagement strategies, or offering more structured supports to document timelines and goals.

Potential Facilitators

Responding participants overwhelmingly endorsed that their coaches were key facilitators in their success, noting that coaches helped to clarify challenging concepts and provided a positive space for professional growth. Coaches were trained with content that emphasized a model of coaching which stressed collaboration and building upon participants’ existing strengths, with a particular focus on fostering strong practices and providing supportive and constructive feedback in ways that encouraged teachers to be reflective practitioners (Artman-Meeker et al., 2015; NCECDTL, n.d.). Responses from teacher surveys and interviews indicate that the goal of forming strong professional partnerships was met for most participants.

Another key facilitator identified by participating teachers, and echoed in coach interviews, was the opportunity to complete the PD online. Participants shared that the online system allowed them to complete their PD in a more flexible fashion that better fit into their lives. Results from participants’ survey responses regarding the coursework indicate that participants felt the PD system, including the LEAD assets within lessons, supported their learning.

Teachers and coaches both identified time to complete the program during the workday as another key facilitator of teachers’ success. Teachers who were given time to meet with their coach and to complete coursework during their workday all endorsed that this was a key factor in their success while those who were not given this time recommended it as an improvement for future efforts. Coaches noted that when teachers had time set aside as a part of their work, they seemed to make more consistent progress and to be more engaged with the coursework.

Finally, coaches identified center directors as facilitative of teachers’ success—if the directors encouraged teachers to participate rather than requiring them to do so. Surprisingly, given the importance that coaches placed on directors’ approaches, most responding teachers did not identify their center directors or their directors’ attitudes toward their participation as key facilitators of their success. Responses to questions about what participants would have liked from their centers and directors, however, hint that participants may have valued support from their directors had it been more available, suggesting that directors’ attitudes and actions around staff PD are an area in need of further study.

Identified Barriers

COVID-19 was a barrier exacerbating some of the challenges already present in the field (Malik et al., 2020; NAEYC, 2021). Center closures, participating teachers’ changing workloads, changes in participants’ family responsibilities, and access to internet or technology, as well as teachers’ increased financial and familial stress were all struggles that coaches shared during their meetings with each other and that were echoed in some of the survey and interview responses. During the pandemic, coaches shared additional relevant resources with participants (e.g., how to apply for unemployment and temporary financial assistance, free internet access spots around the city, and where to obtain personnel protective equipment like masks and hand-sanitizer), but the threats of a global pandemic to their lives and livelihoods inevitably impacted some teachers’ participation.

Finding time to complete the online training was also a key barrier identified by both participating teachers and coaches. Although center directors were asked to commit to providing one hour a week for each participating teacher, it is clear from both teachers’ and coaches’ responses that not all centers were able to meet this commitment.

Connected to time challenges within the childcare center, some participants faced personal life challenges outside of work that impeded their progress. Teachers and coaches shared that issues of childcare, personal or familial health, and financial crises impacted teachers’ success. These challenges are likely even higher than what was reflected in responses from participants in the research sample, as they self-selected into the research study, and we have very few responses from those who dropped out of the program. When working on a project of this length, the potential impact of such “life events” on participants’ progress must be considered and addressed, especially given that many of the ECE teachers who stand to benefit most from comprehensive foundational training face high levels of adversity because of structural inequities within the ECE industry (Iruka, 2020; Whitebook et al., 2016).

Another barrier noted was consistency and communication across project coaches. This was particularly evident during transition points, for example when coaches left the project and centers and teachers were re-assigned a different coach, but also sometimes when teachers completed a course. Once a teacher submitted a course for completion, they needed to wait for their coach’s review of the course materials and then schedule and complete a debrief session before they were able to move on to the next course. While coaches attempted to complete these tasks and follow-up with teachers in a timely manner, there were times when they were unable to do so, such as when a teacher submitted materials close to a hard deadline or when the coach was onboarding a newly added program. Delays in coaches’ responses led to delays in teachers being able to work through the course sequence. Coaches and teachers both felt the impact of these delays, with coaches describing backlogs that contributed to compounding delays at times, and teachers describing disruptions to their ideal timelines that made it harder to complete the coursework in a way that fit their lives.

Limitations

Although this study is unique in its focus on specifically supporting uncredentialed, center-based ECE teachers at un- or lower-rated childcare centers providing PFCC, our results must be interpreted within the limitations of our design. Our programmatic team contacted all eligible centers in the region as described, but the centers that chose to participate and that had enough eligible and interested teachers to participate may be different in some way from those that did not. In addition, not all centers or teachers involved in the VLS Momentum project consented to participate in the research study, and only a subset of research-consented participants completed the surveys and/or provided demographic information; thus, these responses may not be representative of all participating teachers.

In addition, there was high attrition throughout the project, and it was difficult to gather the experiences and perspectives of those who withdrew or dropped out because of the complications of the COVID-19 pandemic and complications inherent in working with a teacher population that faces high levels of adversity (Hart Research Associates, 2013; James et al., 2020). Attrition was to be expected given the generally high rates of turnover (> 30% according to Caven and colleagues, 2021) within the early childhood field as a whole, but rates within this study were higher than similar studies of coaching-based interventions in ECE (e.g., Pianta et al., 2017 which had an overall attrition rate of approximately 50%). Future research on long-term PD projects should include clearer exit procedures to help gather quick insight into teachers’ reasons for discontinuing their participation, barriers, and ways to strengthen the program. Such an adjustment would also likely address the final limitation of this study—an inability to specifically examine how the VLS Momentum program may impact providers differently. Although responses from the research sample who completed the demographic survey provide some evidence that this program was well-received by a diverse group of ECE teachers (e.g., with a varying number of years in the field and different racial identities or language experiences), the sample size and study design did not allow us to examine differential impacts. Future studies should include sufficiently large samples to allow for disaggregation by race, language, or other potentially relevant demographics.

Implications and Future Directions

The identified facilitators and barriers offer some guidance on ways to improve the implementation of comprehensive PD training models like VLS Momentum. As highlighted in recent press praising the U.S. military’s model for providing high quality ECE (e.g., Gupta, 2021; Wise et al., 2021), emulating their approach to PD could be especially helpful in supporting in-field teachers to achieve higher competency and education. Military-affiliated programs offer their incoming staff paid time and coaching support over the course of 18–24 months to complete comprehensive foundational training, accommodations that could, if implemented in community ECE programs, help alleviate the challenges related to time and external stressors that can impede teachers’ progress. This strategy could also help address staffing shortages currently prevalent in the ECE field (NAEYC, 2021) and help to attract and maintain a more diverse workforce, as minoritized individuals—who are less likely than non-minoritized teachers to have formal ECE credentials and degrees (Whitebook et al., 2016)—are also more likely to encounter barriers when engaging in extramural PD activities as a consequence of structural inequities (James et al., 2020).

Our research provides evidence that flexible PD models that involve coaching have promise, but that they are difficult to study in a rigorous way due to the inherent variability of both participants and the model, particularly when individualization is part of the intervention. Future study designs should support disaggregation by race, income, language, prior PD experience, or other individual characteristics to assess differential impact on different groups of providers. Additionally, given that participants within this project may have had different motivations for participating (and discontinuing their participation) at the project’s outset, it will be important in future projects to include ways to assess participants’ intentions and desired outcomes. Distinguishing between groups of participants who intended to complete the full intervention and those who may have had other goals at the project outset will ensure that adjustments to PD models reflect the actual needs of the participants rather than the goals of the policy leaders or researchers. In addition, we provided a prescribed course order for this foundational training, but that may not be supportive of all professionals; future projects could consider teacher and coach choice regarding course progression which could increase internal motivation and engagement (Deci & Ryan, 2012). Future studies should also attempt to elucidate the balance between flexibility and fidelity that makes for effective coaching-based PD interventions. Questions that still need to be answered include what the critical practices or essential elements are within this hybrid PD approach, how flexible versus rigid timelines influence completion, and what the differences in effectiveness are between competency-based and completion-based metrics.

Conclusion

This study detailed one potentially promising model to support un-credentialed, in-field teachers in ECE. By combining research-based online PD, with the follow-up of individualized coaching support, participating teachers garnered PD hours they could leverage toward state requirements, professional credentials, and degree programs. Participating teachers also overwhelmingly endorsed the program and found the online training and coaching support were critical in making them better teachers. VLS Momentum may offer a pathway to strengthening the availability and quality of ECE, by offering a system that can be leveraged to increase ECE teachers’ professional competencies.