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Individual and Contextual Factors Associated with Pre-Kindergarten Teachers’ Responsiveness to the MyTeachingPartner Coaching Intervention

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Abstract

With research findings indicating positive associations between teacher–child interaction quality and children’s development and learning, many professional development efforts now focus on improving the ways in which teachers interact with children. Previous work found that MyTeachingPartner (MTP), a web-mediated coaching intervention, improved teachers’ classroom interactions with children, and further analysis found that improvement in teachers’ interactions was mediated by their responsiveness to the MTP intervention. The current study assessed how teacher characteristics, including demographics, beliefs, and psychological factors, as well as contextual characteristics related to multiple measures of teachers’ responsiveness to MTP. Findings show that related factors vary across the different indicators of responsiveness. Specifically, the psychological factors of anxiety and readiness to change related to multiple indicators of responsiveness. Further, readiness to change and self-efficacious beliefs moderated the associations between classroom poverty and responsiveness. Study findings provide new insights into key teacher characteristics that might identify teachers in need of intervention adaptation or support to ultimately increase overall responsiveness.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the generous programs and teachers who participated in this study. The research reported here was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grants R305B090002 and R305A060021 to the University of Virginia. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the U.S. Department of Education.

Conflict of Interest

R.C.P. and B.K.H. are coauthors of the CLASS and cofounders and shareholders of Teachstone Training, LLC, a company focused on measuring and improving teacher-student interactions. The University of Virginia owns an equity share in Teachstone.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    Amy M. Roberts, Jennifer LoCasale-Crouch, Jamie DeCoster, Bridget K. Hamre, Jason T. Downer, Amanda P. Williford & Robert C. Pianta

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  1. Amy M. Roberts
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  2. Jennifer LoCasale-Crouch
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  4. Bridget K. Hamre
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  7. Robert C. Pianta
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Correspondence to Amy M. Roberts.

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Roberts, A.M., LoCasale-Crouch, J., DeCoster, J. et al. Individual and Contextual Factors Associated with Pre-Kindergarten Teachers’ Responsiveness to the MyTeachingPartner Coaching Intervention. Prev Sci 16, 1044–1053 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-014-0533-8

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