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Professional Development in Phonological Awareness for Early Childhood Educators in Low-Income, Urban Classrooms: A Pilot Study Examining Dosage Effects

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Abstract

Providing high-quality literacy instruction in early childhood may positively affect the long-term outcomes of children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Previous research has shown that educators are generally lacking in their own phonological awareness knowledge and skills which could negatively impact the provision of effective instruction in code-focused early literacy skills. The purposes of this pilot study were to examine the effects of differing dosages of professional development in phonological awareness on early childhood educators’ (ECEs) own phonological awareness skills and instructional practices, and to examine the effects on child outcomes. The comparison group consisted of 10 ECEs who were receiving professional development in emergent literacy and a sample of 59 children from their classrooms. The intervention group was composed of 10 similar ECEs who were in the same general professional development program but received an increased dosage of training focused on phonological awareness, and a sample of 53 children from their classrooms. Results showed that ECEs in the intervention group exhibited significantly greater improvements in their own phonological awareness skills and the quality of their instructional practices than the comparison group of ECEs. In addition, children in the intervention classrooms exhibited significantly larger gains on phonological awareness skills and upper-case alphabet knowledge. The results suggest that providing increased dosages of professional development focused on code-focused early literacy skills benefits both the ECEs and children in their classrooms. Implications of the current study and directions for future research are discussed.

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Data Availability

The data are available by contacting the corresponding author, Dr. Maura Moyle.

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Funding

This project was supported by the U. S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Early Reading First Program Grant S359B08008. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding source or other members of the research team.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Speech Language Pathology, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Jayne E. Jaskolski

  2. Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, Marquette University, 223 Cramer Hall, P.O. Box 1881, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53201-1881, USA

    Maura Jones Moyle

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Correspondence to Maura Jones Moyle.

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Conflicts of Interests

This research was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Marquette University. Signed consent forms were obtained by the participating early childhood educators. The research utilizing child data was considered exempt (i.e., business as usual) and did not required signed consent. Parents/guardians of participating children received informational letters and could opt out of the study. Dr. Jayne Jaskolski and Dr. Maura Moyle are authors of Phonological Awareness Training Program: A Speech-Language Pathologist’s Tool for Training Teachers (ASHA Press). The authors do not receive royalties from sales of the book. There are no real or potential conflicts of interest related to the manuscript that would influence the research. The authors have no other financial or non-financial interests to disclose. 

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Appendix

Appendix

Phonological Awareness Professional Development Intervention for ECEs: Training Session Structure

Minutes (120 total)

Activity

Description

5 min

Session overview

Review the training outline for the day.

15 min

Sharing classroom practices

ECEs shared phonological awareness lessons used in their classrooms during the prior month.

10 min

Review session

Review prior topics and key concepts.

10 min

Mini-lesson 1

Introduce new concept 1.

15 min

Practice session 1

Hands-on activity incorporating new concept 1.

10 min

Mini-lesson 2

Introduce new concept 2.

15 min

Practice session 2

Hands-on activity incorporating new concept 2.

10 min

Mini-lesson 3

Classroom instruction techniques using the two new concepts.

20 min

Practice 3

Hands on activity incorporating classroom instruction of new concept.

10 min

Goal setting

Teacher created a goal as to what concepts and activities they would use in their classroom the following month as well as what type of evidence they would bring back for the next session.

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Jaskolski, J.E., Moyle, M.J. Professional Development in Phonological Awareness for Early Childhood Educators in Low-Income, Urban Classrooms: A Pilot Study Examining Dosage Effects. Ann. of Dyslexia 73, 440–468 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-023-00289-1

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