Implementation Quality: Lessons Learned in the Context of the Head Start REDI Trial

Area of Science:

• Early Childhood Education
• Educational Psychology
• Intervention Science

Background:

• The Head Start REDI program is a randomized clinical trial designed to enhance preschool children's social-emotional competence, language, and emergent literacy.
• Teachers in the REDI program received weekly coaching to support the delivery of a comprehensive curriculum.
• Understanding implementation variations is crucial for optimizing intervention effectiveness in early childhood settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess multiple dimensions of curriculum implementation (Dosage, Fidelity, Generalization, Child Engagement) within Head Start REDI classrooms.
• To examine how teacher implementation quality evolved over the course of the intervention year.
• To investigate the association between implementation variations and child outcomes in social-emotional, language, and literacy domains.

Main Methods:

• Data were collected from 22 intervention classrooms participating in the Head Start REDI trial.
• Implementation dimensions including Dosage, Fidelity, Generalization, and Child Engagement were systematically assessed.
• Statistical analyses examined changes in implementation over time and relationships with child outcome measures.

Main Results:

• REDI Trainers observed significant improvements in teacher implementation quality throughout the study period.
• Dosage and Fidelity remained consistently high, while Generalization showed a significant increase from baseline.
• Variations in implementation quality were associated with child outcomes in the social-emotional domain, but not in language or literacy.

Conclusions:

• Teacher coaching in the Head Start REDI program effectively supported high levels of Dosage and Fidelity, with notable gains in Generalization.
• Implementation variations significantly impacted social-emotional development, highlighting the importance of consistent and generalized curriculum delivery.
• Further research may be needed to understand how to enhance the generalization of language and literacy components for greater impact.