Increasing the Active Supervision of Inclusive Early Childhood Education Pre-Service Teachers Using Goal Setting and...

Area of Science:

• Education
• Behavioral Science
• Special Education

Background:

• Teacher professional development is crucial for inclusive early childhood special education.
• Understanding factors that enhance teacher-student engagement is a key research area.
• Wearable technology offers potential for monitoring and modifying teacher behaviors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the correlation between increased educator steps and student interactions using a reversal design.
• To determine if self-monitoring and goal-setting for steps influence intervention adoption and lasting behavior change in teachers.
• To assess the social validity of step increases as a method for enhancing teacher-student engagement.

Main Methods:

• A reversal (ABAB) design was employed with pre-service inclusive early childhood special education teachers.
• Data collection involved step counting, visual analysis, nonoverlap of all pairs, and Tau-U for effect size.
• The study was conducted in two public elementary schools in the Southern United States.

Main Results:

• Minor positive effects were noted for teacher step counts.
• High data variability precluded definitive conclusions regarding the relationship between steps and teacher-student interactions.
• Meaningful shifts towards therapeutic targets were observed in MSI (Measurement System for Intervention) data when comparing baseline to intervention phases.

Conclusions:

• While the intervention showed some promise for increasing teacher steps, the variability in data limits strong conclusions about its impact on teacher-student interactions.
• The study suggests potential for MSI data to reflect therapeutic changes, warranting further investigation.
• Further research is needed to explore the functional relationship between physical steps and teacher-student engagement in educational settings.