Observational StudyStudy of Coaching Practices in Early Care and Education Settings

Mathematica Policy Research, funded by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will collect descriptive information for the Study of Coaching Practices in Early Care and Education Settings (SCOPE) project. The goal of this information collection is to learn how the prevalence, implementation, combination, and tailoring of core features of professional development coaching for early care and education (ECE) providers vary across ECE classrooms and family child care (FCC) homes serving children supported by Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) subsidies or in settings that receive Head Start grants. The investigators will conduct three data collection activities. First, the investigators will collect information on coaching taking place in different states in winter 2018 from state-level entities. Second, the investigators will conduct one round of survey data collection with ECE center directors, coaches, teachers, and FCC providers in winter 2019 through spring 2019. Third, the investigators will conduct case studies to better understand factors that influence the coaching approaches identified through the survey data collection. The case studies will include semi-structured interviews, a coaching session observation, and collection of coaching logs. The case studies will occur in spring 2020.