Interventions to improve early childhood care and education programs often focus on providing training, sometimes combined with coaching, to classroom educators. However, such interventions are uneven in their effectiveness.
In this article, Dr. Marshall, Dr. Robeson, and Dr. Roberts describe the development of the Ready Educators Quality Improvement Pilot (REQIP), an intervention they refined, implemented, and evaluated at 10 center-based programs with more than 60 educators over the course of 19 months. REQIP integrates two approaches: One focuses on the workforce through training and coaching at the educator level. The other focuses on the program in which the educators work, through executive coaching for administrators and consultations on the classroom, building spaces, and curriculum materials.
This article examines the challenges faced during implementation and the implications for putting REQIP into practice. It also discusses the results of the evaluation, and implications for other applications of social science.
