The impact of technical coaching in emergent literacy and language curriculum on a Head Start teacher, staff members, English language learners, and Hispanic family literacy practices

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of technical coaching in emergent literacy and language curriculum provided to a Head Start teacher and two staff members in a dual session Head Start classroom. This quasi-experimental study employed mixed methods. The three components studied were: (a) the emergent literacy and language development of Hispanic Head Start English language learners (ELLS); (b) use of literacy in the classroom environment by the Head Start teacher and two staff members; and (c) Hispanic family literacy practices.;The teacher and two staff members assessed ELL students using The Creative Curriculum Developmental Continuum for Ages 3-5 (Dodge & Colker, 2001; Dodge, Colker, & Heroman, 2008), as part of regular Head Start programming. The teacher and staff members completed pre- and post- self-reported Literacy Implementation Checklists (Heroman & Jones, 2004; Jones & Heroman, 2005), and participated in formal and informal interviews. The researcher conducted ongoing classroom observations. The parents of the ELLs completed pre- and post- surveys related to family literacy practices.;Results indicated that use of the intervention positively impacted the social/emotional, physical, cognitive, and language development of the ELLs. Quantitative results indicated that the intervention positively impacted the teacher and staff members' use of literacy in guiding children's literacy learning, but that it did not impact the use of literacy in the library or in the overall classroom environment. Qualitative results indicated that the intervention positively impacted the teacher and staff members' use of literacy in the classroom environment. Results indicated that the intervention did not significantly impact Hispanic family literacy practices.;Technical coaching is an effective way to provide professional development to early childhood educators and therefore is an effective professional development model for the field of early childhood education. Future research on using technical coaching should continue to examine the impact on children's development, classroom practices, and families.