Early Childhood Teachers’ Inclusion in Their Elementary School’s Social-Emotional Multitiered System of Supports: A Mixed Methods Study

Abstract

In this mixed methods study, we used a state-wide survey to explore the perceptions of 936 preschool through second-grade teachers about inclusion in their elementary school’s social-emotional multitiered system of supports (MTSS). Overall, early childhood teachers reported feeling included in their school’s social-emotional MTSS. Results of a one-way between-subjects analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated that preschool teachers working in elementary schools reported general agreement about being included, but not as strongly as kindergarten, first-, and second-grade teachers. Qualitative analyses of teachers’ open-ended responses revealed similar grade-level patterns. When early childhood teachers did not feel included, they described feeling separate from the rest of the school, using a different social-emotional approach, or the school’s social-emotional MTSS approach not being appropriate for their students. Inclusion in school-wide activities and implementation issues, such as consistency across teachers, an efficient behavioral MTSS process, and training opportunities, affected teachers’ feelings of inclusion in the social-emotional MTSS.

Keywords

social-emotional MTSS school-wide PBIS early childhood elementary schools

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abel

M. B.

Talan

T. N.

Pollitt

K. D.

Bornfreund

(2016). National principals’ survey on early childhood instructional leadership. https://digitalcommons.nl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=mccormickcenter-pubs

Birt

Scott

Cavers

Campbell

Walter

(2016). Member checking: A tool to enhance trustworthiness or merely a nod to validation? Qualitative Health Research, 26, 1802–1811. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732316654870

Brown

Squires

Connors-Tadros

Horowitz

(2014). What do we know about principal preparation, licensure requirements, and professional development for school leaders? (CEELO policy report). Center on Enhancing Early Learning Outcomes. https://nieer.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/ceelo_policy_report_ece_principal_prep.pdf

Buchanan

Gueldner

B. A.

Tran

O. K.

Merrell

K. W.

(2009). Social and emotional learning in classrooms: A survey of teachers’ knowledge, perceptions, and practices. Journal of Applied School Psychology, 25(2), 187–203. https://doi.org/10.1080/15377900802487078

Code of Colorado Regulations: Rules Regulating Child Care Centers CCR 2509-8. (2021). 7.702.105. Child care programs and preschools operated by a public School District., B. Director Requirements, 91. https://www.sos.state.co.us/CCR/GenerateRulePdf.do?ruleVersionId=9861&fileName=12%20CCR%202509-8

Cohen-Vogel

Sadler

J. R.

Little

Merrill

(2020). (Mis)alignment of instructional policy supports in Pre-K and kindergarten: Evidence from rural districts in North Carolina. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 52, 30–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2019.11.001

Colorado Department of Education. (2019). PBIS annual report 2019. Office of Learning Supports.

Colorado Department of Education. (2022a). Colorado education facts and figures. https://www.cde.state.co.us/communications/coeducationfactsandfigures

Colorado Department of Education. (2022b). Early childhood education (ages 0-8) added endorsement worksheet. https://www.cde.state.co.us/cdeprof/eceaeworksheet

10.

Cook

K. D.

Coley

R. L.

Zimmermann

(2019). Who benefits? Head start directors’ views of coordination with elementary schools to support the transition to kindergarten. Children and Youth Services Review, 100, 393–404. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2019.03.021

11.

Corbin

Strauss

(2008). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory (3rd ed.). SAGE. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452230153

12.

Deci

E. L.

Koestner

Ryan

R. M.

(2001). Extrinsic rewards and intrinsic motivation in education: Reconsidered once again. Review of Educational Research, 71, 1–27. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543071001001

13.

Desimone

Payne

Fedoravicius

Henrich

C. C.

Finn-Stevenson

(2004). Comprehensive school reform: An implementation study of preschool programs in elementary schools. The Elementary School Journal, 104(5), 369–389.

14.

Fox

Carta

Strain

P. S.

Dunlap

Hemmeter

M. L.

(2010). Response to intervention and the Pyramid model. Infants and Young Children, 23(1), 3–13. https://doi.org/10.1097/IYC.0b013e3181c816e2

15.

Friedman-Krauss

A. H.

Barnett

W. S.

Garver

K. A.

Hodges

K. S.

Weisenfeld

G. G.

Gardiner

B. A.

(2021). The state of preschool 2020: State preschool yearbook. National Institute for Early Education Research. https://nieer.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/YB2020_Executive_Summary_080521.pdf

16.

Fuller

E. J.

Young

M. D.

Richardson

M. S.

Pendola

Winn

K. M.

(2018). The Pre-K-8 school leader in 2018: A 10-year study. National Association of Elementary School Principals. https://www.naesp.org/resources/publications/a-10-year-study-of-the-principalship/

17.

Gisev

Bell

J. S.

Chen

T. F.

(2013). Interrater agreement and interrater reliability: Key concepts, approaches, and applications. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy, 9(3), 330–338. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sapharm.2012.04.004

18.

Glaser

B. G.

Strauss

A. L.

(1967). The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. Aldine.

19.

Hallett

Strain

P. S.

Smith

B. J.

Barton

E. E.

Steed

E. A.

Kranski

T. A.

(2019). The Pyramid Plus Center: Scaling up and sustaining evidence-based practices for young children with challenging behavior. Young Exceptional Children, 22(1), 22–37. https://doi.org/10.1177/1096250616674333

20.

Healthy Child Care Colorado. (2022). Pyramid Colorado. https://healthychildcareco.org/programs/pyramid-colorado/

21.

Horner

R. H.

Sugai

(2015). School-wide PBIS: An example of applied behavior analysis implemented at a scale of social importance. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 8(1), 80–85. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-015-0045-4

22.

Jenkins

L. N.

Floress

M. T.

Reinke

(2015). Rates and types of teacher praise: A review and future directions. Psychology in the Schools, 52(5), 463–476. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.21835

23.

Kagan

Kauerz

(2015). Early childhood systems: Transforming early learning. Teachers College Press.

24.

Kincaid

Childs

Blase

K. A.

Wallace

(2007). Identifying barriers and facilitators in implementing schoolwide positive behavior support. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 9(3), 174–184. https://doi.org/10.1177/10983007070090030501

25.

Kittelman

Strickland-Cohen

M. K.

Pinkelman

S. E.

McIntosh

(2020). Variables contributing to abandonment and readoption of SWPBIS. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 22(2), 67–77. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098300719888748

26.

Leech

N. L.

Onwuegbuzie

A. J.

(2009). A typology of mixed methods research designs. Quality and Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, 43, 265–275. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-007-9105-3

27.

Lincoln

Y. S.

Guba

E. G.

(1985). Establishing trustworthiness. Naturalistic Inquiry, 289(331), 289–327.

28.

Little

(2020). Educators’ views on the location of pre-K programs and its relation to features of P-3 alignment: An exploratory study. Children and Youth Services Review, 118, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105455

29.

Lohrmann

Forman

Martin

Palmieri

M. J.

(2008). Understanding school personnel’s resistance to implementing SWPBS at a universal level of intervention. Journal of Positive Behavioral Interventions, 10, 256–269. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098300708318963

30.

Lohrmann

Martin

S. D.

Patil

(2013). External and internal coaches’ perspectives about overcoming barriers to universal interventions. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 15(1), 26–38. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098300712459078

31.

Menzies

H. M.

Oakes

W. P.

Lane

K. L.

Royer

D. J.

Cantwell

E. D.

Common

E. A.

Buckman

(2019). Elementary teachers’ perceptions of a comprehensive, integrated, three-tiered model of prevention. Remedial and Special Education, 42(4), 207–219. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741932519896860

32.

O’Connor

Joffe

(2020). Intercoder reliability in qualitative research: Debates and practical guidelines. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 19, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406919899220

33.

Peisner-Feinberg

E. S.

Van Manen

K. W.

Mokrova

I. L.

(2018). Variations in enrollment practices in the NC pre-K program: 2016-2017 statewide evaluation. FPG Child Development Institute. https://fpg.unc.edu/sites/fpg.unc.edu/files/resource-files/NC%20Pre-K%202016-17%20report.pdf

34.

Reinke

W. M.

Herman

K. C.

Stormont

(2013). Classroom-level positive behavior supports in schools implementing SW-PBIS: Identifying areas for enhancement. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 15(1), 39–50. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098300712459079

35.

Rispoli

K. M.

Norman

M. Z.

Hicks

(2021). Early childhood educators’ knowledge and attitudes about developmental screening for autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 23, 30–41. https://doi.org/10.1080/10901027.2021.1902434

36.

Scaletta

Tejero Hughes

(2021). Sustained positive behavioral interventions and supports implementation: School leaders discuss their processes and practices. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 23(1), 30–41. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098300720924350

37.

Schaack

D. D.

V. N.

(2017). The Colorado early childhood workforce survey 2017. School of Education and Human Development, University of Colorado Denver. https://earlymilestones.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/CO-EC-Workforce-Survey-metro.pdf

38.

Shepley

Grisham-Brown

(2019). Multi-tiered systems of support for preschool-aged children: A review and meta-analysis. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 47, 296–308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2019.01.004

39.

Tillery

A. D.

Varjas

Meyers

Collins

A. S.

(2010). General education teachers’ perceptions of behavior management and intervention strategies. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 12(2), 86–102. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098300708330879

40.

White

D. E.

Oelke

N. D.

Friesen

(2012). Management of a large qualitative data set: Establishing trustworthiness of the data. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 11(3), 244–258. https://doi.org/10.1177/160940691201100305

41.

Wilinski

(2017). When pre-K comes to school: Policy, partnerships, and the early childhood education workforce. Teachers College Press.

42.

Yamauchi

L. A.

Champan de Sousa

E. B.

(2020). Early childhood educators’ perspectives on early childhood settings and collaborations to promote kindergarten transition. Professional Educator, 43(1), 100–113. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1276091.pdf

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.02 MB

0.01 MB