Professional development practices and practitioner use of recommended early childhood intervention practices

Results from a study of the relationship between different types of professional development practices and early childhood practitioners’ use of 10 different recommended early intervention/early childhood special education practices are reported. The participants were 955 practitioners employed in early intervention, preschool, preschool special education, Early Head Start, Head Start, and other early childhood programs in one state in the USA. The practitioners were asked to indicate if their school districts, agencies, or programs (1) provided information about recommended practices, (2) had professional development specialists demonstrate the use of the practices for the practitioners, (3) provided practitioners opportunities to learn to use the practices, and (4) practitioners were provided coaching and performance feedback by professional development specialists. Responses to these four types of professional development practices were used to partition practitioners into three subgroups, with each subgroup receiving different combinations of professional development practices. Findings showed that practitioners who reported receiving a combination of all four types of professional development practices reported more frequent use of recommended practices compared to practitioners in the other two groups. Implications for in-service professional development are described.