Evaluation of Preschool Special Education Practices Efficacy Study

This package requests clearance for data collection activities to support an efficacy study of an instructional framework designed to address the needs of all preschool children in inclusive classrooms. The efficacy study is part of the Evaluation of Preschool Special Education Practices (EPSEP), which is assessing the feasibility of a large-scale effectiveness study of an intervention for preschool children in inclusive classrooms. The main objective of the efficacy study is to test whether the Instructionally Enhanced Pyramid Model (IEPM) can be implemented with fidelity in inclusive preschool classrooms. IEPM is comprised of three established individual interventions for children with disabilities integrated together into a single comprehensive intervention for use with all children in inclusive preschool classrooms. The secondary objective is to provide initial evidence about IEPM’s impacts on classroom and child outcomes. This efficacy study provides an important test of whether strategies for delivering content in a manner that meets the needs of each child with a disability can be integrated with an existing framework of teaching practices for inclusive preschool classes, thus helping all children participate and make progress in the general preschool curriculum. These strategies, which are called targeted instructional supports, have been tested separately but have not been tested as part of this framework. The efficacy study will include data collection to conduct both implementation and impact analyses. The implementation analysis will use observation data to describe the fidelity of training and implementation. It also will draw on coaching logs and coach interviews to describe program implementation. In addition, responses to a teacher survey and teacher focus groups will provide information on teachers’ backgrounds, professional experiences, and perspectives on IEPM implementation. The impact analysis will use data from observations of classroom inclusion quality and engagement, a child observation, a direct child assessment, and teacher reports on child outcomes. The implementation and impact analyses also will use district administrative records to offer additional contextual and background information on the preschool program, its teachers, and enrolled children. These various data collection activities will be carried out between summer 2019 and summer 2021 during the two years that schools in the intervention group will implement IEPM (2019–2020 and 2020–2021 school years).

The latest form for Evaluation of Preschool Special Education Practices Efficacy Study expires 2022-07-31 and can be found here.