We Grow Together: Supporting Change in Caregivers' Beliefs, Knowledge, and Practices Concerning Infants and Toddlers
Evidence | Publications

We Grow Together: Supporting Change in Caregivers' Beliefs, Knowledge, and Practices Concerning Infants and Toddlers

OPRE Report #2021-154
Published: Aug 31, 2021
Publisher: Washington, DC: Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation
Human Services Early Childhood Professional Development Quality Measurement
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Associated Project

We Grow Together: The Professional Development Tools for Improving Quality for Infant and Toddler Care

Time frame: 2015–2023

Prepared for:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation

Clients
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Authors

Tutrang Nguyen

Sally Atkins-Burnett

Shannon Monahan

Louisa Tarullo

Key Findings
  • Caregivers reported a change in their ability to be effective in providing care for infants and toddlers (i.e., self-efficacy) from fall 2018 to spring 2019.
  • Caregivers reported a change in their beliefs about children’s language development from fall 2018 to spring 2019. This is consistent with information about the modules in which caregivers and PD providers chose to spend the most time.
  • Caregivers participating in WGT improved in their support for social-emotional development from fall 2018 to spring 2019 as measured by the QCIT observation tool. EHS caregivers demonstrated improvement in both Support for Social-Emotional Development and Support for Language and Literacy Development.
  • The number of WGT pages opened (i.e., dosage) was related to the overall quality of caregiver-child interactions, as measured by the QCIT.

We Grow Together (WGT) is a research-based professional development (PD) system for caregivers working with infants and toddlers in center-based care and family child care homes. As part of WGT, teachers and caregivers work with their PD providers (mentors, coaches, supervisors) using resources delivered on an interactive website. Caregivers are supported in planning and using the WGT practices through relationship- and practice-based coaching. A field test of WGT examined implementation with teachers and caregivers of infants and toddlers and their PD providers in Early Head Start, family child care, and community-based child care settings. The goal of this brief is to describe differences in beliefs, knowledge, and practices of infant and toddler caregivers from fall 2018 to spring 2019 —before and after implementation of the WGT PD system.

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