Outcomes Tiered Curriculum Model
Outcomes Resulting from the Implementation of a
Tiered Curriculum Model
REBECCA CRAWFORD, PHD, EASTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY JENNIFER GRISHAM, EDD, UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY
MULTI-TIERED SYSTEMS OF SUPPORT DEC 2021
“in early care and education, an MTSS framework is a way to provide high-quality teaching and responsive caregiving through the delivery of differentiated support for all young children.” DEC 2021
AEPS Curriculum Framework
Select curriculum that matches the child’s/children’s developmental level
- Growing
- Ready
- Active & Outdoor Play
- Arrival & Departure
Identify routines and activities
- Circle Time
- Diapering, Toileting & Handwashing
- Dramatic Play
- Art
- Bath Time
- Dressing
- Field Trips
- Blocks
- Math
- Meals & Snacks
- Music & Movement
- Naps & Sleep
- Science
- Sensory
- Writing
Identify level of support need
- TIER 2 FOCUSED SUPPORT
- Specialized
- Focused
- Universal
AEPS (2022) Curriculum Levels
AEPS Curriculum Beginning
EDITED BY Jennifer Grisham, Kristine Slentz
- Infant & very early skills
- Infant to 18 months developmentally
AEPS Curriculum Ready
EDITED BY Jennifer Grisham, Kristine Slentz
- Toddler & early skills
- Preschool & school preparation skills
- 3 to 6 years developmentally
Assessment, Evaluation, and Programming System for Infants and Children, Third Edition (AEPS³), Bricker, Dionne, Grisham, Johnson, Macy, Slentz, & Waddell. 2022 Brookes Publishing Co. All rights reserved.
For all young children in high-quality early childhood learning environments
Attention to learning outcomes within daily routines and activities of family life and classrooms, including positive caregiver-child relationships and peer interactions
Each Activity/Routine Contains:
- Description of activity/routine with overview of areas to address
- AEPS-3 items that may be embedded into the activity/routine
- Specific embedded learning opportunities
- Tiered instructional strategies: Universal, Targeted, Specialized
Examples of Universal Strategies
- Hands-on materials
- High-quality learning environment
- Support for promoting social interactions between children
- Nurturing relationships between adults and children
- Instructional support practices
Examples of Focused Strategies
- Additional opportunities and intentional modifications for children to practice skills
- Peer modeling
- Scaffolding
Examples of Specialized Strategies
- Disability-specific instructional strategies
- Use of clear prompts to support child’s learning
- Naturalistic intervention strategies
Each Curriculum Guide Offers Explicit Guidance On:
- Determining what outcomes to teach all, some, and individual children
- Identifying the level to use (i.e., beginning, growing, ready)
- Identifying the instruction tier (i.e., universal, targeted, systematic)
Progress Monitoring Guidance
Curriculum Validity Study
Research Questions
- What are perceptions of early intervention and preschool providers of the AEPS-3 curriculum?
- Do teachers self-report that they implement universal strategies identified through the AEPS-3 curriculum? (fidelity measure)
- Do children make progress when teachers implement the AEPS-3 curriculum?
- Do children make progress on targeted goals using AEPS-3 tiered supports?
Subjects
Adults - n= 11
- 2 states (Northeast and Mid-south)
- Center-based and Home-based service providers
- 1 Associate’s Degree, 10 Master’s
- 2 - 20 years of experience working with
Children - n= 25
- 2 - 20 years of experience working with children.
- All had previously participated in AEPS Field Test
- 64% male; 36% female
- 52% with disabilities; 48% without
- Demographics include: 48% Caucasian; 24% Biracial; 16% Asian; 4% Latino; 4% African American; 4% Unknown
Procedures
- Selection of up to 3 children (with disability; without disability; at-risk)
- Training on new curriculum
- Administration of AEPS-3 on focus children
- Selection of 3 goals for each child
- Selection of tier of instruction for each goal
- Selection of 3 activities/routines for teaching each goal
- Development of Planning Forms for Tier 1, Tier 2, and/or Tier 3
- Development of Progress Monitoring for Tier 1, Tier 2, and/or Tier 3
- Implementation of Curriculum for 7-10 weeks
- Collect data 1 time per week on implementation of tier 1
- Collect program monitoring data
- Tier 1: Readminister AEPS-3 after 7-10 weeks
- Tier 3: 2-3 times per week
Focus Group Procedures associated with AEPS-3 Curriculum
- Overall usefulness of AEPS-3 Curriculum
- Suggestions for changes
Analysis
- 2 investigators independently coded focus group transcripts
- Investigators met and discussed codes and generated themes
- 2 focus group members independently checked results and agreed with 100% of themes generated by investigators
Results-Themes and Subcategories
Process of Using AEPS-3 Curriculum
- Children’s developmental age level
- Skills matrix used for identifying routines and instructional strategies
- Child preferences
- Embedding learning opportunities in daily routines and activities
- Link from assessment, to targeted skills, to identifying strategies and selecting routines
Recommended Practices addressed by AEPS-3 Curriculum
- Consistency in providing supports
- Intentional planning and implementation
- Links curriculum with assessment results
- Use embedding schedules for planning – embedded instruction
- Intentional focus on targeted skills
Guidance for using a multi-tiered system of support (MTSS)
- Assessment identifies where children are within a developmental sequence
- Uses assessment results for identifying targeted skills and decision making
- Begins with universal supports and moves to increased intensity and differentiated instruction as needed
- Includes data monitoring on targeted skills that is feasible
Training Issues
- Training as it relates to supporting families and other providers
- Relationship between program’s use of current practices and use of AEPS-3 Curriculum. How they are congruent as well as non-congruent.
Suggested Changes
- Training to clarify how Routine Activities can encompass more than the title reflects. For example, Include an online system where the Activity “Field Trips”
might encompass typical home Routine Activity outings such as going to the park, the grocery store, to visit grandparents, take a bus ride.
Method
- Identified strategies to promote outcomes
- Self-report
- One time per week
Results
- Used between 4-10 strategies (M=6.83 universal strategies)
- Implementation Fidelity (number of strategies implemented across weeks/number of possible strategies across weeks)
- Implemented between 2-10 weeks (M=7.66 weeks)
| STRATEGY | 12/4 | 12/11 | 12/18 | 1/8 | 1/15 | 1/22 | 1/29 | 2/5 | 2/12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calm voice, listen to children | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Hands on materials | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Activities based on interests | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Talk through steps | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Modeling | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Provide adequate time to try | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Supportive and caring environment | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Do children make progress
Method
- Pre/Post
- Teachers administered AEPS-3 prior to implementing the curriculum and after 7-10 weeks of implementing the curriculum
Results
- Percentage of children whose post scores increased from pretest ranged 61% - 79%
- Percentage of change across all areas ranged from 10% (social-emotional) - 46% (literacy)
| Progress on AEPS-3 | Pre Test(average raw scores) | Post Test(average raw score) | Average % change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fine Motor | 50.34 | 53.69 | 10% | 74% |
| Gross Motor | 98.24 | 106.28 | 14% | 72% |
| Adaptive | 64.13 | 69.34 | 15% | 74% |
| Cognitive | 53.54 | 60.31 | 25% | 68% |
| Math | 21.56 | 25.52 | 23% | 61% |
| Literacy | 33.34 | 38.26 | 46% | 65% |
| Social-Communication | 58.79 | 63.83 | 14% | 67% |
| Social-Emotional | 70.7 | 75.58 | 10% | 79% |
Do children make progress on targeted goals using AEPS-3 tiered supports?
PROGRESS MONITORING - TARGETED SKILLS
Child: E.F. 1.1.3.2.2 Targeted Skill: Follows multi-step directions
| AEPS Goal and Objective | 12/4 | 12/11 | 12/18 | 1/8 | 1/15 | 1/22 | 1/29 | 2/5 | 2/12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Follows multi-step directions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Follows multi-step directions with contextual cues | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Follows 1-step directions without contextual cues | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Follows 1-step directions with contextual cues | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Summary
- Teachers collected weekly data on AEPS-3 goals/objectives identified as targeted goals
- Used same scoring system as full AEPS-3 test
Method
- Key
2=Mastered
1=Emerging
0=Not Ready - Results
Children made progress on 28 of 41 identified targeted goals (67%)
| Progress on Targeted Goals | # of Goals | # Goals Progress | Progress on Goals(%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fine Motor | 11 | 9 | 82% |
| Gross Motor | 2 | 1 | 50% |
| Adaptive | 4 | 2 | 50% |
| Cognitive | 3 | 1 | 33% |
| Literacy | 4 | 2 | 50% |
| Math | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| Social Emotional | 8 | 5 | 63% |
| Social Communication | 11 | 8 | 73% |
| TOTAL | 43 | 28 | 57% |
Discussion
- Most research to date on MTSS for young children has emphasized a specific content area (e.g., literacy or math) or developmental area (e.g., social-emotional or language). The current study examines a tiered model that considers all areas of development/content areas.
- The AEPS-3 curriculum aligns with DEC (2021) key practices for implementing MTSS with young children including universal screening, differentiated goals and outcomes, tiered instruction, and progress monitoring.
- Implementation fidelity focused on dosage, and reported by teachers which has been used in other curriculum research studies (Hamre, et al. 2009)
- Pretest-Post-test scores have been used in other studies of preschool curriculum to examine the effect of the curriculum on child outcomes (Upshur, et al. 2017)
Limitations/Future Research
Limitations
- Research conducted during COVID-19; no opportunity to collect reliability data
- Descriptive study – No conclusions can be drawn about relationships between outcomes and use of curriculum
Future Research
- Direct observations of teachers’ implementation fidelity – development of fidelity measures
- Experimental research design – Single case design-RCT