Sesame Street Growing Together Evaluation

Sesame Street Growing Together Evaluation: Randomized Controlled Trial of a Professional Development Course for Early Care and Education Teachers

This study aims to evaluate the appeal and effectiveness of Sesame Workshop's Growing Together online professional development course.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Family Engagement
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Growing Together

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 620
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Pennsylvania
    • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19102
      • PHMC

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Teachers:

• Work in an eligible center with a director who has agreed for the center to participate in the study
• Serve as the lead teacher in a classroom with at least 3 four year olds (can be a co-teacher and can teach a mixed age class)
• Have access to reliable, high-speed internet
• Have an email address that can be shared with researchers
• Read English enough to understand course materials and/or surveys
• Not have previously accessed the Growing Together course
• Be available during the timeframe of the study

Parents:

• Have a child who is 4 years old or about to be 4 years old during the weeks of the course enrolled in a classroom at least 3 days in a typical week with a teacher interested in participating in the study
• Have access to reliable, high-speed internet
• Have an email address that can be shared with researchers
• Read English enough to understand course materials and/or surveys
• Be available during the timeframe of the study

Exclusion Criteria:

Teachers:

• Working in an ineligible center
• Working in a center with a director who has not agreed for the center to participate in the study
• Not being a lead teacher
• Not teaching at least 3 four year olds
• Not having access to reliable, high-speed internet
• Not willing to share an email address with researchers
• Being unable to read English enough to understand course materials and/or surveys
• Having previously accessed the Growing Together course
• Not being available during the timeframe of the study

Parents:

• Not having a child who is 4 years old or about to be 4 years old during the weeks of the course
• Not having a child enrolled in a classroom at least 3 days in a typical week
• Not having a child enrolled in a classroom with a teacher interested in participating in the study
• Not having access to reliable, high-speed internet
• Not willing to share an email address with researchers
• Being unable to read English enough to understand course materials and/or surveys
• Not being available during the timeframe of the study

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: OTHER
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Interventional Model: PARALLEL
• Masking: NONE

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
NO_INTERVENTION: Control
EXPERIMENTAL: Intervention; Growing Together program	Other: Growing Together; Growing Together is a suite of free, online research-informed professional development modules to help early childhood educators promote deeper family engagement and enrich teacher-parent interactions.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Family and Provider/Teacher Relationship Quality (FTPRQ)	Self-report measure (teachers and parents) of the quality of family and teacher relationships.	Up to 12 weeks
Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale	Teachers' self-efficacy in three areas: student engagement, instructional strategies, and classroom management.	Up to 12 weeks
Family Involvement Questionnaire (FIQ)	Multi-dimensional parent-report scale of family involvement in early childhood education, reflecting levels of involvement of parent activity across home and classroom contexts.	Up to 12 weeks
Activities with Your Child	Parent report of the frequency with which they or someone in their family engaged in a variety of activities with their child; adapted from the Head Start FACES studies parent interviews.	Up to 12 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Devereux Early Childhood Assessment for Preschoolers, Second Edition (DECA-P2)	Behavior rating scale completed by parents and teachers. Provides an assessment of within-child protective factors related to resilience and a screener for behavioral concerns in children ages 3 through 5.	Up to 12 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Public Health Management Corporation
• Collaborators: Sesame Workshop

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (ACTUAL): October 31, 2019
• Primary Completion (ACTUAL): July 2, 2020
• Study Completion (ACTUAL): July 2, 2020

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 22, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 10, 2020
• First Posted (ACTUAL): November 17, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (ACTUAL): November 17, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 10, 2020
• Last Verified: November 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: 1903

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No