Reframing adherence: Active ingredients and impromptu interactions that support vocabulary implementation effectiveness

• Published in: Early childhood research quarterly Vol. 56; pp. 52 - 64
• Main Authors: Neugebauer, Sabina Rak, Coyne, Michael, McCoach, D. Betsy, Ware, Sharon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Inc 01.01.2021
• Subjects: Early childhood; Fidelity; Vocabulary; Early childhood; Vocabulary; Fidelity
• ISSN: 0885-2006; 1873-7706
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2021.02.004

•This study provides a dynamic understanding of early childhood program fidelity.•Efficacy of vocabulary program ingredients and improvised interactions were explored.•Multilevel modeling employed with 181 kindergarten teachers and 1404 students.•Vocabulary gains associated with program modeling and impromptu interactions. Most educational research treats teachers' deviations from prescribed or scripted programs as a nuisance for efficacy studies. This study reframes this approach to explore how kindergarten teachers' use of critical vocabulary program ingredients as well as improvised interactions contribute to instructional effectiveness. Data from 181 kindergarten teachers and their approximately 1,404 kindergarten students were analyzed using multilevel modeling. Findings demonstrate that teachers with students with large vocabulary gains had higher levels of adherence to the more structured program components and engaged in more adaptive impromptu teacher-student interactions than their less successful teacher peers. This study provides a more flexible and dynamic understanding of implementation fidelity.