Impact of performance feedback delivered via electronic mail on preschool teachers' use of descriptive praise

We examined the effects of a professional development intervention that included data-based performance feedback delivered via electronic mail (e-mail) on preschool teachers use of descriptive praise and whether Increased use of descriptive praise was associated with changes in classroom-wide measures of child engagement and challenging behavior A multiple probe single subject experimental design across four preschool teachers was used Following a brief training session on the use of descriptive praise coaches observed each teacher conduct a large-group activity and sent them e-mail messages containing performance feedback with a hyperlink to a descriptive praise video exemplar Training plus e-mail feedback was associated with increases in teachers use of descriptive praise for each of the four teachers Challenging behavior decreased somewhat as teachers use of descriptive praise increased Class-wide measures of children s engagement remained relatively stable across baseline and intervention phases Implications for future research and practice are discussed (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc All rights reserved