Enhancing Early Care and Education Through Reflective Supervision

NCT05880875 | Enrolling By Invitation

• 1 other identifier: K23HD107243
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 32
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to test an enhancement to early care and education, which is a professional development series that includes a foundational training and skill development workshops focused on training and supporting early learning supervisors in Reflective Practice and Supervision. Directors and education coordinators within state pre-kindergarten programs, and the teachers they supervise, will be the focus of this research. Hypothesized outcomes include promotion of reflective capacity and supervisory skill in supervisors, more effective supervisor-supervisee interactions, increases in reflective functioning and well-being in supervisees, increases in positive teaching practices and observed classroom quality, and increases in adaptive social-emotional development among children alongside prevention of emotion regulation difficulties. Researchers will compare whether these outcomes differ between participants who are currently receiving the Reflective Supervision enhancement and participants who are in the waitlist control condition.

Conditions

Emotion Regulation

Keywords

Reflective Supervision; Reflective Capacity; Early Care and Education; Social-Emotional Development

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (11)

• Change from Baseline Teaching Progress Assessment at 9 months

  Rhode Island Department of Education record review

  At baseline (beginning of academic year), and in 9 months

• Change from Baseline Teaching Progress Assessment at 12 months

  Rhode Island Department of Education record review

  At baseline (beginning of academic year), and in 12 months

• Change from 9-month Teaching Progress Assessment at 12 months

  Rhode Island Department of Education record review

  At 9 months (end of academic year), and in 12 months (beginning of next academic year)

• Change from Baseline Observed Classroom Quality at 9 months

  Pre-K Classroom Assessment Scoring System, scores range from 1 (minimally characteristic) to 7 (highly characteristic), with higher scores indicating higher classroom quality

  At baseline (beginning of academic year), and in 9 months

• Change from Baseline Observed Classroom Quality at 12 months

  Pre-K Classroom Assessment Scoring System, scores range from 1 (minimally characteristic) to 7 (highly characteristic), with higher scores indicating higher classroom quality

  At baseline (beginning of academic year), and in 12 months

• Change from 9-month Observed Classroom Quality at 12 months

  Pre-K Classroom Assessment Scoring System, scores range from 1 (minimally characteristic) to 7 (highly characteristic), with higher scores indicating higher classroom quality

  At 9 months (end of academic year), and in 12 months (beginning of next academic year)

• Change from Baseline Child Social-Emotional Functioning as assessed by Cognitive Toybox at 9 months

  Rhode Island Department of Education record review

  At baseline (beginning of academic year), and in 9 months

• Change from Baseline Child Emotion Regulation at 9 months

  Social Competence Scale - Teacher Version, Emotion Regulation subscale, scores range from 0 to 4 with higher scores indicating greater emotion regulation

  At baseline (beginning of academic year), and in 9 months

• Change from Baseline Child Prosocial/Communication Skills at 9 months

  Social Competence Scale - Teacher Version, Prosocial/Communication subscale, scores range from 0 to 4 with higher scores indicating greater prosocial/communication skills

  At baseline (beginning of academic year), and in 9 months

• Change from Baseline Child Social Competence at 9 months

  Social Competence Scale - Teacher Version, Total Social Competence Score, scores range from 0 to 4 with higher scores indicating greater social competence

  At baseline (beginning of academic year), and in 9 months

• Change from Baseline Child-Teacher Relationship Quality at 9 months

  Student-Teacher Relationship Scale - Short Form, scores range from 1 to 5 with higher scores indicating a more positive relationship

  At baseline (beginning of academic year) and in 9 months

Secondary Outcomes (11)

• Change from Baseline Supervisor Reflective Capacity at 9 months

  At baseline (beginning of academic year) and in 9 months

• Change from Baseline Supervisory Competence at 9 months

  At baseline (beginning of academic year) and in 9 months

• Change from Baseline Supervisor Reflective Functioning at 9 months

  At baseline (beginning of academic year) and in 9 months

• Change from Baseline Supervisor Well-Being at 9 months

  At baseline (beginning of academic year) and in 9 months

• Change from Baseline Quality of Reflective Supervision Relationship at 9 months

  At baseline (beginning of academic year) and in 9 months

Study Arms (2)

Reflective Supervision Enhancement

EXPERIMENTAL

The Reflective Supervision enhancement is a professional development series for supervisors of state pre-kindergarten programs that is designed to build skills in using Reflective Supervision with teachers. The goal of the Reflective Supervision enhancement is to provide supervisors with foundational knowledge in Reflective Practice and Supervision and increase their use of Reflective Supervision principles and practices within their work. The series consists of a day-long foundational training and nine skills-focused workshops. Supervisors are expected to receive 8 hours of foundational training prior to the start of the academic year, and nine 2-hour monthly small groups over the course of the academic year.

Behavioral: Reflective Supervision Enhancement

Business-As-Usual Waitlist Control

NO INTERVENTION

Supervisors in the business-as-usual waitlist control condition will supervise teachers as-per-usual (i.e., using standard administrative supervision), and will be eligible for the typical array of professional development opportunities that may be offered to them. These supervisors will receive the Reflective Supervision enhancement the following academic year.

Interventions

Reflective Supervision Enhancement BEHAVIORAL

The Reflective Supervision enhancement is a professional development series designed to train and support directors and education coordinators supervising state pre-kindergarten classrooms in using a reflective supervision approach with their staff.

Reflective Supervision Enhancement

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Supervisor in Rhode Island state pre-kindergarten program

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Bradley Hospital: lead
• Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD): collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Bradley Hospital

Riverside, Rhode Island, 02915, United States

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Emotional Regulation

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Self-Control; Social Behavior; Behavior

Study Officials

• Lindsay P Huffhines, PhD

  Bradley Hospital

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Masking Details: Classroom observations will be conducted by study staff who are not aware of which study condition (i.e., experimental or waitlist control) participants are enrolled in.
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Research Scientist

Model Details: Participants (i.e., early learning supervisors) will be randomized to the experimental condition (i.e., the Reflective Supervision enhancement) or the waitlist control condition (i.e., business-as-usual).

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: May 18, 2023
• First Posted: May 30, 2023
• Study Start: May 18, 2023
• Primary Completion (Estimated): February 28, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): February 28, 2027
• Last Updated: September 19, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-09

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: STUDY PROTOCOL, SAP
• Time Frame: Requests for de-identified datasets will be honored within 30 months following completion of the project or at the time of the publication of manuscripts that present the main aims of the study
• Access Criteria: A public use de-identified dataset that does not include sensitive or potentially identifiable information will be made available upon reasonable request. For datasets that include sensitive or potentially identifiable information, data-use agreements will be put in place with appropriate restrictions prior to the provision of data.

Locations

US (1)