Pyramid Model Sustainability and Teacher Self-Efficacy

In this conference session, resources and strategies that encourage the sustainability of Pyramid Model practices in high-need, under-resourced pre-kindergarten classrooms will be presented. Among them, reflection, goal-setting, and case study intervention guidance for coaches will be presented along with the relationship of teachers’ answers on the Teaching Pyramid Observation Tool (TPOT) interview and the increasing or decline of intervention teachers’ self-efficacy. The Pyramid Model, a conceptual framework of evidence-based practices to promote healthy social and emotional development of young children, is often used with practice-based coaching and embedded professional development. Based on available literature, early childhood practice-based coaching has shown a relationship with self-efficacy of teachers, which translates to more effective understanding and implementation of positive behavioral interventions and supports. Given that both low socio-economic level and urban contexts are factors that lead to lower self-efficacy of teachers, this conference presentation will demonstrate both coaching and self-efficacy of intervention teachers changed over a two-year implementation project. In sum, information will be presented in a way that promotes thinking and reflection beyond quantitative results when implementing the Pyramid Model