Essentials of Practice-Based Coaching: Supporting Effective Practices in Early Childhood

Patricia Snyder, Ph.D., is a Professor and the David Lawrence Jr. Endowed Chair in Early Childhood Studies at the University of Florida. She is the founding director of the Anita Zucker Center for Excellence in Early Childhood Studies. Dr. Snyder has worked for more than 40 years in the interdisciplinary field of early childhood studies. Her research interests focus on embedded instruction for early learning; social-emotional foundations of early learning; professional development, including practice-based coaching; and early childhood assessment and measurement.

Mary Louise Hemmeter, Ph.D., is Professor in the Department of Special Education at Vanderbilt University. Her research focuses on effective instruction, social-emotional development, challenging behavior, and on coaching teachers.

She has been a principal investigator (PI) or co-PI on numerous projects funded by the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services. Through her work on the National Center on Social Emotional Foundations for Early Learning and Institute of Education Sciences (IES)–funded research projects, she was involved in the development of the Pyramid Model for Supporting Social Emotional Competence in Young Children and practice-based coaching, a model for supporting teachers in implementing effective practices.

She is currently the PI on on an IES–funded development project on programwide supports for implementing the Pyramid Model, a co-PI on an IES developmental project on implementing the Pyramid Model in infant–toddler settings, and a co-PI on an IES efficacy study examining approaches to supporting teachers in implementing embedded instructions.

She is a co-author on the Connect4Learning Early Childhood Curriculum and the Teaching Pyramid Observation Tool (TPOT™). She was a coeditor of the Journal of Early Intervention and President of the Council for Exceptional Children’s Division for Early Childhood (DEC). She received the Merle B. Karnes Service to the Division Award and the Mary McEvoy Service to the Field Award.

Dr. Lise Fox is a professor in the Department of Child and Family Studies at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida, and is Co-Director of the Florida Center for Inclusive Communities: A University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities. Dr. Fox is one of the developers of the Pyramid Model for Promoting Social Emotional Competence in Infants and Young Children and has authored 95 books, book chapters, and articles. She has developed and managed numerous technical assistance, research, model demonstration, and personnel preparation projects in the areas of early childhood special education, state capacity building, implementation of the Pyramid Model, preventing and addressing challenging behavior, and Positive Behavior Support. She is the director of the National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations.

Dr. Artman-Meeker is an associate professor of early childhood special education at the University of Washington (UW) and Director of Research at the UW Haring Center for Inclusive Education. She has led state, local, and national training on preventing challenging behavior and promoting social skills. Her training, product development, and scholarship focus on the diverse teachers, children, and families in urban and rural communities served by Head Start, Early Head Start, and military child care. Her main area of research is effective and efficient forms of professional development for early educators.

Dr. Ferro is Associate Professor in the Florida Center for Inclusive Communities at the University of South Florida. Her research is primarily focused on individualized interventions and prevention. Currently, Dr. Ferro provides training and technical assistance on implementing the Pyramid Model to statewide leadership teams, program coaches, and program-wide leadership teams for the National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations.

Dr. Bishop is Assistant Research Scientist at the University of Florida Anita Zucker Center for Excellence in Early Childhood Studies. Dr. Bishop and her colleagues collaborate to provide evidence-based professional development to support families and preschool teachers to use Pyramid Model practices in everyday routines and activities to promote young children’s social-emotional development.

Dr. Kinder is Research Associate at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. She coordinates a variety of research studies focused on the Pyramid Model and practice-based coaching. Dr. Kinder has worked for more than 15 years in public and lab school settings in a variety of roles, including associate director, coach, and teacher. Her professional interests include inclusive education, embedded instruction, building collaborative partnerships, and supporting coaches in the field.

Dr. Jessica K. Hardy is currently Assistant Professor in the Department of Special Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Hardy received her doctorate in early childhood special education from Vanderbilt University and her M.Ed. and BA from the University of Florida. She taught in Portland, Oregon, as a Head Start teacher and an early childhood special education teacher. Dr. Hardy’s primary research interests are evidence-based instructional practices and early childhood coaching and professional development.

Ragan H. McLeod, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor in the Department of Special Education and Multiple Abilities at the University of Alabama. She received her Ph.D. in Special Education from Vanderbilt University.

Denise Perez Binder has been a member of the USF Pyramid Model research team since 2007. Currently, she is a training and technical assistance specialist with the National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations, National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center. She has expertise in program-wide implementation of the Pyramid Model, Practice Based Coaching, and is a trainer for the TPOT™.

Meghan von der Embse is Human Services Practitioner with the Florida Center for Inclusive Communities at the University of South Florida and a staff member at the National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations. She provides training, technical assistance, and ongoing coaching supports for early childhood programs to build capacity implementing and sustaining Pyramid Model supports. Meghan has practiced as a K–12 school psychologist and behavior specialist, and she has expertise in providing training and technical assistance with Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) and early literacy programming.

Dr. Shannon is Assistant Research Scientist at the University of Florida in the Anita Zucker Center for Excellence in Early Childhood Studies. Dr. Shannon has been working in the field of early childhood studies for more than 15 years, teaching in school- and center-based inclusive early childhood programs and providing professional development and coaching to teachers, coaches, and administrators in public, private, and Head Start settings.