Chapter 8: Utility of Implementation and Intervention Performance Checklists For Conducting Research In Early Childhood Education

This chapter includes a description of the development and utility of performance checklists for assessing and measuring adherence to different kinds of practices as part of conducting research with young children. Checklists can take on different formats (yes/no, Likert scales, etc.) and can be used to assess adoption and use of practices constituting the focus of investigation. An implementation sciences framework is used to distinguish between two types of early childhood practices, describe the differences between the two types of practices, describe how the two practices are related, and illustrate how checklists can be used to measure adherence to the key characteristics of both types of practices. The two types of practices are ones used by early childhood teachers to promote and enhance child learning and development (e.g., Bennett-Armistead, Duke, & Moses, 2005; National Association for the Education of Young Children, 2005; Sandall, Hemmeter, Smith, & McLean, 2005) and ones used by professional development staff to promote early childhood teachers’ use of research-based or recommended early childhood practices (e.g., Neuman & Kamil, 2010; Skiffington, Washburn, & Elliott, 2011; Snyder et al., 2012).