Research Projects
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The following are projects in Dr. Hemmeter’s research lab. Click the name of the project to learn more.
National Centers
- National Center for Early Childhood Development, Teaching and Learning (NCEDTL)
- The National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations (NCPMI)
Current Projects
- Education, Innovation and Research (EIR)
- Group Coaching Approach (GCA)
- Pyramid Resources for Supporting Social-Emotional Development for Infants and Toddlers (PRISM)
- Toddler Talk
- Instructionally Enhanced Pyramid Model (IEPm)
- Practice-Based Coaching: Data Informed Decision Making (PBC-DIDM)
Past Projects
- Embedded Instruction for Early Learning
- Development of Program-Wide Supports for Pyramid Model Implementation: (PWS-PMI)
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Head Start Early Childhood Development, Teaching and Learning |
| The National Center on Early Childhood Development, Teaching, and Learning (NCEDTL) was awarded to Zero to Three in collaboration with the University of Washington, Vanderbilt University, Child Trends, and the Children’s Equity Project.
NCECDTL advances best practices in the identification, development, and promotion of the implementation of evidence-based child development and teaching and learning practices that are culturally and linguistically responsive and lead to positive child outcomes across early childhood programs. They also support strong professional development systems. The Center’s work includes, but is not limited to: professional development for the infant, toddler, and preschool workforce; evidence-based curriculum; intentional teaching and home visiting practices; effective transitions; developmental screening instruments and on-going assessment tools; practice-based coaching; culturally, linguistically, and age-appropriate practices; enhancing teacher-child interactions; supporting children with disabilities and suspected delays (Part C and Part B); and using data to improve practice. Vanderbilt’s staff collaborates to support professional development in Practice Based Coaching and Social-emotional development across early childhood settings. Grant# GC_404718 Funding Source: 123653938 |
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National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations |
| The National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations (NCPMI) is funded by the Office of Special Education Programs to improve and support the capacity of state systems and local programs to implement an early childhood multi-tiered system of support to improve the social, emotional, and behavioral outcomes of young children with, and at risk for, developmental disabilities or delays. The goals of the Center are to assist states and programs in their implementation of sustainable systems for the implementation of the Pyramid Model for Supporting Social Emotional Competence in Infants and Young Children (Pyramid Model) within early intervention and early education programs with a focus on promoting the social, emotional, and behavioral outcomes of young children birth to five, reducing the use of inappropriate discipline practices, promoting family engagement, using data for decision-making, integrating early childhood and infant mental health consultation and fostering inclusion.
Grant # H325B170003 Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education |
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Current Projects |
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Education, Innovation & Research“Metro Nashville Public Schools |
| Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools (MNPS), Vanderbilt University, and SRI Education are examining the effects of the Pyramid Model intervention on teacher practices and various developmental outcomes of children in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classrooms. Team members from Vanderbilt, USF, and Denver University are working collaboratively to support district SEL coaches to use Practice-Based Coaching to support teachers’ implementation of the Pyramid Model. The study uses a randomized experimental group design to examine whether teacher implementation of Pyramid Model practices with fidelity is associated with children’s increased social skills, reduced challenging behaviors, and improved academic readiness and executive functioning skills (i.e., self-regulation).
Grant# U411B170021 Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, Funded by the US Department of Education |
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Pyramid Resources for Supporting Social-Emotional Development for Infants and Toddlers |
| Conducted in collaboration with Dr. Kathryn Bigelow and the Juniper Gardens Children’s Project at the University of Kansas, PRISM is a project focusing on the development, testing, and refinement of a Professional Development (PD) approach to support infant and toddler teachers’ implementation of the Pyramid Model for Infants and Young Children. This project will be the first to operationalize a PD approach for the tiered model to support the social-emotional development of infants and toddlers. The components of the model include: (1) instructional/caregiving practices for providing high-quality environments and responsive interactions for all children; (2) universal screening to identify children who continue to exhibit challenging behaviors or social-emotional delays; (3) higher tiers of intentional teaching of social-emotional skills for children who exhibit challenging behavior despite implementation of high quality environments and responsive interactions; (4) a system for monitoring the progress of children receiving the higher tiers of intervention; and (5) a decision-making model to assist caregiving teams in determining the level of intervention children need that is sensitive to changes in children’s social-emotional functioning.
Grant# R324A170118 Funded by the Institute of Education Sciences |
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Group Coaching Approach |
| Vanderbilt University and University of South Florida have developed and are testing a Group Coaching Approach (GCA) for supporting early childhood teachers to implement Pyramid Model practices to promote the social, emotional, and behavioral skills of young children. The goal is to address the needs of community-based early childhood programs around professional development that is effective, efficient, feasible, and acceptable to early childhood providers serving low-income children. The study is a randomized group design where teachers will be assigned to an intervention or control group. Teachers in the intervention condition (cohort 1) will receive the Group Coaching Approach from fall 2019-Spring 2020. Teachers in the control condition (cohort 2) will be in “business as usual” during the study year 1 but will receive the group coaching in the year following with a trained coach from their program instead of VU research coaches.
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| Our newest project, ToddlerTalk is in collaboration with Ann Kaiser’s KidTalk lab at Vanderbilt and Vanderbilt Alumni, Kathleen Artman-Meeker and Jennifer Cunningham from the University of Washington. We will be working together to design a blended classroom intervention model called ToddlerTalk. ToddlerTalk will be designed to support our youngest learners in developing language skills, as well as social-emotional skills such as playing with their peers and expressing emotions. We will be partnering with local childcare teachers who work with toddlers to design and implement ToddlerTalk in Washington and Tennessee over the next three years.
Grant# R324A200193 Funded by the Institute of Education Sciences |
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| Inclusive Pre-K classrooms in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Colorado are participating in the Evaluation of Preschool Special Education Practices (EPSEP). This study is being conducted by Vanderbilt University, University of Denver, and University of South Florida in collaboration with Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. as part of an Institute of Education Sciences (IES) grant. In intervention classrooms, the Instructionally Enhanced Pyramid Model (IEPM) is being implemented with coaching support to provide classroom teaching teams a model for the use of evidence-based practices to promote the social, emotional, and behavioral skill development of all children within each inclusive classroom. IEPM uses Pyramid Model practices and integrates targeted instructional support strategies that are drawn from two other programs: Learning Experiences and Alternative Program (LEAP) and Prevent-Teach-Reinforce for Young Children (PTR-YC). These strategies help preschool teaching teams deliver instructional practices in a way that allows children with disabilities to fully participate and make progress in an inclusive classroom along with their peers. Grant# xxxx Funded by the Institute of Education Sciences |
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| COMING SOON Grant# H326M20021 Funded by the Office of Special Education Programs in the US Department of Ed |
Past Projects |
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Embedded Instruction in Early Learning |
| COMING SOON
Grant#:R324A150076 Funded by the Institute for Education Sciences, US Department of Education |
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Development of Program-Wide Supports for Pyramid Model Implementation: Addressing Young Children’s’ Social-Emotional Competence and Challenging Behavior |
| In collaboration with researchers from the University of South Florida and the Barton Lab at Vanderbilt, we supported childcare programs in the Nashville and Tampa communities with program-wide implementation of the Pyramid Model. The Program-Wide Supports for Pyramid Model Implementation (PWS-PMI) team worked with early childhood programs to form a leadership team and then provided coaching to those leadership teams around Pyramid Model implementation at the program level. This pilot study examined: (a) fidelity of PWS-PMI implementation within community childcare programs, (b) fidelity of teacher implementation of Pyramid Model classroom practices, (c) classroom quality, and (d) changes in children’s social skills and problem behavior. To measure program-wide implementation, we developed and tested a tool called the SPIFI (Supporting Program Wide Implementation Fidelity Instrument).
Grant# R305A150141 Funded by the Institute of Education Sciences |
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