Research and evaluation firm Engage R+D has worked closely with the Packard Foundation since the implementation of Starting Smart and Strong, its place-based effort in three specific communities across California—Oakland, Fresno, and San Jose to ensure that young children arrive at kindergarten healthy and ready to learn. As part of this work, Engage R+D designed an evaluation study to look at how the first three years of work in Oakland, specifically, how professional coaching for teachers impacts on teachers, students, and helping young children arrive at kindergarten healthy and ready to learn. In the attached report, Engage R+D outlines their findings, which highlights that children in classrooms where teachers participated in three years of coaching demonstrated the most progress (as opposed to just one or two years). Additionally, classrooms at year three of coaching showed a higher quality of instruction as well, according to a few different measures. This report helps us understand how coaching for teachers can improve outcomes for children and contributes to our ongoing learning about how to achieve impact, at scale.
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