Archives: Lessons

Purpose: After completing Lesson 3, you will be able to:

1) state your role in measuring child progress as measured by 5AAs;

2) report accurate 5AAs; and

3) state the importance of accurate 5AAs for state and federal reporting of child progress.

Purpose: After completing Lesson 2, you will be able to:

1) state the relationship between assessment, child progress, and federal child outcomes;

2) define the federal Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) child outcomes; and

3) identify the role of federal child outcomes in evaluating program funding.

The second term to clarify for this course is federal child outcomes, as this term has many meanings in different contexts. 

The goal of this course is to demonstrate the importance of Kentucky’s Early Childhood Standards (abbreviated in this course as KY Standards) and the measurement of child progress for your work in early intervention. We will interact through activities, notes you make in your Handout, Think Spots, Knowledge Checks, quizzes, illustrations with a videotaped child, and a final project to show your understanding of the content. Print or download the course Handout now, as you will use it throughout the course.

Purpose of Lesson 1: After completing Lesson 1, you will be able to:

1) recognize the KY Standards for children aged birth to three years;

2) define the components or parts of each KY Standard; and

3) identify the importance of the KY Standards to your work in First Steps.

You may be asking: Where are KY’s Standards found? What are KY’s Standards? How are they structured? Why do they matter to me? Great questions! Let’s dig in.

Welcome to the Importance of KY’s Early Childhood Standards and First Steps Assessment course.

Why this course?

Childhood Standards (abbreviated from now on as KY Standards) for children in First Steps, their relationship to your accurate assessments, and their relationship to KY’s reporting of child progress for state and federal reporting. We’ll examine how your role as a provider is key to each of these steps.

What is the content of this course?

This course includes 4 lessons with individual topics within each lesson:

ℹ️ Lesson 1: KY’s Early Childhood Standards

? Lesson 2: Federal Child Outcomes

? Lesson 3: The Importance of Accurate Assessments

? Lesson 4: The Relationship between Accurate Assessments and Funding

? Final Project: Putting it all Together

The course is designed to take an hour and a half to complete and is fully online. The course includes content, Think Spots for reflection, Knowledge Checks to monitor your understanding, lesson quizzes, and a final project that must be successfully completed to earn credit for the course. You will take a non-graded pre-assessment to assess your understanding of key content before beginning the course. Quizzes must be passed with 80% mastery and may be repeated as needed.

Is there an overview of the Childhood Standards that I may view before starting this course?

Yes, there are two options. We encourage you to view either or both before taking this course.

1. There is a free course offered by KET called An Introduction to the KY Early Childhood Standards; go to https://edstore.ket.org/product/an-introduction-to-the-kentucky-early-childhood-standards-2/. It is an in-depth, three-credit module, with videos, engaging activities, and frequent knowledge checks.
2. There is a free, one-hour, one-credit course called Kentucky Early Childhood Standards 102, which is available through the Early Care and Education Training Records Information System (ECE-TRIS). Go to https://tris.eku.edu/ece/ then click on the Calendar/Approved Training tab to search for KY Early Childhood Standards 102 course. It includes three modules, one of which introduces the 0-3 Early Childhood Standards.

What is unique about this course?

You will learn about the role of KY’s Early Childhood Standards for children aged birth to three years, in relation to your assessments, measurement of child progress, and federal funding for First Steps.

Who may take this course?

This course is designed for all First Steps providers, from all disciplines.

Your Training Coach, up to this point, has been working with you and reviewing all uploaded course content.  Please make sure you have followed up with your Coach as needed throughout the course.

Upon successful review of all of your FET assignments and essays you will receive credit within 10 calendar days of the assigned end date of FET, or when you have completed all necessary requirements – whichever is later.  Please note that if you finish all content early, credit will still not be issued until after the official last day of the course.

Please note: completion certificates are not issued.  To verify completion of FET, log on to ECE-TRIS to view your training record. 

Now it is time to complete your application for your Trainer’s Credential.

Prior to submission of your application please make sure you have completed all three of these trainings:

• Introduction to Resources in Kentucky for Early Childhood Professionals
• ECE-TRIS Data Entry
• Fundamentals of Effective Training.

Before your application can be approved all 3 trainings must be completed.  Once complete all 3 trainings can be found on your ECE-TRIS record within 10 days of completion.

To complete your Trainer’s Credential Application you will need to log onto ECE-TRIS (https://tris.eku.edu/ece/) and click Trainer Credential Applications.

You can then either choose to search for an application, if you have already started your Trainer’s Credential Application, or click “Submit Trainer Application”.

Please note that information is automatically populated based on what has been provided to ECE-TRIS.  Please update any inaccurate or out of date information.

Remember that your Training Coach is also available as a resource to assist you in reviewing your application documents and submitting your application.

Thank you for your participation in FET. Please stay in touch and let us know how we can continue to support you as a credentialed trainer.

Evaluation

Please take the time to complete the evaluation of FET 10-11.  All of your feedback is greatly appreciated and will be used to help enhance the course and make changes as needed. 

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Please complete the anonymous course evaluation available below:

Click here!

*Note: This evaluation should only be completed once.

Thank you for your participation!

As you know, a summary activity should be included in the Closing Component of a training. The summary activity for FET is in the form of a Jeopardy online game.

? FET Jeopardy

Another way we support you in your efforts as a trainer to establish and maintain strong Transfer Partnerships is through this resource list. 

Books: (contact your Training Coach to access these titles and many, many more through our lending library)

• 50 Creative Training Closures  – Lynn Solem and Bob  Pike; “Action Planning” items
• Games Trainers Play – John W. Newstrom and Edward E. Scannell; pgs. 293 – 303
• Making Training Stick – Barbara Carnes and Dora Johnson; pgs. 57 – 90      
• The Best of Creative Training Techniques – Dave Zielinski; pgs. 81 – 93
• Trainer’s Bonanza – Eric Jensen; pgs. 105 – 108

Websites:

• maketraningstick.com – website with the mission of helping trainers “make training stick”
  • offers a free e-newsletter called STICKY NOTES with actionable effective training tips
  • contains a free downloadable “white paper” – Training Transfer Technologies – featuring research and reviews of technology tools that can help the transfer of learning process.
• http://www.thiagi.com/
• https://www.td.org/

Webinars:

• https://www.bobpikegroup.com/resources/webinars
• https://www.trainingmagnetwork.com/recordings

This is, by no means, a finite list of resources. However, it is a solid start of resources that offer a wide variety of transfer of learning strategies to implement with trainees.

• Remember, transfer of training is a partnership between the Trainer, Trainee and the Director/Administrator.
• Many of the strategies provided by the authors of these resources recognize this partnership and include all three parties in the processes they describe.

In this lesson, we will discuss how to develop a Follow-up Plan using an Action Plan/Implementation Plan form developed for participants. This form or your own customized version of it, when completed by participants, will support their efforts in taking their new knowledge and skills back to the workplace, implementing change and monitoring/evaluating their own progress. 

Here are some ways for members of the Transfer Partnership to systematically and intentionally work on the transfer of learning before the training occurs, during the training and after the training is over.

Write down any of these strategies that you would like to remember for future use in the appropriate boxes on page 4 of the Transfer of Learning ?handout.

BEFORE

Trainer  

• Complete a detailed needs assessment with the Director to ensure alignment of the training content with the organization’s goals and staff Professional Development (PD) needs.
• Develop SMART training and workplace outcomes to inform training plan and design.
• Create a customized Implementation Plan form (using input from the Director) for participants to complete.

Trainee

• Explore possible training options with Director based on both your individual professional goals and your program’s overall goals. 
• Complete all pre-training activities (needs assessment, content-based assignments, etc.).

Director  

• Involve staff in program-wide goal setting and long-term planning.
• Inform staff of the importance of the implementation of new skills and knowledge learned in training and explain that you will support each person in their implementation efforts.
• Provide time for staff to complete pre-training activities if applicable. This could be a reading assignment, a brief survey or even taking photos for pre training data collection.

DURING

Trainer

• Clearly spell out what trainees will gain from the investment of time and energy in their implementation efforts.
• Include practice of new skills in realistic work-related tasks.
• Provide opportunities to note new ideas and make specific plans for implementation of new knowledge and skills.

Trainee  

• Arrive at the training on time, if not early, and in a “ready to learn” mindset.
• Participate actively in all training activities and learning experiences.
• Make authentic connections with fellow trainees.

Director  

• Provide classroom coverage for staff to attend during work hours.
• Attend the training; model active participation and professional behavior.
• Monitor training attendance.

AFTER

Trainer

• Use technology to provide follow-up support during implementation.
• Share evaluation results with director.
• Offer ideas for future trainings based on implementation results.

Trainee  

• Follow through on implementation plan.
• Seek help with implementation from Director/Trainer.
• Maintain contact with other trainees.

Director  

• Review and monitor implementation plans.
• Notice and acknowledge staff efforts to change behavior.
• Provide job aid support to staff for implementation.

The responsibility and assurance of the transfer of learning does not fall on any one person’s shoulders!

It is a shared responsibility referred to as a Transfer Partnership and this partnership includes:

• the trainer
• the trainee
• the director/administrator

It is a great thing to learn that not everything falls on your shoulders. But, as the trainer, you still hold the responsibility of making sure everyone understands their role in this partnership and supporting them in their role. The support you offer will pave the way for you to forge a true working partnership between participants, directors/administrators and yourself.

Watch this fun video of a trainer, trainee and director discussing their roles in the transfer of learning process.

Click on the boxes below each statement of responsibility to learn the role of each person in The Transfer Partnership, and write the statements next to the correct people in the Transfer Partnership diagram on page 3 in your Transfer of Training ?handout.

Check Your Knowledge

Consider each question, then click to reveal the correct answer.

Understanding what the potential barriers are to achieving successful transfer of learning can help you as you select appropriate strategies to use when planning, implementing, and following up with training participants after training sessions.

Check your Knowledge

Consider each statement. Which is the best answer to fill-in-the-blank for each statement describing the possible barriers to the ‘transfer of learning’:

Appropriate advance planning along with use of the needs assessment, tapping into the Transfer Partnership, and using a variety of effective transfer of learning strategies will reduce the impact of these barriers. This way, you can get everyone on the same page and greatly increase the likelihood of the successful transfer of learning.

Training Outcomes         

Participants will define effective training and transfer of learning.

Participants will identify the people that are key to successful transfer of learning and why transfer of learning is a team effort.

Participants will select appropriate follow-up strategies that increase the probability that learning and skills will transfer from the training setting to the participant’s workplace.

Participants will describe what an implementation/action plan is and why it’s an important part of the training process.

Participants will complete an Implementation Plan/Action Plan.

Roadmap

• Explore the connection between the training experience and the actual transfer of learning back on the job.
• Discuss barriers that may prevent trainees from transferring knowledge and skills back in the workplace.
• Identify the people involved in a transfer partnership and their responsibilities.
• Explore and summarize a specific strategy that supports follow-up and transfer of learning back on the job.
• Define implementation plan/action plan and the rationale for including it in the training process.
• Identify what should be included on an implementation plan/action plan.
• Explore different transfer of learning strategies and develop a transfer activity for a future training.

[ms_panel title=”Handout” title_color=”#1a72bf” border_color=”#1a72bf ” title_background_color=”#f5f5f5″ border_radius=”0″ class=”” id=””]Please refer to the FET Handout: Transfer of Learning pages (1-9). This handout has been pre-printed and is in your FET Binder.[/ms_panel]

The Training Improvement Process provides a look at how evaluation information can be used and asks the trainer specific questions regarding data that determines the training process, the trainer’s personal performance and cost effectiveness/justification of the training. Each of these areas is addressed within the four levels of evaluation.

How will the data be used?

How the evaluation information will be used directly impacts how the data will be analyzed and reported.

• Will data be used to determine the PROCESS→ how to improve the training itself and/or the outcomes for the participants?
• Will the data be used to determine the trainer’s PERSONAL PERFORMANCE→ how well the trainer facilitated the training?
  • Level I and Level II Evaluation typically cover these two areas.

Will the data be used to determine the COST EFFECTIVENESS? → Can the training be justified to the administrators and/or to the funding source?

• Level III and Level IV Evaluation typically cover this area.

Analysis of data is important because those hiring you to train care about their “return on investment” otherwise referred to as ROI.

Who will receive the results?

These individuals could be interested:

• Director/Administrator
• Session Participants
• Funding Source
• Families

What specific information will they need?

The information trainers need from an evaluation include:

• Participant Reactions
• Results and Impact
• Behavior Change
• Content Learned

What dissemination format?

What dissemination format will be most appropriate?

• Copies of Evaluations
• Narrative Report
• Graphs
• Summary of Evaluations

How to disseminate information?

How will the information be disseminated?

• Face-to-Face Presentation
• An emailed 1-2 page Summary of comments and calculated averages
• Written Narrative via email
• Hard-copy of Summary/Narrative; hand delivered/mailed

Review of Important Reporting Questions

Reporting questions that need to be asked and answered…

• Who will receive the results?
• What specific information will they need?
• What dissemination format will be most appropriate?
• How will the information be disseminated?

When you take the time to analyze your data, you then have the needed information to make refinements in your training style, the training content and the subsequent training delivery. The next part of the training improvement process is looking at the connection between evaluation and refinement of your training.

In this section we will look at helpful questions that will assist you in analyzing your training and determining the refinement that is needed to make it more effective for future participants.

Necessary Step: Post-Training Reflection

• If you are new to training, consistently engage in the post-training reflection exercise of analyzing information from participant evaluation forms and self-reflection.
• If you are an experienced trainer, but not taking the time or effort to do this post-training reflection exercise, it is time to implement this step in your workshop process.

The questions asked on participant evaluations are very important. They are the premise for getting the answers needed for reflection, analysis and ultimately, refinement of that training. Likewise, the trainer should answer these same questions as part of his/her self-evaluation. This process of analysis; reflecting back, documenting observations and analyzing the level of effectiveness in implementing the training process, content, activities and of their own skills and knowledge as a trainer, should be a consistent part of a trainer’s workshop process.

Here are some important reflection questions a trainer should use to guide the development of their evaluation forms and for self-evaluation, post-training.

Each of these questions can be answered from two perspectives:

1. From information summarized off participant evaluations.
2. From the trainer’s own observations and experiences while conducting the training.

 One very important message to get from this section on Refinement of Training is that not only do you need to get and pay attention to feedback from participants, you need to also self-analyze. Your own observations of participant’s actions, interactions and reactions during the workshop, as well as your observations of your own actions, interactions and content delivery throughout the training session provides much information on what went well and what needs to be refined to make the next workshop experience more effective.

Post-Training Reflection

…a series of questions to ask yourself:

• In what ways did the training process do what it was designed to do in regard to the Workplace Outcome and Training Outcomes?
• At what level of success did the content do what it was designed to do in regard to the Workplace Outcome and Training Outcomes?
• In what ways should the process be revised?
• In what ways should the content be revised?
• In what ways (if any) does the training content need to be revised due to:
  • a need to align with revised Training Outcomes developed to meet federal, state, local regulations?
  • a need to meet changes in recommended practices?
• If the training needs to be expanded, what are the reasons;
  • need for additional content, time issues, etc.?
• If the training needs to be eliminated, what are the reasons;
  • lack of need, cost effectiveness, duplication of content, etc.?

‘Series of Questions’ Tool

Using the ‘Series of Questions’ tool, you will

• Gain useful information
• Better analyze and determine future steps
• Better prepare for subsequent training
• Better meet your own goals as a trainer

You can customize this tool by adding questions you deem useful!

You have completed Levels of Evaluation and the Training Improvement Process!

Next up is the Transfer of Learning.

Continue through the following topics to learn about the Four Levels of Evaluation.

Training Outcomes

Participants will classify evaluation activities into four major levels of evaluation.

Participants will submit an evaluation plan for training they designed during the face to face session.

Participants will describe the purposes of the data analysis process and uses for evaluation information.

Participants will select data analysis processes that can inform them about refinement of one of their training sessions.

Participants will apply key data analysis questions in analyzing a training session to determine the level of refinement needed.

Roadmap

• Review the purpose of evaluation
• Identify some pros and cons of evaluation
• Explore data collection techniques for evaluating effectiveness of training
• Discuss the three ways data can be used and how that influences analyzing and reporting the data.
• Identify the four reporting questions that must be asked and answered by the trainer.
• Identify some reflection questions that guide the creation of Evaluation Forms and support the trainer’s self-reflection of the training session.

[ms_panel title=”Handout” title_color=”#1a72bf” border_color=”#1a72bf ” title_background_color=”#f5f5f5″ border_radius=”0″ class=”” id=””]?Please refer to the FET Handout: Levels of Evaluation.?[/ms_panel]

The purpose of evaluation is to measure and describe outcomes at scheduled points in time.

Evaluation involves a variety of methods to measure whether the outcomes set for the learners have been achieved. It is essential to plan not only HOW a trainer will measure outcomes, but WHEN to do so.

Pros & Cons of Evaluation

As you may recall from our “Debate” at the face to face FET training, trainees may have differing opinions about the use of evaluations to assess the effectiveness of training. In this next exercise, read the statement and decide if you would consider it a “Pro” or a “Con” of evaluation.