Date of Conferral

3-4-2024

Date of Award

March 2024

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

School

Education

Advisor

Maryanne Longo

Abstract

Preschool teachers in a small county in a southern state are among a growing number of teachers who have expressed concern about not having the skills needed to support young children with challenging behaviors. The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL) teaching pyramid was developed to help preschool teachers minimize behavioral problems in the classroom. There is a need for preschool teachers to implement strategies for addressing challenging behaviors in the classroom. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the perspectives of preschool teachers on implementing the strategies of the CSEFEL pyramid to address preschool children’s challenging behaviors in the classroom. The conceptual framework in the study was Blumer’s interactionist approach, which integrates human interactions in the social world to understand and interpret the environment. A basic qualitative research method with interviews was used to explore preschool teachers’ perspectives on the CSEFEL teaching pyramid strategies. A purposeful sample of 11 preschool teachers who had completed training on the CSEFEL teaching pyramid series was selected to articulate perspectives on the implementation of the teaching pyramid strategies to address challenging behaviors in the classroom. Interviews were conducted, and open coding was used to analyze the data collected. The study results showed that the participants believed the CSEFEL strategies did have a positive influence on challenging behaviors. This study may promote positive social change by providing county stakeholders with information that can be used to make decisions on the usage of the CSEFEL teaching pyramid by preschool teachers with children exhibiting challenging behaviors in the classroom.

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