Food Safety Professional Development for Early Childhood Educators Evaluation Plan

Project Objectives 1. Multidisciplinary teams will develop research based food safety education training module (e.g., food safety curriculum, video, materials…). 2. Early childhood teachers and parents will participate in greater numbers, and increase numbers of hours, in food safety education training. 3. Early childhood administrative personnel, teachers, and parents will demonstrate increased knowledge and understanding of effective strategies to teach children about food safety behaviors. 4. Early childhood teachers will apply and teach food safety behaviors in the classrooms with greater frequency. 5. Children will demonstrate improved food safety practices in the classroom. 6. There will be a reduced risk of the food-borne illness in Alabama.

Phase I: (Research Component) Training Module Development Principal Goal: Development of a food safety preschool education training module  Food safety curriculum  Training guide  Training procedures  Training materials

Phase I: (Research Component) Training Module Development Criteria for curriculum:  Curriculum is supported by scientific research  Curriculum improves children’s awareness of food safety  Curriculum enhances teacher’s instructional practices  Curriculum promotes and enhances parent’s awareness of food safety

Phase I: (Research Component) Training Module Development Content of “Teaching-the-Other” training curriculum:  Recognizing the symptoms of food-borne illness  Recognizing the causes of food-borne illness  Appropriate steps for the prevention of transmission of food-borne illness  Proper food handling procedures  Proper hand washing techniques  Proper food serving procedures  Teaching food safety promotion concepts to children and parents

Phase I: (Research Component) Training Module Development Other Phase I Goals:  Production of Food Safety video  Dissemination of professional development package (curriculum, training guide, & video) to target childcare programs  Development of parent-mentoring program on food safety

Phase I: (Research Component) Training Module Development Evaluation: The curriculum development workshops will be evaluated for effectiveness through observation and with the use of workshop evaluation questionnaires. Curriculum and training materials will be critically examined for alignment with NAEYC standards and food safety curriculum standards.

Phase I: (Research Component) Training Module Development Curriculum and training materials will be field tested at selected sites. Random field tests at three childcare centers will be used to determine whether the curricula procedure and materials developed during Phase I will have educationally meaningful effects on children. Evaluating the preschool experiences of children and teaching practices based on NAEYC standards will form the core set of indicators to measure the curriculum outcome. This stage of evaluation will focus on the contextual variables that might influence how the curriculum is implemented (e.g., culture and neighborhood characteristics). Pre- and post-intervention data will be collected across program sites.

Phase II (Education Component): Team Training Principal Goal: To train 60 early childhood education teams in implementing the food safety curriculum, and to train these educational teams to train others in how to implement the curriculum.

Phase II (Education Component): Team Training Targets:  Over a three year period, 60 childcare programs will participate in the program  300 childcare personnel will be directly trained  childcare personnel will participate in “Share-the-Training” skill building

Phase II (Education Component): Team Training Evaluation: Evaluation of the one-day workshops will focus on: the effectiveness of the “Teach-the-Other” workshop activities the extent to which participants acquire key knowledge and skills in the following areas-  food safety subject knowledge,  teaching strategies for food safety practices,  use of data and assessment to inform classroom practices,  strategies for building partnerships with parents the effectiveness of the “Share-the-Training” activities  implementation plans developed by participants Data collection methods will include observation, surveys and questionnaires, planning records, and team member records

Phase III (Extension Component) Share- the-Training Principal Goal: Capacity-building to provide, improve, and expand services in food safety education to early childhood educators, family members, and community partners.

Phase III (Extension Component) Share- the-Training Target: Dissemination of food safety training information annually to-  500+ early childhood education teachers  parents  children

Phase III (Extension Component) Share- the-Training Evaluation: Project evaluation in Phase III will focus on collection and analysis of data on-  the impact of the project approach and components on participant behaviors  the impact of the project strategies on teaching practices of ECE teachers  the impact of the projects strategies on the food safety knowledge and skills of children in participating childcare centers  the effectiveness of follow-up technical assistance being provided.  incidences of food-borne illness as reported by Alabama Department of Public Health records