Thirty Million Words-Early Childhood Educator (TMW-ECE)

The purpose of the proposed study is to determine the efficacy of an eight-module interactive, online multi-media professional development course on our target population: individuals over the age of 18, who have no more than a bachelor's degree, and are employed as early childhood educators of children between the ages of 0 and 3. Outcomes of interest include changing caregiver knowledge and beliefs about child development, and encouraging the use of strategies provided to strengthen early learning environments. The investigators will also measure how participants interact with the online course in order to determine which features help and hinder the online professional development process. The investigators hypothesize that the TMW-ECE intervention will be effective in improving educator beliefs and knowledge of their role in children's foundational brain development, and increasing the frequency of behaviors that are known to support children's language and cognitive development among our target population.