Building the Capacity of Early Childhood Educators to Support the Social-Emotional Development of Children and their Families: Evaluating the Implementation of the Pyramid Model in NS

The Pyramid Model is an evidence-based framework that promotes young children’s social-emotional development through a tiered system of supports. Central to its success is practice-based coaching, which helps educators apply strategies that foster nurturing relationships, responsive interactions, and emotionally supportive environments.

The goal of our evaluation strategy is to inform and promote the overall social and emotional well-being of children by continuously improving Pyramid Model implementation. To achieve this, we conduct case studies, measure responsive interactions, assess well-being through surveys, conduct interviews, and analyze secondary data to track changes over time. These diverse methods allow us to identify gaps, provide actionable feedback to implementers, and ensure the program remains responsive and relevant to the needs of children and educators.

Results

Infographics

Nova Scotia Early Childhood Professional Well-being Survey Preliminary Results (2023)

An online survey to explore the professional well-being of early childhood professionals in Nova Scotia was distributed in November 2022.

An Introduction to the Pyramid Model (2021)

What is the Pyramid Model? What are the benefits of Pyramid Model practices? What does this look like in Nova Scotia?

Une introduction de le modèle de la pyramid (2021)

-Qu’est-ce que le modèle de la pyramide? Quels sont les bienfaits des pratiques du modèle de la pyramide? La mise en œuvre du modèle de la pyramide en Nouvelle-Écosse.

Nova Scotia Pyramid Model Executive Summary [2020], [2021]

Modèle de la pyramide en Nouvelle-Écosse Résumé [2020], [2021]

 

Reports

Nova Scotia Pyramid Model Annual Report: Executive Summary [2020], [2020-2021], [2022-2023], [2024-2025]

Rapport annuel sur le modèle de la pyramide en Nouvelle-Écosse: Sommaire exécutif [2020], [2020-2021], [2022-2023], [2024-2025]

Leveraging family voice and social media to build protective factors in early social and emotional health

This project was in two phases. The first phase was a landscape of parenting influencers on social media who post content around children’s social and emotional wellbeing. The second phase aimed to build family protective factors by leveraging evidence –based information on social and emotional health using social media and to identify research priorities through an Atlantic –wide family advisory committee.

The objectives of this research were to set up a family advisory committee to learn more about the needs of families to inform a future social media strategy. the second objective was to increase family access to evidence-based information related to early social and emotional learning through the creation of the family advisory committee.

Nurturing the social and emotional growth of Mi’kmaw children

This project is a partnership with Mi’kmaw Kina’matnewey. We are collaborating with an early learning program in a Mi’kmaw community to adapt social emotional learning session kits from the Nova Scotia Early Childhood Development Intervention Services (NSCEDIS) to reflect Mi’kmaw culture and be implemented with families. These sessions intend to provide families with resources to support childen’s social and emotional growth. We intend to collect information on the families’ experiences in the sessions to guide future adaptations for other Mi’kmaw or First Nations communities in implementing similar supports.