INFORMATION FOR ADMINISTRATORS
What is Smooth Sailing?
Smooth Sailing is a PD program on autism for general education teachers in kindergarten, first, and second grade. Our program’s effectiveness in improving teachers’ autism preparedness, enhancing student-teacher relationships and parent-teacher collaboration, and increasing the social adjustment, emotional-behavioral wellbeing, and academic engagement of students on the autism spectrum has been supported by past research using a randomized controlled trial design.
What Does the Program Entail?
Smooth Sailing is designed for general education teachers who wish to increase their knowledge and skills to support students on the autism spectrum in the classroom. The 4-week program is virtual and involves self-paced online learning modules, personalized one-on-one coaching, and supports teachers to practice the program strategies during the school day.
This PD program was developed in partnership with teachers to address their reported need for better training in fostering the success of their students on the autism spectrum. In total, the program requires about 12 hours over 4 weeks, as well as up to 3 hours completing surveys for the research study. Teachers receive PDPs/CEs and $300 for their time.
Teachers enroll in the PD program in the fall and are randomly assigned to receive the PD program during the 2024-2025 school year.
Please see our “Information for Teachers” page for an overview.
Frequently Asked Questions
The PD program is open to K through 2nd grade teachers in Massachusetts and California who are teaching in general education, integrated, or inclusion classrooms; the program is not open to teachers in special education classrooms.
Teachers from public, private, or charter schools may take part.
There is no limit on the number of teachers from a given school who participate. However, each teacher must have a student with an autism diagnosis, or possible/suspected autism, in their class. In addition, that student’s parent must provide permission for their child to participate, as this child will be the focus of the teachers’ practice of program strategies.
The 4-week PD program occurs primarily outside of the classroom and requires about 12 hours total. Teachers complete self-paced, online learning modules (1.5 hours/week) and attend three one-on-one Zoom-based coaching sessions on their own time.
Teachers are also asked to practice relationship-building strategies during the course of normal classroom activities. They will also hold one meeting with the student’s parent(s) to foster collaboration at a mutually agreeable time.
In addition, as part of our evaluation, teachers will complete surveys about the student and will enable our staff to conduct three classroom visits during 2024, with consent from teacher and parent, to observe everyday teacher-child interactions and conduct a 15-minute interview with the participating student.
The program is primarily delivered to the teacher with little involvement from school administration. However, as part of our research study to assess the program’s impact, we ask that schools allow 1-2 research staff to visit your school on three occasions during the 2024-2025 school year.
During these visits, we will conduct 1-hour in-class observations and 15-minute child interviews, with signed parent permission, at a time that is convenient for the teacher. These visits help us assess the program’s impact on student-teacher interactions and children’s school experiences.
Our experienced observers work to be as unobtrusive as possible during so as not to disrupt classroom activities. We will work with school staff to submit CORI forms in advance.
This is a research study, in which we are evaluating the program’s effectiveness. Past research has shown the program’s positive impact in a smaller trial, and we have now received funding from the Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences to evaluate the program’s impact on a larger scale with 150 teachers.
In this research study we use a randomized, controlled trial design. While all teachers enroll in the PD program in the fall, we will then randomly assign the teachers to receive the program either in Fall/Winter of 2024 (half of the teachers) or in Spring of 2025 (the other half of teachers).
To evaluate the program’s effectiveness, teachers complete surveys on four occasions and allow classroom observation/interview visits on three occasions, and parents complete surveys on three occasions.
Teachers receive $300 and parents receive $100 (venmo/paypal/check) upon completion of the program.
Benefits to Teachers and Benefits to Students and Caregivers are outlined on the “Information for Teachers” page.
Benefits to Schools may include a school culture that more strongly embraces neurodiversity and offers a more affirming environment for autistic and neurodivergent students, by having staff members who understand and embody neurodiversity-affirming practices.
Many autistic students (and autistic adults who are interviewed about their school experiences) report having school experiences that are isolating, marginalizing, and ableist. At the same time, 60% of autistic youth report that “having a teacher who understands autism” is the main factor that would make school better for them (APPGA, 2017).
We believe that creating affirming school experiences for students can start with individual teachers.
As part of the program’s emphasis on improving collaboration between teachers and parents, parents are invited to attend a one-time meeting with the teacher (30-60 minutes) focused on fostering a strong collaboration and learning more about the student.
Parents also consent to our data collection activities to assess the program’s effectiveness (observations, interviews, and teacher surveys) and complete their own surveys about their child on three occasions during the school year. Parents receive $100 (venmo/paypal/check) upon completion of the program.
We’d love to hear from you!
For general questions or enrollment, you can reach our coordinator, Liz Benitez, at smoothsailingstudy@gmail.com. You can also reach our program directors, including Abbey Eisenhower at UMass Boston (abbey.eisenhower@umb.edu) and Jan Blacher at UC Riverside (jan.blacher@ucr.edu).
Ready to learn more about Smooth Sailing?
Follow this link to fill out a Screening Survey to learn more about our upcoming 2024-2025 PD program for K, 1st, and 2nd grade teachers.
Additionally, please sign up for our mailing list below to learn about future participation opportunities.
You may also email us with any questions.
You may reach our coordinator, Liz Benitez, for any questions about this program, at smoothsailingstudy@gmail.com.
You can also reach our program directors, including Abbey Eisenhower at UMass Boston (abbey.eisenhower@umb.edu) and Jan Blacher at UC Riverside (jan.blacher@ucr.edu).