Supports and Barriers to Online Micro-Credential Completion: An Analysis at Three Levels of the Educational System

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Autor/inn/en	Danielle L. Pico; Sophia Soomin Lee; Concepción Moncada Cummings; María Virginia Giani; Julianna Banks; Mary Bratsch-Hines; Tia Walton-Walker
Institution	Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness (SREE)
Titel	Supports and Barriers to Online Micro-Credential Completion: An Analysis at Three Levels of the Educational System
Quelle	Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness (2025) PDF als Volltext Link als defekt meldenVerfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Monografie
Schlagwörter	Forschungsbericht; Electronic Learning; Microcredentials; Faculty Development; Early Childhood Teachers; Emergent Literacy; Barriers; Asynchronous Communication; Online Courses; Practicums; Participant Characteristics; Persistence; Educational Administration; Program Administration; School Personnel; Professional Development + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Early childhood; Early childhood education; Teacher; Teachers; Frühe Kindheit; Frühkindliche Bildung; Frühpädagogik; Lehrer; Lehrerin; Lehrende; Frühleseunterricht; Online course; Online-Kurs; Practicum; Praktikum; Praktika; Ausdauer; Bildungsverwaltung; Schuladministration; Schulverwaltung; Schulpersonal
Abstract	Background/Context: Professional learning (PL) for early childhood educators can promote change in practice and how they promote children's development (Egert et al., 2018; Rusby et al., 2016). Nonetheless, numerous barriers to in-person PL exist, including geographic constraints, inconvenient scheduling, and high costs (Elliot, 2017; Gable & Halliburton, 2003). Technological advances and the COVID-19 pandemic have made online PL opportunities, which provide more flexibility and a broader reach, an increasingly common option (Bragg et al., 2021). Given their short, targeted, and competency-based nature (Moore et al., 2025), micro credentials are a form of online PL that hold strong potential for educator PL, especially when direct application in the classroom is emphasized. Micro-credentials typically require shorter completion times than traditional degree programs and often allow the learner to earn a recognized credential (Oliver, 2022). These features are especially important for EC educators, who tend to have reduced access to higher education and high-quality PL (Mclean et al., 2021). This study focuses on the Emergent Literacy Micro-credential (ELMC), a free PL opportunity with a financial stipend following completion available to EC educators in one southeastern state. Over 12,000 educators have completed the ELMC, yet high levels of attrition (55% of participants start but do not finish) suggest that participants encounter obstacles that prevent them from fully engaging in this opportunity. To analyze possible supports and barriers for ELMC completion, we adopted the framework described by King et al. (2023). In this meta-model, context describes the conditions and factors that both lead up to and surround PL at various levels of the educational system: micro level (e.g., participants themselves), meso level (e.g., workplace context) and macro level (e.g., state). Purpose: This study examines possible supports and barriers for ELMC completion at three levels of the educational system. Setting: One state in the Southeastern United States. Participants: This study included two groups of participants. The first group included 500 survey participants, 358 who completed the ELMC ("completers") and 142 who did not ("non-completers"). The second group included 27 focus group and interview participants, representing all three levels of the educational system: 11 educators (micro), 7 program leaders (micro/meso), 4 ELMC course instructors (meso), 4 ELMC administrators (macro), and 1 state leader (macro). See Tables 1 and 2 for participant demographics. Intervention: The ELMC is offered to birth through prekindergarten instructional personnel working in public or private childcare programs, including teachers and program directors. It is composed of three instructor-supported, asynchronous online courses and a job-embedded practicum. Instructional strategies related to oral language, book reading, alphabet knowledge, print and phonology awareness, and emergent reading and writing are taught. Research Design: This study employed an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design (Creswell & Clark, 2018). Phase one involved surveying ELMC completers and non-completers. Phase two consisted of focus groups and interviews with participants at three levels of the educational system. Data Collection: In phase 1, 1000 completers and 2000 non-completers were randomly selected and invited to take an online survey, available in English or Spanish, with 500 agreeing to participate (36% of invited completers and 7% of invited non-completers). The survey included items about factors that made their ELMC experience easier or more difficult. In phase 2, 59 participants were invited to participate in focus groups and interviews, also available in English or Spanish, and 27 participants agreed to participate (46% of invited participants). Protocols varied by participant type and included prompts related to the strengths and weaknesses of the ELMC. All focus groups and interviews were recorded and transcribed. Analysis: There was a limited amount of missingness in the quantitative data -- six observations (1.2%) lacked total years of service. Multiple Imputation by Chained Equations (MICE) was used to impute those missing data with the mice package (van Buuren & Groothuis-Oudshoorn, 2011). Participant characteristics were associated with completer status using logistic regression models, built using backward elimination with subsequent addition of individual variable for verification (Raykov & Marcoulides, 2013). Differences between completers and non-completers in identified barriers and supports were tested with chi-squared tests of independence. A Bonferroni correction was used to account for multiple comparisons (Cohen, 2013). We implemented an iterative process of thematic analysis (Maguire & Delahunt, 2017) of the qualitative data (survey open answer responses and transcripts). Themes that emerged from the open-response data from a previous pilot administration of the survey served as the initial codes. Two researchers independently coded the qualitative survey data with these codes, new codes were added as needed, and the researchers met to resolve discrepancies. The transcript data were then submitted for preliminary analysis using the AI language model GPT 4o. All AI-generated themes were sorted into categories and the codebook was refined as needed. Three researchers then used the updated codes to analyze the transcript data, and the codebook was refined as needed. Results were shared with the focus group and interview participants as part of a member-checking process (Creswell & Clark, 2018), and the open-answer survey responses were revisited to apply any additional coding as needed. Lastly, all codes were examined and synthesized into broader thematic categories to provide a cohesive interpretation of the data. Findings: Only years working in the field and a preference for Spanish course were found to be related to completer status (Table 3). Several statistically significant differences were found between completers and non-completers in perceived barriers and supports, and resources used (Tables 4 - 6). Supports and barriers fell into two large categories, within and outside the ELMC (Figure 1). Conclusions: Lack of relation between most participant characteristics and completer status offers evidence that the ELMC is equitably available for completion for all who chose to enroll. Nevertheless, differences between completers and non-completers in perceived barriers and supports and resources used suggest that these groups experience the ELMC differently. The categories of supports and barriers found in the qualitative data, in addition to the quantitative findings, offer guidance for designing and improving online PL for educators. Recommendations include offering PL in multiple languages; promoting the use of supports and resources; providing accessible, relevant, high-quality content and encouraging and incentivizing program-level participation. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness. 2040 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208. Tel: 202-495-0920; e-mail: contact@sree.org; Web site: https://www.sree.org/
Begutachtung	Peer reviewed
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2026/1/02