Learning & Development
Research Report
Teaching Strategies’ Creative Curriculum Implementation and Ecosystem Engagement Study (CCIEE)
Working Paper
Date
April 7, 2026
About the Project
This report presents findings from the Creative Curriculum Implementation and Ecosystem Engagement Study (CCIEE), a cluster randomized controlled trial conducted in New Jersey. The study assessed the impact of an intervention designed to strengthen curriculum implementation, effective teaching practices, and teachers’ engagement with Teaching Strategies® fully digital ecosystem via additional professional development opportunities and aligned supports.
The overall report summarizes the impact on teacher outcomes, classroom quality, curriculum fidelity, and child outcomes, while the Technical reports provide further information on the study, the randomization and teacher quality measures (Technical Report 1) and on teacher and parent surveys (Technical Report 2).
Conducted across two low-income districts and including a “synthetic” comparison group, the study found that the intervention significantly improved teacher retention but had null or even negative effects on classroom quality and curriculum fidelity as measured in this study. Both control and treatment teachers improved across these measures, with greater improvement in the control group. There were no direct treatment (ITT) effects on children’s externally assessed outcomes. However, findings suggest that teacher retention—significantly improved by the intervention—was significantly associated with positive peer play skills in the treatment group and marginally associated with gains in children’s executive function in both groups. In contrast, there were positive treatment effects on Teaching Strategies GOLD® measures with statistically significant gains in language and mathematics and marginally significant gains in social-emotional development, and in GOLD literacy and cognitive measures for children in classrooms with retained teachers. There were also positive, statistically significant effects of treatment “dosage” on the GOLD measures for all domains and marginally significant dosage effects on the externally assessed literacy and math measures. In addition, greater SmartTeach™ platform engagement in the treatment group was associated with gains on the cognitive, literacy, and mathematics GOLD domains. The difference in outcomes could be explained by a combination of floor effects for some of the external assessment measures and the breadth of the constructs measured by the curriculum-aligned GOLD assessment. Teachers reported generally positive experiences with The Creative Curriculum®, with few differences emerging by treatment status. However, at the end of the study, teachers in the treatment group reported statistically significantly higher levels of personal accomplishment and marginally lower levels of emotional exhaustion than control group teachers. Qualitative findings also indicated that teachers found The Creative Curriculum easy to implement, engaging, and that it helped them teach academic skills. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of staffing stability and alignment between professional development, curriculum, and child measurement approaches in understanding how digital tools relate to classroom practice and improved child development.
The Authors
Dr. Milagros Nores is the Co-Director for Research and Research Professor at the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER). With a profound expertise in early childhood evaluation, informing data-driven policy and programming, cost and benefits of early interventions, evaluation design, equity, and English language learners, she has established herself as a leading researcher in the field of early care and education.
Erin Harmeyer is an Assistant Research Professor at NIEER. Her research interests include family childcare quality; caregiver-child interactions; and the academic readiness skills of preschool-age children.
W. Steven (Steve) Barnett is a Board of Governors Professor and the founder and Senior Co-Director of the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) at Rutgers University. Dr. Barnett’s work primarily focuses on public policies regarding early childhood education, child care, and child development.
About NIEER
The National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) at the Graduate School of Education, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, conducts and disseminates independent research and analysis to inform early childhood education policy.
Suggested Citation
Nores, M., E. Harmeyer & W.S. Barnett (2026). Teaching Strategies’ Creative Curriculum Implementation and Ecosystem Engagement Study (CCIEE). Research Report. New Brunswick, NJ: National Institute for Early Education Research.
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