Teaching Pyramid Observation Tool for Preschool Classrooms (TPOT™) Manual

If your program is among the thousands using the evidence-based Pyramid Model for Promoting Social Emotional Competence in Infants and Young Children, this is the one tool you need to support teachers to effectively use the practices. Developed by highly respected creators of the Pyramid Model for classrooms enrolling children 2–5 years of age, the TPOT™ is an in-depth tool that provides information on how well teachers are implementing practices related to universal, targeted, and individualized supports. A trained administrator conducts a classroom observation and teacher interview, uncovering detailed information about the quality of 14 key teaching practices, noting red flags that indicate areas for immediate support, and observing how teachers respond to challenging behaviors. TPOT™ results show which practices are being implemented successfully—and what teachers need to focus on to ensure positive social-emotional outcomes for young children.

TPOT™ helps programs:

• Support effective implementation of the proven PBIS-based Pyramid model
• Promote social-emotional competence in young children
• Implement strategies to prevent and address challenging behavior
• Compare implementation across classrooms, teachers, and programs
• Identify where teachers need extra professional development and support
• Guide coaching efforts

This is the one tool you need to make sure teachers are effectively putting the evidence-based Pyramid Model for Promoting Social Emotional Competence in Infants and Young Children into practice. Learn more about TPOT

See more resources on supporting children's social-emotional competence with the Pyramid Model.

Dr. Lise Fox is a professor in the Department of Child and Family Studies at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida, and is Co-Director of the Florida Center for Inclusive Communities: A University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities. Dr. Fox is one of the developers of the Pyramid Model for Promoting Social Emotional Competence in Infants and Young Children and has authored 95 books, book chapters, and articles. She has developed and managed numerous technical assistance, research, model demonstration, and personnel preparation projects in the areas of early childhood special education, state capacity building, implementation of the Pyramid Model, preventing and addressing challenging behavior, and Positive Behavior Support. She is the director of the National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations.

Patricia Snyder, Ph.D., is a Professor and the David Lawrence Jr. Endowed Chair in Early Childhood Studies at the University of Florida. She is the founding director of the Anita Zucker Center for Excellence in Early Childhood Studies. Dr. Snyder has worked for more than 40 years in the interdisciplinary field of early childhood studies. Her research interests focus on embedded instruction for early learning; social-emotional foundations of early learning; professional development, including practice-based coaching; and early childhood assessment and measurement.

Mary Louise Hemmeter, Ph.D., is Professor in the Department of Special Education at Vanderbilt University. Her research focuses on effective instruction, social-emotional development, challenging behavior, and on coaching teachers.

She has been a principal investigator (PI) or co-PI on numerous projects funded by the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services. Through her work on the National Center on Social Emotional Foundations for Early Learning and Institute of Education Sciences (IES)–funded research projects, she was involved in the development of the Pyramid Model for Supporting Social Emotional Competence in Young Children and practice-based coaching, a model for supporting teachers in implementing effective practices.

She is currently the PI on on an IES–funded development project on programwide supports for implementing the Pyramid Model, a co-PI on an IES developmental project on implementing the Pyramid Model in infant–toddler settings, and a co-PI on an IES efficacy study examining approaches to supporting teachers in implementing embedded instructions.

She is a co-author on the Connect4Learning Early Childhood Curriculum and the Teaching Pyramid Observation Tool (TPOT™). She was a coeditor of the Journal of Early Intervention and President of the Council for Exceptional Children’s Division for Early Childhood (DEC). She received the Merle B. Karnes Service to the Division Award and the Mary McEvoy Service to the Field Award.