October 21, 2024
by earlyedinstitute
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Early Education Leaders, an Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston, is pleased to announce the selection of seven Early Educator Leadership Fellows for the 2024-2026 cohort of its Post-Master’s Certificate Program in Early Education Research, Policy, and Practice (PMC).
Continue Reading →October 21, 2024
by earlyedinstitute
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The Maryland Early Childhood Leadership Program (MECLP) based at the Shriver Center/Division of Professional Studies at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, recently hosted its inaugural leadership forum titled “Sustaining an Inclusive and Equitable Future in Early Childhood Education.” The event drew more than 200 early educators and showcased MECLP’s success in cultivating early childhood education leaders from the field.
Continue Reading →September 20, 2024
by earlyedinstitute
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We’re thrilled and proud that our Executive Director Professor Anne Douglass has been appointed Research Co-Director of the National Early Care and Education Workforce Center. She is one of four new directors who will set the center’s vision moving forward. The others are Rena Hallam, a professor of early education at the University of Delaware and Director for the Delaware Institute for Excellence in Early Childhood, who was appointed Research Co-Director; Brandy Jones Lawrence of ZERO TO THREE, who was appointed Technical Assistance Director, and Kathryn Tout of Child Trends, who was appointed Managing Director.
Continue Reading →September 5, 2024
by earlyedinstitute
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Early Education Leaders, an Institute at UMass Boston, announces today that 15 students have been selected as Early Childhood Fellows who will receive full scholarships to earn their bachelor’s degree in early education from UMass Boston. The Fellows are a mix of experienced early educators working in family child care, early care and education centers, out-of-school time programs, and preschool settings as well as those who are new to the field. The Fellowship is funded with a grant from the city of Boston to develop a pipeline of racially, linguistically, and culturally diverse early educators. All of the Fellows have committed to work in the city of Boston as early educators for at least three years after graduating with their degree. The Fellowship currently has 57 students enrolled and has graduated seven since its launch in late 2022.
“We are thrilled to welcome these students to UMass Boston. They are a talented group who come from a range of culturally diverse backgrounds. But what they all have in common is a deep curiosity to learn, expand their knowledge and skills, and work with young children,” said Kori Lantas, MA, Interim Director of the Early Childhood Fellowship.
The Fellows were formally welcomed to UMass Boston during a dinner reception held on campus August 2.
Continue Reading →August 30, 2024
by earlyedinstitute
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Part Two of Becky DelVecchio, Ph.D’s essay documenting the founding of a nature- and play-based ECE program in Hopkinton, MA that she co-authored with early educator Sara Becker has been published by Exchange, a quarterly publication that focuses on early childhood leadership and advocacy.
Continue Reading →August 30, 2024
by earlyedinstitute
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In Pennsylvania, Janine Pagano, the state’s Family Childcare (FCC) Coordinator has built robust community networks of FCC providers across the state to support one another, learn from each other, and be stronger advocates for their ECE sector. In doing so, she employed the skills she honed by taking Leading for Change, our 14-week entrepreneurial leadership program.
Pagano was among a group of Pennsylvania ECE leaders and FCC coaches who completed a Leading for Change facilitator training led by Early Education Leaders Executive Director Anne Douglass and Early Education Leaders staff members.
“It was the most wonderful experience we’ve ever had,” said Pagano, who helped coordinate the training. “And I’m not speaking just for myself, I’m speaking for everyone who took that class.”
Continue Reading →August 21, 2024
by earlyedinstitute
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Vanessa Hunter didn’t set out to work in early education. In fact, her career happened almost by accident. As a frequent volunteer at her son’s childcare center, Hunter employed the skills she honed as the assistant director for a program serving adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Her ability to manage a classroom and keep students engaged caught the attention of the center’s director, who offered Vanessa the job as site director when the program was expanding.
“I’ve always been drawn towards caring for people of all ages and abilities,” Hunter said, noting that the transition was a smooth one.
Still, she was eager to develop even more skills for her new role as the site coordinator for Teeter Tots Preschool and Childcare in Raynham. After reviewing professional development options with her director, she opted to enroll in our Early Education Instructional Leadership program. Her decision was driven, in part, by logistics. The 10-week course, structured with two-and-a-half-hour weekly sessions, fit perfectly into her busy schedule as a single mother.
The Early Education Instructional Leadership program cultivates leadership mindsets and strengthens the knowledge, skills, and competencies of early education instructional leaders. Educators learn about organizational change, and new research on methods for accelerating improvement and creating a culture of collaborative learning. They also learn strategies to implement what they learn in their programs.
Continue Reading →July 9, 2024
by earlyedinstitute
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Like most early care and education providers during the COVID-19 pandemic, Annette Fernandez, PhD, and her staff at Meadowbrook Child Garden in Marlborough found themselves in uncharted territory as they struggled to serve children and families in a safe and sustainable manner despite the fear and uncertainty they dealt with daily.
“It was curveballs left and right,” said Fernandez, who owns and runs the program.
Merely gathering for staff meetings was a logistical nightmare, she said, noting that the meetings basically devolved into “emergency problem solving conversations, wherein all the problems were brought to the table and I was the keeper of all the answers — and Heaven help us, because I don’t have all the answers!”
Continue Reading →June 28, 2024
by earlyedinstitute
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A report released today by the UMass Boston Early Education Cost and Usage Simulator (CUSP) Project demonstrates that increased family financial assistance for early child care and education will make quality licensed child care for children of all racial and ethnic groups more affordable. Provided that there is an adequate supply of quality child care to meet the expected increase in demand, increased family financial assistance holds the potential to virtually eliminate existing racial/ethnic gaps in access to quality child care.
Continue Reading →June 26, 2024
by earlyedinstitute
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The UMass Boston Early Education CUSP Project is led by a multidisciplinary team that designed a simulator to produce current, relevant, accurate, and responsive estimates of the key impacts of proposed legislation in Massachusetts to expand access to affordable, quality child care and early education.
CUSP releases publications aimed to provide essential information to guide policymaking on child care and early education affordability, quality, and access in Massachusetts.
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