Sarah Roebuck has wanted to be a teacher from the time she entered kindergarten as a “scared little kid” and encountered a “really nice teacher.”

“In my mind and in my heart, this really nice teacher was the answer to the world’s problems,” Roebuck says. “So from that moment, I wanted to be a teacher. I had zero doubts. I didn’t question it. I didn’t think of doing anything else as I grew up.”

She studied early education in college and went on to have career teaching in elementary school, including kindergarten, and eventually early care and education. Today, as Executive Director of the Goddard Schools in Gaithersburg, Silver Spring, and North Bethesda, Roebuck oversees programs serving 250 students each, with teams of 45 full-time faculty members at each location.

Roebuck stepped into her executive director role in 2020, right as the COVID-19 pandemic began. Although her schools never closed, they did lose most of their students. They remained open with new students who were the children of parents who were doctors, scientists, firefighters and “all the people who were doing the work on the ground.”

“Everyone was so afraid. The families were afraid, the faculty all wanted to quit, and I was afraid, too, of course. But I had to be brave. I had to keep things going,” she remembers.

Roebuck kept her entire team intact, losing only one faculty member who was at high risk of infection. “We actually had enormous success through the pandemic,” she says. “We just figured things out as we went along.”

By any definition of the word, Roebuck was a leader. But she didn’t feel like one.

Roebuck had long been aware of the Maryland Early Childhood Leadership Program (MECLP), which partners with Early Education Leaders to deliver our Leading for Change in Early Education course, which is taught by faculty from Early Education Leaders. The 12-month program is organized around the leadership development of Fellows in the context of the programs and settings in which they work, providing them with a deeper understanding of themselves as agents of change in their fields.

“The first time I heard of it, I wanted to do it, but I wasn’t sure I had the credentials,” Roebuck says. “When I saw the announcement about the first cohort, I just thought they were a very impressive list of people and I didn’t think I was ready to apply. So I let a couple more years go by and I kept reading the bios of the educators accepted into the program and I started building my own resume so it was more like their bios.”

She finally summoned the courage to apply for the fifth cohort and was accepted. When she wrote in her bio for the program that her goal was “to become an ECE leader in her community,” the then-MECLP executive director Christina Lopez edited it to read that Roebuck “is an ECE leader in her community.”

“I turned bright red reading it,” Roebuck admits. “I wanted to share this with my family, friends and colleagues, but hesitated doing so because I thought, ‘Oh, this is so boastful, is it even true?’”

The assignment that changed everything for Roebuck was the leadership self-portrait—a core exercise of the Leading for Change curriculum for which participants have to reach out to colleagues, family, and friends for feedback about their leadership strengths.

“I thought I was going to throw up,” Roebuck says about the assignment. “I was like, ‘Can I ask them for my flaws instead? I’d much rather receive that list!’”

The feedback she received was transformative. Her in-laws wrote about how she balanced providing for her family while making the world better for children. A teacher noted that what sets Roebuck apart “is not only her passion for education but her profound belief in the power of positive relationships. She recognizes that every interaction is an opportunity to make a difference.”

Her boss praised her tenacity during the pandemic when she “pursued every possible avenue to keep our school doors open,” which included going way outside her comfort zone to do media interviews about the creative ways educators were keeping children engaged. 

“The feedback was overwhelming,” she reflects. While noting that it didn’t eliminate Roebuck’s self-doubts entirely, “it did make it very clear how others view me” which gave her enormous confidence.

Another mindset shift Roebuck experienced as a result of the program was to place a much higher value on collaboration. “I was a bit more of an independent thinker or worker, but I don’t think we can get anything done in the field now by working in silos anymore,” Roebuck explains. “We need to talk to other centers. We’re not competitors the way that we think we are.”

This realization led her to join Montgomery County’s Children’s Opportunity Alliance, where she became a co-author of their common agenda. She now attends advocacy meetings, tours other centers, and collaborates with stakeholders across the community—activities she never would have considered doing before studying at MECLP.

She also changed the way she views her work, fully embracing the dictum, “It’s a marathon, not a sprint.”

“I have always been a sprinter,” Roebuck says. “I can achieve anything when I’m sprinting. I’ll win any race. I just have to focus, get enough adrenaline.”

Indeed, it is how she managed throughout the pandemic.

“But with marathons, oh my goodness, it’s absolutely a different story. The long-term vision is critical.”

Understanding that she is playing a long game grounds her approach to ECE advocacy and leadership development. Lasting change is built on sustained efforts that require strategic planning, collaboration, and patience rather than quick wins, Roebuck says. Lasting change also requires leaders, and lots of them.

So Roebuck developed her own Leadership Development Program (LDP) across her three schools. Teachers at all levels can apply to participate in monthly meetings, mentorship programs, and capstone projects.

About 25 teachers across her three schools have participated in the program, which includes stipends and planned time for professional development opportunities. The impact has been remarkable: classroom observation scores have improved, and teachers who previously thought they needed to become directors to advance their careers now see how they can exercise leadership as instructors.

“Really good teachers thought that the next step in their professional development was to become a director, as if being a teacher isn’t enough,” Roebuck explains. But now they see themselves as leaders, attend advocacy events, and contribute to the broader ECE community.

“This leadership training makes you a better person,” she observes. “It makes you respond better to people and children.”

For Roebuck, Leading for Change wasn’t just about developing her own leadership skills—it was about recognizing that leadership exists at every level and creating systems to nurture it. From a nervous kindergartner inspired by a kind teacher to an executive director inspiring leadership in others, Roebuck’s journey illustrates the ripple effects that can emerge when early educators embrace their roles as leaders and change agents.

“I think it is critical for anyone who works in ECE to see themselves as a leader, because they are leaders,” she says.

Leading for Change in Early Care and Education was developed by Early Education Leaders and anchors all of our programs. Participants learn how to lead for change to improve program quality and promote equity in early care and education. Leading for Change is currently offered to early educators in Massachusetts at UMass Boston and also in partnership with the MA Department of Early Education and Care through its statewide network of StrongStart Professional Development Centers. Leading for Change is also offered to early educators in Maryland through the Maryland Early Childhood Leadership Education Program at the Shriver Center at the University of Maryland Baltimore County and in Pennsylvania through the Pennsylvania Key and Pennsylvania’s Office of Child Development & Early Learning. It was offered to educators in California through a pilot program.