Amanda Kelly’s path into early childhood education began with what was supposed to be a temporary job. Fresh out of college, she took a position as an assistant teacher in a preschool classroom, expecting it to be a brief stop on her career journey. But something about the work captured her imagination and passion.
“I was sucked in,” Kelly recalls. “I think I slowly just gained a passion for education. I really enjoyed it.”
That temporary position launched what would become a fulfilling career spanning multiple roles across Boston’s early education landscape. Kelly progressed from assistant teacher to lead teacher, earned her master’s degree in early childhood education while teaching, and eventually became a director. Most recently, she took on a leadership role in Boston’s Universal Pre-K program before joining Early Education Leaders as a coach in the Early Childhood Support Organization teaching the Essential Leadership Model (ELM).
The Power of Mentorship
A pivotal moment in Kelly’s career came when she connected with mentors from the Lynch Foundation, an organization that supported early childhood programs and educators in Boston. These mentors didn’t just help with classroom strategies – they saw leadership potential in Kelly and invited her to join a leadership group they were forming.
This mentorship opened doors to professional development opportunities and helped Kelly navigate the often-unclear pathways for career advancement in early childhood education. The experience was so formative that it now shapes how she approaches her own coaching work.
“I felt very lucky, very fortunate to have that early childhood professional support system,” Kelly says. “I really enjoy providing that kind of mentorship and coaching now.”
As a coach, Kelly works directly with program leaders and educators in ELM’s three-year professional development program. Her approach combines the technical aspects of improving program quality with the deeply personal work of leadership development.
Kelly recently worked with a director who was feeling overwhelmed and uncertain about her role. Through their coaching relationship, they developed strategies for delegation and distributed leadership that transformed not just the director’s experience, but the entire program’s operations.
“In the fall, we weren’t really sure if she was going to stick with it,” Kelly explains. “She was overwhelmed. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do. And now she has an assistant director and she’s delegating to her.”
This transformation created a ripple effect throughout the program. By redistributing responsibilities, the director was able to focus more time on instructional leadership, providing teachers with the support and resources they needed to improve their practice.
The Essential Leadership Model Approach
Kelly describes the ELM program as an “amazing opportunity for leaders to gain support, not just for themselves, but also for their entire program.” The multi-year investment allows for sustained change that moves beyond quick fixes to fundamental shifts in how programs operate.
Central to Kelly’s coaching philosophy is helping leaders transition from being administrators focused on operational tasks to becoming instructional leaders who prioritize teaching and learning. This means moving away from staff meetings dominated by “housekeeping items” toward collaborative time where educators can “learn and grow together as a program.”
What makes Kelly particularly effective as a coach is her deep understanding of the challenges early education leaders face. Having navigated similar struggles herself, she can offer both empathy and practical solutions.
“Everything that they are going through, I have gone through,” Kelly says. “I know how it feels. I did it, and I know how hard it is, and sometimes that’s really just all they want to hear – that it’s hard, I know it’s hard.”
Her approach emphasizes patience and incremental progress. “We’re on the slow track here,” she explains. “We don’t need to push anything. We can work together slowly, steadily, and solve one problem at a time.”
Building the Field from Within
Kelly’s journey from classroom teacher to leadership coach exemplifies the kind of career pathway that the early education field needs to cultivate more intentionally. Her experience demonstrates how mentorship, professional development, and leadership opportunities can transform not just individual careers, but entire programs and ultimately the children and families they serve.
Nearly a year into her role as an ELM coach, Kelly finds deep satisfaction in being able to provide the kind of support she once needed herself. Her work represents the ripple effect of good mentorship – one supportive relationship leading to another, building stronger leaders and better programs throughout the early education system.
“It feels very fulfilling,” Kelly reflects, “to know what it’s like to be on that side of being a young educator who’s not really sure what to do, not really sure where to go. It feels good to be on the other side and support people.”
ELM is an instructional leadership program offered to program leaders and educators. It is one of a suite of programs designed by Early Education Leaders to support and facilitate the instructional leadership of early educators working at all levels of the field. ELM focuses on creating conditions for improvement rather than prescribing solutions. With this approach, educators gain the freedom to experiment without judgment, using small, manageable steps that lead to significant program transformation. Programs that engage with ELM develop stronger staff relationships, more collaborative teaching practices, and a resilient mindset where challenges become learning opportunities. ELM’s three-year developmental journey — Planting Seeds, Nurturing Growth, Growing Sustainably — gradually builds capacity so changes truly take root. To learn more, email Essential Leadership Model Director Cristina Mendes at Cristina.Mendes@umb.edu.
