Early Education Leaders, an Institute at UMass Boston | provides the leadership development opportunities and infrastructure that early educators need to support thriving children and families.

June 18, 2022
by Anne Douglass
0 comments

Ninth annual Leadership Forum on Early Education, Research, Policy, and Practice showcases inspiring and innovative Change Projects

What did attendees of our ninth annual Leadership Forum on Early Education, Research, Policy, and Practice think of the event?

They loved it!

But don’t take our word for it. Take theirs.

Below is a representative sample of feedback from attendees:

“Hearing so many perspectives and new solutions for persistent challenges!”
“The passion!”
“The opportunity to network.”
“Learning from different perspectives and hearing how they can collaborate to continually improve our field.”

“This is what we see year after year and it’s what makes this event so special,” said Lynne Mendes, Director of Leadership Programs for the Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation. “At this event, early educators showcase their expertise and make connections they would not have had the chance to make otherwise.”

Continue Reading →

June 2, 2022
by Anne Douglass
0 comments

Family Child Care providers lead for change

Nearly everyone who has worked in the field of early education has had the experience of hearing the expertise required to work with very young children dismissed as little more than “babysitting.”

It’s a serious issue.

When policymakers and voters do not understand that the foundation of quality early education begins with a highly skilled workforce, they are far less likely to make the investments required to ensure that every child has access to high quality care and education.

Continue Reading →

April 12, 2022
by Anne Douglass
0 comments

New Study Finds What Drives Wage Gaps Among Early Educators in Massachusetts

A new study found that teachers’ educational attainment and current teaching positions explained wage gaps among a statewide representative sample of ECE center educators in Massachusetts. The study also found that center educators who self-identified as Black earned higher hourly wages than their White, Hispanic/Latinx, and other-race counterparts with similar characteristics. Hispanic/Latinx educators earned wages comparable with their White counterparts.

“Teachers with a bachelor’s or higher degrees earned higher wages than those with lower educational attainment, and being a lead teacher instead of an assistant teacher was also associated with higher wages,” said study author Anne Douglass, PhD, Professor of Early Care and Education at UMass Boston and the founding executive director of the Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation. “The strong association between educational attainment and hourly wages underscores the importance of implementing intentional strategies to create equitable opportunities for pursuing higher education degrees for all early educators.”

Continue Reading →

April 11, 2022
by Anne Douglass
0 comments

Harnessing creativity

Kelly Cavallini has been working in family child care for 29 years and she wouldn’t have it any other way. She briefly worked as a center director for a large chain but found that she missed the more intimate work with children and families that running a family childcare allowed her to do.

But when Cavallini enrolled in Leading for Change, the 14-week professional development program offered through the Massachusetts StrongStart Professional Development Centers, she realized there was an important aspect missing from her work in family child care: co-workers.

Because family child care owners often work on their own they “don’t have anyone validating” what they’re doing, said Cavallini, who works out of her home in Springfield. “You’re skipping around the house and your little ducklings are following you, and we are doing amazing work but on one sees it!”

Continue Reading →

April 11, 2022
by Anne Douglass
0 comments

Building an anti-stress toolkit for families

After 39 years as an ECE provider, you’d think Marcia Gadson-Harris would have little desire—or need—for more professional development training. And yet, last October she completed Leading for Change, the 14-week professional development program offered through the Massachusetts StrongStart Professional Development Centers that trains program administrators, educators, and family child care providers on how to lead for change and quality improvement in their practice, program, or in the field.

The Vision Board Marcia Gadson-Harris created during Leading for Change.

For Gadson-Harris, the question of whether she would participate in the training was never in doubt. “I’m an avid learner,” she says. “I take lots and lots of training and there’s no such thing as too much training. You can never stop learning. That’s what life is all about.”

Continue Reading →

March 18, 2022
by Anne Douglass
0 comments

Research Summary: Entrepreneurial Leadership Training Catalyzes Change Initiatives in Early Ed Programs

In “Preparing early educators as frontline leaders and change agents with a leadership development initiative,” UMass Boston researchers show that early educators who participated in a relational-entrepreneurial leadership development program were likely to lead for change in curriculum improvement, family engagement, and relationship building after completing their training. These findings suggest that relational-entrepreneurial leadership training has the potential to tap into early educators’ proprietary knowledge about caring for and educating very young children that are not known to those outside the field. Consequently, findings from this study are deeply relevant to current debate among early educators, parents, and policymakers about how to make affordable, high quality early care and education accessible to all families.

Continue Reading →

March 16, 2022
by Anne Douglass
0 comments

From preschool teacher to PhD holder

Just as Becky DelVecchio launched her research project for her doctoral thesis, the world shut down due to COVID-19.

She had originally planned to do an ethnographic study on the psychologically restorative benefits of nature play for children and families by embedding in a nature program to study the lived experiences of children, educators and families as they move through the program. That became impossible when COVID-19 health and safety restrictions forced the closure of ECE programs across the state. For months after reopening, most programs prohibited visitors to their centers and schools.

She instead adapted her project to a mixed-methods study, which included a quantitative online survey directed at caregivers of 3-4-year-olds in Greater Boston, followed by qualitative interviews with a sample of the respondents.

DelVecchio was pleased to receive 173 completed surveys, given the pressures parents were under, especially in the early days of the pandemic. “I was really thankful and just continue to be thankful to all the families who contributed to my research,” she said.

Continue Reading →

March 7, 2022
by Anne Douglass
0 comments

UMass Boston-based researcher team to create program to estimate cost of providing quality early care and education for children in MA

Program will estimate costs needed for Common Start legislation (H. 605 / S. 362)

A UMass Boston-based interdisciplinary team of researchers has launched a new research project that will build a cost simulator to inform policy recommendations around universal child care. The simulator will model the amount of funding required by the Common Start legislation to provide affordable, high-quality early care and education for families in Massachusetts. The team has expertise in economics, early education, and public policy and will include researchers from the Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation at UMass Boston, the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy at UMass Boston, and the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University. The project is being funded by the Commonwealth Children’s Fund, which invests in public policy and other initiatives that support children in Massachusetts from birth to age five. Continue Reading →

February 25, 2022
by Anne Douglass
0 comments

New Study Finds That Early Educators Trained in Leading for Change Develop Entrepreneurial Mindset and Lead for Change in the Workplace

A study published in the International Journal of Child Care and Education Policy found that early educators who participated in a relational-entrepreneurial leadership development program were likely to lead for change in curriculum improvement, family engagement, and relationship building after completing their training. It is one of the first empirical studies to examine whether relational-entrepreneurial leadership development training increases early educators’ capacity to lead for change and it contributes new knowledge to the emerging literature on early educator leadership development. Findings from the study, which was designed and authored by researchers at the Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation at UMass Boston, are relevant to current debate among early educators, parents, and policymakers about how to make affordable, high quality early care and education accessible to all families. Continue Reading →

February 18, 2022
by Anne Douglass
0 comments

Media: Want better child care? Invest in entrepreneurial training for child care workers

In an oped for The Conversation, Professor Anne Douglass writes about the impact of entrepreneurial leadership training on the childcare and early education workforce: When directors and administrators of early learning centers are trained in entrepreneurial leadership, innovation becomes a bigger part of what they do. They build relationships that value “curiosity, questions, and reflections about current practices,” according to a 2021 federal report. Staff members contribute ideas to improve teaching practices, enhance program quality, implement strategies for improving workplace culture, promote equity and welcome feedback from parents.

Read the full oped, “Want better child care? Invest in entrepreneurial training for child care workers,” online at The Conversation.