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.

August 21, 2024
by earlyedinstitute
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Early Education Instructional Leadership: Vanessa Hunter

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.

Vanessa Hunter

“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.

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July 9, 2024
by earlyedinstitute
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Adopting the Essential Leadership Model: Meadowbrook Child Garden

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!”

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June 28, 2024
by earlyedinstitute
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UMass Boston Report Shows Potential for Reducing Racial Inequities in Child Care and Early Education

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.

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June 26, 2024
by earlyedinstitute
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UMass Boston Early Ed Cost and Usage Simulator Project (CUSP)

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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June 10, 2024
by earlyedinstitute
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Massachusetts Statewide Coaching Collaborative: A Day of Learning and Networking

Teddy Kokoros, Project Director of The Statewide Professional Development Academy.

On Thursday, June 6, the Department of Early Education and Care hosted the Massachusetts Statewide Coaching Collaborative at their Central MA Office in Worcester. This event brought together over 60 early educators involved in various coaching initiatives across the state.

The day began with a warm welcome and networking breakfast followed by overviews of the Commonwealth Preschool Partnership Initiative, the Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation, the Early Childhood Support Organizations, the Professional Development Centers, and the Pyramid Model.

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June 6, 2024
by earlyedinstitute
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Applications now open for the Post Master’s Certificate in Early Education Research, Policy & Practice

Each year, we accept up to eight Leadership Fellows into the Post Master’s Certificate in Early Education Research, Policy & Practice (PMC) at UMass Boston. Fellows are selected based on their experience and interest in advancing the field of early care and education. They represent a variety of public and community-based early education programs and employer- and home-based child cares and come from every level of the field.

The PMC equips seasoned educators with advanced skills in research, policy, leadership, and data-driven practice. This 12-credit advanced graduate course of study is designed to help you deepen your knowledge and enhance your impact on early childhood education from birth to age 8.

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June 5, 2024
by earlyedinstitute
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An inspiring day at the 11th annual Leadership Forum

Gathering in person for the first time in four years, the energy and excitement was palpable at our 11th annual Leadership Forum on Early Education Research, Policy, and Practice May 4. We had record attendance as nearly 250 early education professionals joined us from New York, Maryland, and all across Massachusetts.

Early educators connecting at the Leadership Forum.

“I am so excited to be here!,” said Tiffani Peguese, a Black Student Achievement Program Liaison in the Howard County (Maryland) Public School System. “This is my first year here. It was really, really wonderful being in community with other early childhood educators and I learned quite a bit that I’m going to process, take on home, and put it into action when I go.”

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May 7, 2024
by earlyedinstitute
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Leadership Forum: My Best Self

The 11th annual Leadership Forum on Early Education Research, Policy, and Practice featured 60 presentations that showcased early educators’ innovations and ideas to improve ECE quality and business management, and to promote entrepreneurship, racial equity, systems change, and other reforms. All of the presenters were alumni of Early Education Leaders’ leadership programs, which now count more than 1000 graduates.

Iyanna Nelson, a Leading for Change alum from the program we offer in partnership with the Maryland Early Childhood Leadership Program (MECLP), based at the University of Maryland Baltimore County and a student support teacher for the Howard County Public School System, shared a spoken-word poem she wrote as part of Leading for Change’s leadership development self-portrait, an experience that helps educators to see their greatest strengths, unique assets, and talents and how they might use them to be more effective in driving change.

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