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.

October 2, 2023
by earlyedinstitute
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Media Advisory: Research Brief on Affordable, Quality Child Care and Early Education Expansion in MA To Be Released Oct 11

WHAT: Research Brief Release and Presentation: Estimating the Impacts of Legislation to Expand Affordable Quality Child Care and Early Education in Massachusetts: Initial Findings on Utilization, Employment, and Financial Assistance

WHO: UMass Boston Early Education CUSP (Cost and Usage Simulator Project) Team

  • Randy Albelda, PhD, Professor Emerita of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Boston
  • Alan Clayton-Matthews, PhD, Associate Professor Emeritus in the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and the Department of Economics at Northeastern University
  • Anne Douglass, PhD, Professor of Early Childhood Education Policy and Founding Executive Director of the Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation at the University of Massachusetts Boston

WHEN: Wednesday, October 11, 2023 – 11am

WHERE: State House, Room 222

BACKGROUND:

A multidisciplinary team from UMass Boston has developed a simulator to produce estimates of the key impacts of proposed legislation in Massachusetts to expand access to affordable, quality child care and early education. The team will launch a series of research briefs to inform consideration of proposed legislation. The first research brief highlights increases expected in the use of licensed child care and early education as well as parental employment. It also covers expected reduction in the cost burden of child care for families and decreased poverty rates. UMass Boston Early Education CUSP (Cost and Usage Simulator Project) is led by the Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation in collaboration with the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy.

About the Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation at UMass Boston

The Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation at the University of Massachusetts Boston (The Leadership Institute) provides the leadership development opportunities and infrastructure that early educators need to support thriving children and families. Founded in 2016, we drive systems change by cultivating effective leaders who reflect and represent their communities—through workforce and leadership development, research, and partnerships that strengthen the larger early education ecosystem. We are nationally recognized as a model of excellence, and we make high-quality early care and education a reality for more children and families while supporting the professional growth of a diverse workforce of early educators. Get involved or learn more by visiting www.umb.edu/earlyedinstitute.

About the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

The Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy (CWPPP), based at the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston aims to promote diverse women’s leadership to achieve more just, equitable, and responsive public and institutional policies and meaningful inclusion. It does this through its Gender, Leadership, and Public Policy (GLPP) graduate certificate and MPA-GLPP track programs; applied research on electoral representation and intersectional public policy analysis, relating to the economic, health and social well-being of women and families; and public convenings that mobilize community and women’s political participation. In all its work, CWPPP’s approach is antiracist as we seek to tackle critical issues affecting women’s lives through an intersectional lens of gender, race/ethnicity, class, and other identities.

September 28, 2023
by earlyedinstitute
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Congratulations to our first Early Childhood Fellow graduate!

Congratulations to Bri Vines, the first graduate of the Early Childhood Fellowship program at UMass Boston! The Early Childhood Fellowship was launched in partnership with the city of Boston in 2022 to develop a pipeline of trained early educators to contribute and lead in diverse settings including family childcare, center-based, Head Start, and PreK programs. Fellows, who enter the program with either an associate’s degree or at least 60 undergraduate credits, receive full scholarships to complete their bachelor’s degree. Upon acceptance into the Fellowship, they sign a memorandum of understanding committing to work in the city of Boston as an early educator for at least three years after graduating with their bachelor’s degree.

Here’s what Bri had to say about her experience:

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September 28, 2023
by earlyedinstitute
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Leading for Change: Belinda Jones 

Belinda Jones has dedicated her working life to early care and education (ECE). 

“I love children. I love to take care of children. I’ve been doing it my whole life basically, for my own kids and for other kids as well, just like my mom,” she said. 

As a youth, Jones’s mother ran a family child care, where Jones enjoyed helping her mom, as well as learning from her. That experience led to a 12-year tenure at a local center, after which she decided to go into business for herself. Several years ago, Jones opened Beloved Childcare in her Syracuse home. 

For Jones, owning a family child care is a step on a longer professional path to opening a small center of her own. 

“I see myself having a center,” said Jones, who is working to secure a new space to expand her family childcare business into a group childcare. 

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August 17, 2023
by earlyedinstitute
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Instructional Leadership for Continuous Improvement in ECE

Instructional Leadership for Continuous Improvement in ECE is for program directors* and their teaching staff from group child care and out of school time programs. Participants enroll as a team and teams learn about organizational change and strategies that promote continuous quality improvement. Over 10 weeks, participants explore research-based practices for center-based and out of school time program improvement, early childhood curriculum, job-embedded professional learning, and the role of instructional leaders. Teams also learn about new research on methods for accelerating improvement and creating a culture of collaborative learning using a set of concrete strategies that promote continuous improvement. During this course, teams identify a problem related to instructional quality and continuous program improvement at their program, develop a plan to make change, and take steps with to implement the plan.

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August 17, 2023
by earlyedinstitute
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WATCH: Reducing turnover and increasing retention

Sonja Crum Knight from the Carole Robertson Center Head Start program in Chicago is one of many early care and education leaders across the country innovating to retain their workforce. She sat down recently with the National Early Care and Education Workforce Center to describe how her Head Start program has been able to reduce turnover and reach 80 percent retention.

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July 21, 2023
by earlyedinstitute
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Meet a StrongStart PDC Training Specialist: Jody Figuerido, Ph.D.

As early educators, we’re well aware of the chaos COVID-19 caused in our profession. Many of us are still grappling with pandemic-related financial shortfalls, staffing shortages, and an increase in challenging behavior among the children in our classrooms or programs—along with the stress such difficulties bring.

PDC Training Specialist Jody Figuerido, Ph.D.

In her work as the Training Specialist for the Central Massachusetts StrongStart Professional Development Center (PDC), and as owner and president of the Institute for Education and Professional Development, Jody Figuerido, Ph.D., has observed these struggles in real-time and was concerned about their effect on young children’s learning and development as well as the impact on the educators.

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July 13, 2023
by earlyedinstitute
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Meet a StrongStart PDC Coach: Shauna Trick

Shauna Trick is a nurturer by nature, which is why she was drawn to a career in ECE. For 25 years she has supported the growth and development of countless infants, toddlers, preschoolers, kindergarteners, and school-age children in a range of settings. For many years, Trick has also channeled her love for encouraging others to reach their potential by mentoring other educators, including as the lead coach at the StrongStart Northeast Professional Development Center (PDC) since 2021. 

Right now, said Trick, many of the educators she coaches are seeking help with classroom management and behavior supports. Others need support in curriculum design, developing administrative systems. She is also working with new program leaders unexpectedly thrust into their roles as the ECE profession continues to struggle through a staffing shortage. 

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June 30, 2023
by earlyedinstitute
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52 Early Childhood Fellows enrolled at UMass Boston

The Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation announces today that 52 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 $2 million grant from the city of Boston to support the recovery and expansion of the early childhood workforce from the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. 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 depth of experience, talent, and passion for early education in our cohort of Early Childhood Fellows is impressive,” said Marcelo Juica, PhD, Director of Programs of the Early Ed Leadership Institute and Co-Director of the Early Childhood Fellowship. “Many of our Fellows are already contributing to the field of early care and education in Boston, but this Fellowship will expand their capacity to lead while also creating a powerful pipeline of trained educators to grow the early childhood education workforce in the city.”

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June 9, 2023
by earlyedinstitute
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Practicing health, wellness, and self care as early educators 

The afternoon panel “Wellness: self-care” at our 10th annual Leadership Forum on Early Education, Research, Policy, and Practice May 13 offered a lively and honest discussion about managing stress on the job, managing children’s stress, mindfulness practice for staff and families, and Black joy. 

Moderated by Cristina Mendes, the Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation’s Director of Outreach, Recruitment and Retention, the panel included 

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June 9, 2023
by earlyedinstitute
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Leading, learning, and networking at the tenth annual Leadership Forum on Early Education, Research, Policy, and Practice 

“The Leadership Forum is one of a kind. Our event celebrates and elevates the ideas, innovations, and expertise of early educators,” said Lynne Mendes, Director of Leadership Programs at the Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation. 

As morning speaker Stephanie Geddie, a 2020 graduate of the Leading for Change course taught by faculty from the Leadership Institute through one of the Leadership Institute’s partners, the Maryland Early Childhood Leadership Program (MECLP) at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, put it: “We are the experts in this work! That’s why it’s our responsibility to elevate our ideas and advocate for the resources we need, and our programs need.” 

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