Early Ed Leadership & Innovation

We train frontline early educators and child care business owners in entrepreneurial leadership, and research ways to support them at scale

Tag Archives: Press Release

July 25, 2022
by IEELI
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Early Ed Leadership Institute Awarded $3.8M

The Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation at UMass Boston (the Early Ed Leadership Institute) announces that it has been awarded $2.5 million by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’s Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) to manage and enhance the delivery of professional development and training offered to the state’s licensed early educators through EEC’s five regional StrongStart Professional Development Centers (PDC). The state also awarded the Early Ed Leadership Institute $753,469 to operate the Metro Boston StrongStart Professional Development Center and $600,000 to scale its Early Education Quality through Instructional Leadership (EQIIL) professional learning model. EQIIL supports early education and care leaders to use job-embedded professional learning to promote instructional quality and a culture of continuous learning.

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October 19, 2020
by IEELI
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Leadership Institute Testing Model To Improve Business Operations of Small Business Child Care Providers

The Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation (the Leadership Institute), housed in UMass Boston’s College of Education and Human Development, announces that Songtian (Tim) Zeng PhD, BCBA and Anne Douglass PhD are co-principal investigators on a study measuring the effectiveness of the small business innovation and shared services model for home- and center-based child care providers serving high-poverty communities in the city of Boston. The $250,000 study is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and will be administered by United Way of Massachusetts Bay from 2020 to 2022.

“Early childhood education is the essential foundation for improving all levels of education,” said College of Education and Human Development Dean Joseph Berger. “I am proud of the ongoing leadership provided by the Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation as they apply their exceptional expertise to improving quality and equity of early childhood education throughout the state and beyond.” Continue Reading →

October 19, 2020
by IEELI
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Leadership Institute Creates Early Childhood Support Organization for State’s ECE Programs with $3.75M Grant

The Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation (the Leadership Institute), housed in UMass Boston’s College of Education and Human Development, announces today that it is designing a new Early Childhood Support Organization (ECSO) for the state’s licensed early care and education programs. The Leadership Institute is partnering with longtime collaborators the UMass Donahue Institute (UMDI) and Start Early (formerly the Ounce of Prevention) to deliver services. The 4.5-year, $3.75 million project is funded by the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care and New Profit, a venture philanthropy organization that invests in systems change initiatives that break down barriers to opportunity.

“The ECE field urgently needs high impact professional and leadership development supports that promote early educators’ expertise and abilities to improve program quality,” said Anne Douglass, PhD, the Leadership Institute’s founder and executive director. “Research shows that to be effective, ECE educators and leaders need a workplace context that is designed to develop and sustain teachers’ ongoing learning and practice.” Continue Reading →

September 28, 2020
by IEELI
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Pre-pandemic ECE workforce survey released

A new report from the Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation (Leadership Institute) at UMass Boston provides a detailed pre-pandemic snapshot of the early education workforce in Massachusetts. Authored by researchers from the Leadership Institute, the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy, and the Center for Social Policy at UMass Boston, the report serves as a point of comparison in understanding the impact of the pandemic on the child care sector and contains valuable data that can inform policy discussions about early care and education now taking place at the local, state, and federal level.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that early care and education is a key piece of infrastructure for the economy. Parents need early care and education options that are high quality and affordable because when child care isn’t available, parents can’t work,” said Anne Douglass, PhD, professor and executive director of the Leadership Institute. “But as the sector grapples with the impact COVID-19 has had on the health and well-being of young children and staff as well as the financial viability of child care programs of all sizes, this survey shows that returning to pre-pandemic ways of doing business is not an option.” Continue Reading →

April 10, 2019
by IEELI
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Statewide Survey of Early Care and Education Workforce Aims to Improve Quality of Commonwealth’s Childcare

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has commissioned UMass Boston’s Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation to conduct a statewide survey of early childhood educators. Led by Anne Douglass, executive director of Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation, this research study also draws on the expertise of researchers from the McCormack Graduate School’s Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy and Center for Social Policy. The survey will inform the development of policy solutions to improve the quality of early education and care in Massachusetts as well as the economic security of educators. Continue Reading →

December 3, 2018
by IEELI
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New State Early Care and Education Workforce Study Report Released

The Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation (IEELI) at UMass Boston issued a report on the early education and care (ECE) workforce in Massachusetts demonstrating that many educators face low pay and barriers to their professional development. The data presented in the report serves as the foundation for a major statewide study of educators slated to be launched in 2019—- after nearly fifteen years since the last comprehensive report on the workforce was completed. Continue Reading →

November 5, 2018
by IEELI
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UMass Boston Announces New Cohort of Emerging Leaders in Early Childhood Education

UMass Boston’s Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation has selected ten Early Educator Leadership Fellows for the 2018-2019 cohort of its Post-Master’s Certificate Program in Early Education Research, Policy, and Practice.

This group of experienced early childhood educators will spend the next year immersed in intensive training in entrepreneurial leadership, early childhood policy, and the science of early learning. They will also connect with and join our growing network of emerging and established ECE leaders. Continue Reading →

This is the blog of the Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation, a university-wide initiative housed in the College of Education and Human Development at UMass Boston.
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