How do leaders ensure the vision, mission, and objectives for their programs have legs to guarantee that a principled legacy continues past their tenure in early childhood policy and practice? Starting succession planning well before a departure is on the horizon will help the transition to go smoothly when the day arrives. (Presentation at the 2019 NAEYC Professional Learning Institute)

Leadership Development is an ongoing process, and it involves complex skills and abilities related to establishing vision and direction, providing motivation and guidance, and promoting collaboration within and across agencies and programs. This presentation will explore tool kits and resources designed to support knowledge and skill development in individual leaders so they can successfully build and sustain high-quality systems that implement evidence-based practices, such as the HighScope framework.

CEELO recently released a report on the findings from a national survey of state early childhood education agency staff as part of CEELO’s Early Childhood Legacy 2030 project. Lori Connors-Tadros presented a summary of the findings to the Society for Research in Child Development State Policy Fellows on the characteristics of state early childhood education agency staff and what they believe is most important to realize a legacy for young children by 2030, followed by a discussion of the implications for effective implementation of early childhood state policy.

CEELO’s Early Childhood Legacy 2030 project seeks to inform policy decisions for children, birth to third grade, over the coming decade (2020–2030). State early childhood education agency staff are responsible for implementing policies and collaborating with other stakeholders to meet the needs of allyoung children in their states. Yet no one has adequately documented the voice, experience and perspectives of these individuals so that challenges and constraints of implementing state ECE policy can inform stakeholders. This report describes what we found about state early childhood education agency staff, the complexity of their work and what they believe is most important to realize a legacy for young children by 2030. An Executive Summary of the full report can be found here.

During 2017 – 2018, CEELO conducted a professional learning community (PLC) to support leadership development among newly appointed, high-level leaders of early education in state education agencies. The goal of the PLC was for participants to increase awareness, gain critical knowledge and develop leadership skills needed to guide highly effective offices of early learning within state education agencies. This is a summary of the activities and findings from the report.

Leadership development is an on-going process and it involves complex skills and abilities related to establishing vision and direction, providing motivation and guidance, and promoting collaboration within and across agencies and programs. This 3-hour session explores toolkits and resources designed to support knowledge and skill development in individual leaders to enable them successfully build and sustain high quality systems that implement evidence-based practices.

This session held during the 2018 Improving Data – Improving Outcomes Summer Data Institute aimed at helping participants better understand the characteristics of a good leader and reflect on their own leadership skills. State experiences and resources were shared that support knowledge and skill development in individual leaders. (August 2018)

This presentation discusses the powerful policies needed to lead and drive state efforts to improve the workforce and teaching quality with an equity lens. It explores the question – How can policy leaders identify and remedy disparities throughout the systems they lead so that the workforce is equipped to ensure each child’s learning and development can be optimized? CEELO’s Jana Martella presented with BUILD’s Kate Tarrant, Debi Mathias, and Aisha Ray on June 13th, 2017 at the NAEYC Professional Learning Institute.

This presentation describes CEELO’s role and services in supporting the professional early childhood workforce. CEELO Senior Fellow Jim Squires presented this material during a webinar to the EarlyEdU Alliance, a 35-member consortium of institutions for higher education and 16 state-based teams supporting quality teaching in Head Start and early childhood programs. (Slides | Recording)

This report includes a review of current research on the impact and prevalence of suspension and expulsion in early childhood programs and a summary of key federal and national policy on suspension and expulsion in early childhood programs. It also provides an overview of emerging state policy, descriptions of effective approaches for prevention, and considerations for states in developing policy in this area.

This listserv summary shares responses from state contacts on the NAECS-SDE listserv on requirements for Kindergarten teachers in twelve states. It includes a table that lists responses from states and describes the state’s requirements, along with links to specific state resources and tools are included where applicable.

This summary presents national and state resources shared during the 2016 Roundtable Mobilizing an Exceptional Early Childhood Workforce. Resources include policy briefs, tools, guides, and websites.