Concept Paper
Trainers As Leaders: A New Voice for Effective Early Childhood Education Leadership

The Context: High quality child care is an essential element in achieving the national goal of having all children ready for school. Yet, it is well documented that the quality in eight out of ten center-based programs is rated mediocre to poor. High staff turnover, inadequate compensation, and the lack of a well-trained and representative workforce and leadership plague the field. Proposed budget cuts at the national and state level, proposals to dismantle Head Start, and cuts in many programs servicing children and families, have further eroded the ability to deliver quality services to the most vulnerable children and families. By the second half of the 21st century the United States will become a nation with no ethnic majority, and early childhood practitioners often lack the skills to serve the growing number of children of color, new immigrants, and children whose first language is not English. Therefore, the early childhood education workforce, particularly its leadership, needs to reflect the changing national demographics. The result of these issues is that children will suffer long lasting detriments to their cognitive, social, and emotional well-being.

The Problem: Issues in the early childhood education field are not being effectively addressed.
The complex challenges facing the field are unprecedented and need immediate and long-term attention. It takes a new breed of leader to solve such multifaceted problems, especially those that require systemic solutions. The early childhood education leadership has attempted to solve these problems but they have not been very effective. This is due to a lack of leadership training, few leaders whose backgrounds and experiences represent the children and families served by the early childhood education field, independent and disjointed efforts, and no structure for bringing new leaders into the pipeline. A focus on effective, representative leaders is an immediate priority. We must have leaders who have the capacity, courage, and commitment to solve these interconnected, complex problems and take the field in new directions to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

Who will be the next generation of leaders? Early childhood education trainers are a logical potential leadership pool, yet they are an untapped resource that is seldom turned to for leadership. This group of trainers is growing, and investments made now will have a significant payoff in the future. There are over 40,000 trainers in the United States, and they provide training across all segments of the field, and across all forms of care and education. They work in colleges, community-based early childhood agencies, Head Start, child care resource and referral agencies, and as independent consultants.

The need and our proposed solution: Trainers As Leaders. The demand for training has grown because most states have invested in large-scale career development systems. For the most part, the current practice is that anyone can call themselves a trainer, and consequently many of those in this key position have not had any preparation for the role. Yet, there is no system nationally, or at the state or community level, to train people to be trainers in the early childhood education field.

In fall 2002, our Institute conducted a needs assessment of current trainers that demonstrated a deficiency in the areas of adult learning, technology, leadership development, cultural competence and diversity. Respondents were enthusiastically interested in building their skills as trainers.

Trainers As Leaders, the new initiative from the Wheelock Institute for Leadership and Career Initiatives, will strengthen the training offered to early childhood education providers to improve their practice with children and develop leadership skills in a diverse cadre of trainers.

Trainers As Leaders has the following goals:

  • Improving the practice of early childhood education trainers
  • Recognizing and valuing early childhood education trainers as leaders
  • Diversifying the cadre of early childhood education trainers to reflect changing national demographics

Our projected overall outcomes include:

  • Regional, cutting-edge training modules and innovative instructional materials
  • An inclusive network for early childhood education trainers
  • An interactive online community that supports and connects early childhood education trainers

Key components of Trainers As Leaders include:

  • Unique modules for trainers of 1-3 days duration held in locations throughout the country, coordinated through our Wheelock College office in partnership with local community groups
  • Unique modules for potential trainers offered to regional clusters of individuals from underrepresented groups to prepare them to move into the trainer role
  • An interactive web site as a central communication and marketing hub
  • Leadership and advice from a group of diverse and expert national advisors
  • Employment of an interracial, co-facilitator model, including careful selection and training of facilitators to insure expert content knowledge and equitable sharing of power
  • Training partnerships with national, state, and local groups

Personnel and Organizational Qualifications: Wheelock College prepares students as teachers and social workers and is acknowledged the world over for its excellence and leadership. For twelve years, we at the Institute have been carrying out our mission to create equitable, accessible, exemplary career development systems, and have just the right home at the College. This effort is currently being planned and implemented by the four senior associates at our Institute led by Cecelia Alvarado who has over twenty years of experience in leadership development initiatives.

Timeline and Initiative Phases: Trainers As Leaders follows a five-year, five-phase plan:

Phase I Conceptualization and Planning (July 2002 - December 2002) (COMPLETED)
Phase II Design and Development (January 2003 - March 2004) (IN PROCESS)
Phase III Piloting (April 2004 - March 2005)
Phase IV Implementation (April 2005 - June 2006)
Phase V Expansion / Enhancement (July 2006 - December 2007)

Evaluation: Evaluation of Trainers As Leaders will consist of the following:
• Participant evaluations after each session • Observer evaluations • Interviews and surveys of participants • Yearly tally and analysis of web site use • Evaluation by outside consultant

Budget and Funding: To complete the first three phases of Trainers As Leaders we anticipate raising an additional $2.3 million dollars over the next three years. With funding from the W.K. Kellogg, Peppercorn, and Stone Foundations, we have already completed Phase I and are in the early stages of Phase II. We anticipate a need of $700,000 in funding commitments prior to September 2003 to allow us to complete Phase II and begin the pilot phase. We are submitting renewals to all current funders, including the Department of Labor, and are exploring new foundation, corporate, and individual sources.

Please consider joining us in our goal of developing a diverse national cadre of trainers to lead and transform the early childhood education field.

"The 'Trainers As Leaders' program reflects the best of what we have learned about how to develop leadership from within our field. It reaches across the various program auspices that in the past have divided the field. It explicitly and effectively makes diversity a non-negotiable in its efforts."
--Roger Brown, Executive Chairman, Bright Horizons Family Solutions

 

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