Teacher recruitment and retention is what I had a chance to explore at Harvard with leaders from several states across America. Some takeaways I bring home from the Harvard Zaentz Early Childhood Initiative, “Action Planning for Early Education Systems and Policy” are:
Early childhood workforce systems help to build capacity for families in a community,
Children learn when their developmental needs are met, and
Educator shortages can be addressed with evidence-based teacher prep programs that are aligned with professional practice standards to ensure an effective early childhood system.
The day began with a warm welcome from Harvard Dean: Dr. Nonie Lesaux.
Masterclass with Dr. Elizabeth City revealed ways to think about strategic leadership. Before meeting we read about the 5 leadership elements in the case of “Red Light, Green Light” in chapter 9 of their book. CEO of Baltimore City Public Schools, Sonja Santelises, wrote the foreword and noted about the leadership tools in the book: “The ability to discern what’s important in the noise of a hectic day; how to cultivate productive relationships between individuals and organizations; how to identify and harness power—when to wield it, when to share it, when to cede it; and (of course) how to think big, act small, and learn fast.” I’m so excited to read the rest of the chapters from, “Leading Strategically: Achieving Ambitious Goals in Education” by Elizabeth A. City and Rachel E. Curtis.
Dean Lesaux lead our discussion about scaling for impact in early education systems.
“Reaching for Hope” inspired ideas for communication for effective early education systems with Dr. Junlei Li.
Case presentations of early education systems from Pennsylvania, Connecticut, & Texas by Sean Perkins (Chief of Early Childhood Education in Philadelphia), Elena Trueworthy (Commissioner at Connecticut Office of Early Childhood), and Shawneequa Blount (Director of Child Care Innovation in North Texas).
The spectacular day wrapped up with action planning and applying what we learned. Grateful for my team members from Iowa and Louisiana who gave me feedback on my strategic plan. Addressing the teacher shortage takes a collaborative effort (Lohmann & Macy, 2024; Macy et al., 2024).
Dr. City said about today we make time for the “gift of learning.” Heartfelt gratitude for learning gifts from our outstanding team at Zaentz Early Education Initiative: Dr. Danila Crespin Zidovsky, Emily Wiklund Hayhurst, Isabel Schmidt, Robin Kane, and Charlotte Petty.
Before leaving Boston, I visited LEGO. One of my former students works in the beautiful new Boston location. So proud of my students, past and present, who are working to make the world better for children & their families.
References
Lohmann, M. & Macy, M. (2024). Early childhood special education stars: A 5-point model for addressing the teacher shortage. HS Dialog: The Research to Practice Journal for the Early Childhood Field, 27(1), 104-116. https://doi.org.10.55370/27i1.1788
Macy, M., Lohmann, M., Neukirch, E., & Burke, K. (2024) The way H-O-M-E: Service learning to address early education teacher shortage. School Community Journal, 34(2), 159-178. https://www.adi.org/journal/FW2024/MacyEtAl.pdf
I will be taking time off from writing this blog. Wishing you a wonderful summer. ~Marisa