Training early childhood leaders: developing a new paradigm for professional development using a practice to theory approach

ABSTRACT

Given the predictive nature of high-quality early childhood programs on children’s social and learning outcomes, effective leadership is critical to facilitate program improvement. Recognizing the need for cohesive conceptual frameworks that undergird research-based practice, a 5-year training institute for early childhood program directors was evaluated to assess training effectiveness. Moreover, we developed a model of early childhood leadership professional development grounded in our iterative analysis of data from this study and guided by theory-building methods. The findings show positive impacts on leaders’ self-reported facilitation and implementation of developmentally appropriate strategies in positive discipline and prosocial skills in early care and education settings. The practice-to-theory training model developed provides a theoretically cohesive framework to guide the professional development of early childhood program leaders that repositions the theory/practice binary by helping leaders problematize issues of practice and infuse theory as necessary tools and pragmatic anchors for solving real-world problems.

KEYWORDS:

• Early childhood leadership
• leadership development
• leadership theory
• theory development
• professional development

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Steve Myran

Steve Myran, PhD, is the Director of the Alliance for Equity-Driven Research and Practice and Associate Professor at Old Dominion University. Drawing from cross-disciplinary theory building and critical theory methods, Myran explores the dynamics between and among school organizational structures, leadership, administration, and educational psychology. Specifically he is interested in the degree to which school organizational structures, leadership, and administration are congruent or incongruent with the empirical evidence about motivation and learning and the implications for epistemic justice and equity.

Marie Masterson

Marie Masterson, PhD, is the Director of Quality Assessment at the McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership at National Louis University, where she oversees evaluation for Illinois’ quality improvement system. She holds a doctorate in early childhood education and is a national speaker, child behavior expert, researcher, and award-winning author of multiple books and articles that address research-based, practical skills for leadership, high-quality teaching, behavior guidance, and promoting resilience. She is former early childhood specialist for the Virginia Department of Education, university professor, and Fulbright specialist. Marie provides content expertise and consultation to organizations and agencies invested in quality rating and improvement and leadership development.