LEARNING COMMUNITY

TRANSFORMING EARLY EDUCATOR LEAD TEACHER PREPARATION PROGRAMS THROUGH MULTI-PARTNER INNOVATION

About the Grants

In 2021, The Collaborative awarded six grants in support of partnerships between institutions of higher education (IHEs) and states/territories/tribal nations to transform their preparation programs for early educators. The grants strengthen programs that prepare early care and education (ECE) teachers through a competency-based bachelor’s degree. In 2022, The Collaborative awarded two additional IHE partnership grants. In total, $15,668,411 has been awarded through this grant program, which includes aligned funding from partner funders. Learn more about the award recipients.

Overview of the Learning Community

To support our grantees in their work, The Collaborative engaged School Readiness Consulting (SRC) to develop a learning community to foster peer learning and collective problem-solving. SRC has a long history of partnering with organizations across the country to support the advancement of equitable early childhood systems. In collaboration with grantees, SRC designed a learning community space to support, inform, and generate dialogue to ensure successful implementation of the innovative work being done by each of the grantee teams across the nation. Each grantee partnership formed a small, multi-sector team of 3–6 participants consisting of individuals from across the IHE(s), state/territory/Tribal Nation(s), and other partners to participate in the Learning Community. Along with our grantees, five additional IHE partnerships were invited to participate in the Learning Community. The resources from Year 1 (2021-22), Year 2 (2022-23), and Year 3 (2023-24) of the Learning Community are available below, along with the list of participants.

2023-24

Year 3: Sessions + Resources

Report: Moving Beyond the Pilot (Executive Summary)

We are excited to share SRC’s Transforming Early Educator Lead Teacher Preparation Programs Through Multi-Partner Innovation Grant report! In this report, SRC highlights the successes and lessons learned from the grantee partnerships, offering valuable insights into their innovative approaches to early educator preparation and their efforts to sustain the progress sparked by the grants.

Session Details, Newsletters, & Lectures

SESSION 1: TELLING YOUR STORY

SESSION 2: INNOVATIVE RECRUITMENT & RETENTION STRATEGIES

February 9, 2024

Learning Goal: Using storytelling to promote sustainability through a racial impact lens

Guest Lecturer: Sharise Johnson, Founder & CEO of SMJ Communications

VIEW LECTURE

SESSION 3: NURTURING INNOVATION

2022-23

Year 2: Sessions + Resources

Tiered Model of Support

SRC pivoted to a new model for Year 2 of the Learning Community based on grantee feedback about their current challenges and opportunities for learning. Year 2 incorporated a Tiered Model of Support that included:

- Webinars and newsletters for all;
- Learning Community sessions for select members of each team; and
- Technical assistance for those who chose to participate.

Report: Strategies for Systems Change

We are very pleased to share our grantees’ insights on their work in SRC’s new report, Strategies for Systems Change: Lessons Learned from the Transforming Early Educator Lead Teacher Preparation Programs Through Multi-Partner Innovation Grant Program. For this report, SRC examined the grantees’ reflections on their work using an equity and systems change framework to understand their challenges, their solutions to those challenges, and the overall impact of the solutions. The report describes the strategies grantees used for systems change, as well as their reflections on next steps and sustainability.

Session Details, Newsletters, & Lectures

SESSION 1: PROMOTING SYSTEMS CHANGE

December 2, 2022

Learning Goal: Explore strategies for building coalition and collaboration around early childhood change efforts.

Guest Lecturer: PaKou Her, Principal, Tseng Development Group

VIEW LECTURE

SESSION 2: INNOVATIVE RECRUITMENT & RETENTION STRATEGIES

February 3, 2023

Learning Goal: Explore equitable and effective strategies for degree completion through apprenticeships and competency-based teacher preparation.

Guest Lecturer: Caroline Campana, Director of Workforce and Professional Development, First Up

VIEW LECTURE

SESSION 3: ELEVATING THE ECE WORKFORCE

May 5, 2023

Learning Goal: Expand and deepen the shared understanding of equitable and effective strategies that institutions of higher education can implement to support pre-service and in-service teachers, as well as the field of early childhood education, as it moves toward professionalization.

Guest Lecturers:

- Dr. Anne Douglass, Founding Executive Director, Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation, University of Massachusetts Boston
- Dr. Calvin E. Moore Jr., CEO, Council for Professional Recognition

VIEW LECTURE

2021-22

Year 1: Sessions + Resources

Community Goals:

- Create space for peer learning, relationships, and a supportive network amongst grantees
- Identify commonalities across projects, and engage in collective problem solving and coaching
- Increase grantee knowledge and use of Racial Equity Impact Assessment (REIA) to support grant goals and policy transformation
- Provide access to content and experts on policies and practices that support higher education, broader policy and systems change efforts, and technical approaches to ensure success in implementation of projects, sustainability, and knowledge dissemination

Participant Offerings:

- Virtual peer learning sessions (with pre- and post-work)
- Asynchronous expert lectures/presentations
- Technical assistance calls with the group facilitator team
- Expert office hours with guest lecturers
- Opportunities for feedback via surveys and listening sessions
- Optional opportunities for virtual networking

Session Details, Newsletters, & Lectures

SESSION 1: GROUNDING

November 12, 2021

Goals: Continue to build relationships across teams and introduce the racial equity impact analysis framework.

Grantee Spotlight Discussions:

- North Seattle College
- Georgia State University
- College of Menominee Nation

Guest Lecturer: Iheoma U. Iruka, Research Professor in the Department of Public Policy, a Fellow at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG), and the Founding Director of the Equity Research Action Coalition at FPG (the Coalition) at UNC Chapel Hill

VIEW LECTURE

SESSION 2: SUPPORTING HIGHER EDUCATION

January 14, 2022

Goal: Peer learning focused on supporting students, degree and career pathways, and curriculum and field practice.

Grantee Spotlight Discussions:

- University of California at Sacramento
- University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

Guest Lecturers:

- Stephanie Bernoteit, Executive Deputy Director, Illinois Board of Higher Education
- Christi Chadwick, Project Director, Early Childhood Consortium, Illinois Board of Higher Education

VIEW LECTURE

SESSION 3: POLICY & SYSTEMS CHANGE

March 11, 2022

Goals: Peer learning focused on statewide strategies and state administration.

Grantee Spotlight Discussions:

- University of Colorado at Denver
- Salish Kootenai College

Guest Lecturer: Miriam Calderón, Chief Policy Officer at Zero to Three

VIEW LECTURE

SESSION 4: COLLECTIVE IMPACT & SUSTAINABILITY

May 13, 2022

Goal: Peer learning focused on project implementation and viability.

Grantee Spotlight Discussion: University of Nebraska

Guest Lecturer: Paul Schmitz, Senior Advisor at the Collective Impact Forum and CEO of Leading Inside Out

VIEW LECTURE

Participants

The list below includes lead grantees, project partners, and additional Year 3 Learning Community participants.

*Names marked with an asterisk indicate participation in previous years of the Learning Community.

California

Colorado

Georgia

Grantee: Georgia State University

- Tonia Durden, Clinical Associate Professor
- Stacey Yvonne French-Lee, Clinical Assistant Professor, Child Development Program & Executive Director, Department of Early Childhood and Elementary Education

Partners:

- Daphne Babrow, Project Specialist/Leader, Black Child Development Institute Atlanta*
- Ellyn Cochran, Senior Director of Early Learning Development, United Way of Greater Atlanta
- Nathalie Dames, Ph.D., Curriculum Program Specialist, Office of Technical Education, Technical College System of Georgia (State Systems Partner)
- Sam Dennis, Instructional Support Specialist for Atlanta Public Schools*
- Tatiyana Elmore, Director of Quality & Professional Development, YMCA*
- Christi Moore, Director of Professional Learning, Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (State Systems Partner)
- Caren Turner, Program Director, Professional Development System, Georgia Professional Standards Commission (State Systems Partner)

Hawaii

Montana

Grantee: Salish Kootenai College

- Amy Burland, Director, Early Childhood Partnership Projects
- Manda Davis, Enhancing the Curriculum, Montessori Techniques, Department Chair
- Tammy Elser, Faculty and Literacy Specialist*
- Rosie Matt, Native Language Teacher Education (NLTE) Department Chair*
- Leigh Ann Courville, Faculty/Co-Chair of Early Childhood Education

Partners:

- Carrie Spotted Bear, Early Childhood Tribal Policy Coordinator, Zero to Five Montana
- Nancy Red Bird, Associate Professor, Early Childhood Education, University of Montana Western
- Lisa Hales, Adjunct Instructor, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes
- Eliza Thomas, Associate Professor of Education & Division Chair, Social Science, Flathead Valley Community College

Nebraska

Grantee: University of Nebraska

- Dr. Julia Torquati, Professor

Partners:

- Debora B. Wisneski, Ph.D., John T. Langan Community Chair of Early Childhood Education, University of Nebraska Omaha*
- Susan L. Sarver, Director of Workforce Planning and Development, Buffett Early Childhood Institute
- Dawn Mollenkopf, Ph.D., Professor, Early Childhood Inclusive Endorsement, University of Nebraska at Kearney
- Viji Rajasekar, Division Head, Paraeducator/Pre-Teacher Education, Nebraska Indian Community College
- Alexis Yunis-Koch, RESPECT Grant Specialist, Nebraska Department of Education

New Jersey

New York

Virginia

Washington

Grantee: North Seattle College

- Samantha Dolan, Associate Director of ECE Initiatives
- Cynthia Davis-Vanloo, Faculty and Research Lead
- Jawahir Ali, Leader of Language Cohort Work
- Anna Saradeth, Associate Director of Early Childhood Initiatives

Partners:

- Angela Abrams, Professional Development Administrator, Department of Children, Youth and Families
- Anna Nikolaeva, Policy Associate, Workforce Education, Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges
- William Belden, Policy Associate, Workforce Education, Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges*
- Greg Brazell, Workforce Coordinator, Department of Children, Youth and Families
- Meka Riggins, Director of Scholarships, Child Care Aware of Washington
- Katie Renschler, Educational Consultant, Bainum Family Foundation
- Heather Stock, Education Program Coordinator and Grant Manager, Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges

Wisconsin

Grantee: College of Menominee Nation

- Kelli Chelberg, Associate Professor & Chair of the Education Department
- Lauren Waukau Villagomez (Dr. Candy), Faculty/Elder

Partners:

- Shannon Chapman, Menominee Indian Tribe of WI Education Director
- Nar Doumbya, TEACH Co-Director, Wisconsin Early Childhood Association
- Susy Willard Cury, TEACH Higher Education Specialist, Wisconsin Early Childhood Association

Participants:

- Carmen Rivers M. ED., Senior Lecturer, ECCE Program Coordinator and ECE Program Coordinator, University of Wisconsin Whitewater*
- Lucinda Heimer, Professor, Early Childhood Education, & Department Chair, Curriculum and Instruction School of Education and Professional Studies, University of Wisconsin Whitewater*

LEARNING COMMUNITY

TRANSFORMING EARLY EDUCATOR LEAD TEACHER PREPARATION PROGRAMS THROUGH MULTI-PARTNER INNOVATION

2023-24

SESSION 1: TELLING YOUR STORY

SESSION 2: INNOVATIVE RECRUITMENT & RETENTION STRATEGIES

SESSION 3: NURTURING INNOVATION

2022-23

2021-22

California

Colorado

Georgia

Hawaii

Montana

Nebraska

New Jersey

New York

Virginia

Washington

Wisconsin

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