Early Educator Fellowship Initiative

Click here for photos and resources from our March 26th Early Educators Fellowship Initiative Meeting with Lilian Katz!

Click here for  photos and resources from our April 30th Early Educators Fellowship Initiative Meeting with Susan Neuman!

Click here for photos and resources from our June 4th Early Educators Fellowship Initiative Meeting with Linda Espinosa!

 

The CAYL Institute is pleased to announce a statewide Fellowship based on the goals of both the Massachusetts Departments of Early Education and Care and Elementary and Secondary Education! There is a widening gulf between promises made and promises realized given the poor alignment between schools and other programs that serve children.  The work of education is fractured into parts — Head Start, Family Child Care, Early Intervention, and public school systems – but children are whole.

If we want to create a shared platform for early care and education, all of us as educators must take responsibility for the collective problem solving this work will require.  Together, community-based programs and schools will have to do the hard work of collective adaptation – of making decisions and choices about the 21st century characteristics of an educational system that includes all children. 

Last spring, CAYL convened a sold-out gathering of principals and community-based leaders to focus on the topic of assessment – a critical content area recognized as an important tool for creating dialogue amongst this diverse range of early childhood educators. Building on the success of that May 1, 2010 event, the CAYL Institute has designed the “Early Educators Fellowship Initiative.”  To meet our goal of building high-quality learning environments for our earliest “school-ready” children, in partnership with families and communities across the Commonwealth, we have competitively selected from across all regions of Massachusetts. 

The Early Educator Fellowship Initiative has selected a group of Fellows from elementary school principals and community based early education providers. Through three one-day meetings in 2011, Fellows will focus on three areas of timely importance to the Commonwealth: child growth and development, literacy and dual language learners. More than topical meetings, as a Fellow you will become part of a statewide learning community with access to national experts and state leaders.

Dates for the Fellowship:

  • March 26th, 2011
  • April 30th, 2011
  • June 4th, 2011

Valora Washington - The Host

 

CAYL President Valora Washington is a recognized authority in early childhood care and education. Valora has organized and developed initiatives targeting policy change in different areas of early care and education, including higher education and local, state or federal government.  Valora Washington directs several leadership programs for practitioners, including the CAYL Schott Fellowship in Early Care and Education, and the CAYL Principals Fellowship for elementary school principals with prekindergarten programs--both Fellowships offer new models for leadership development.

Featured Speakers:

Lilian Katz

Lilian G. Katz is Professor Emerita of Early Childhood Education at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) and is Co-Director of the Clearinghouse on Early Education and Parenting (CEEP) at the University of Illinois. Dr. Katz served as Director of the ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education for 33 years. She is a Past President of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, and is Editor of the first on-line peer reviewed trilingual early childhood journal, Early Childhood Research & Practice.  

 

Susan Neuman

Susan B. Neuman is a Professor in Educational Studies specializing in early literacy development. Previously, she has served as the U.S. Assistant Secretary of Elementary and Secondary Education. She is especially proud of her work in establishing the Early Reading First program, the Early Childhood Professional Development Education Program, and enhancing accountability efforts to improve children's achievement. Susan is Director of the Michigan Research Program on Ready to Learn, which includes projects all working to change the odds for children in poverty. She joins us in April to speak about literacy. 

 

Linda Espinosa

Dr Linda Espinosa recently retired Professor of Early Childhood Education at the University of Missouri, Columbia, served as the Co-director of the National Institute for Early Education research at Rutgers University from 2002 to 2003.  Her recent research and policy work has focused on effective curriculum and assessment practices for young children from low-income families who are dual language learners.  She has served as a consulting editor for Early Childhood Research Quarterly, Early Childhood Research & Practice, Information Technology in Childhood Education, and Prevention Researcher, and serves on multiple national commissions and advisory boards.  She currently serves as the Co-Chair of the First Five,Los Angeles Universal Preschool research Advisory committee and is a member of the National Task Force on Early Childhood Education for Hispanics Technical Advisory Group.  She joins us on June 4 to discuss English Language Learners.