Leadership Development Programs
Leadership Programs for Individuals
Massachusetts StrongStart Professional Development Centers: Professional development and learning, program development and quality improvement training, and entrepreneurial leadership training for the state’s licensed early care and education programs and racially and linguistically diverse early educators.
Maryland Early Childhood Leadership Program: Cohort based Leading for Change course developing leaders in Maryland ECE programs and systems.
California Leading for Change: Piloting our LfC program for California early educators.
Small Business Innovation Center - Our small business leadership program is anchored with a 40-hour curriculum that focuses on strengthening and growing ECE businesses to achieve financial and quality outcomes. Training covers marketing, financial management, accounting, human resources, business planning technology, leadership, and innovation. Embedded in this curriculum is the Shared Services innovation alliance that we offer in partnership with the United Way. Entrepreneurs learn how to use the Business Administration Scale (BAS) and the Program Administration Scale (PAS) and achieve efficiencies in business operations through shared services innovations. Our collaboration with Tech Goes Home provides participants with a new laptop Chromebook and training to use it in new ways to manage and strengthen their
Leading for Change Program in UMass Boston’s Early Education and Care in Inclusive Settings Bachelor of Arts degree: Students taking the undergraduate leadership course study entrepreneurial leadership, organizational change, quality improvement, policy, and innovation in ECE systems and program and policies.
Early Education Leadership Fellowship and Post-Master’s Certificate in Early Education Research, Policy, and Practice: A 12-credit advanced graduate course of study for racially diverse early educators that is anchored with the Leading for Change curriculum and focused on research, policy, leadership, and innovation. We award up to 8 Early Educator Leadership Fellowships each year that recognizes early educator leadership and provides funding to cover most program costs.
Deadline to Apply: July 1, 2022
Each fall, we accept up to 8 Leadership Fellows into the PMC program. Fellows are selected based on their experience and interest in advancing the field of early care and education. They represent a variety of public and community-based early education programs and employer- and home-based child cares and come from every level of the field.
Leadership Fellows complete a 12-credit advanced graduate course of study focused on research, policy, leadership, and data-driven practice in early education and care. They learn how to assess published research and policy proposals and use them to advocate for quality improvements in ECE at the state and local level, outside of ECE settings. Fellows complete a significant project outlining an improvement to the field and present their project at our statewide Leadership Forum that takes place annually at UMass Boston.
The PMC program is supported by grant funding and Leadership Fellows are offered tuition scholarships and stipends that offset program-related costs. Courses take place online and on Saturdays to accommodate employment- and family-related responsibilities.
The PMC course of study is available both as a graduate certificate and as four of the required foundational courses in our PhD program.
Leadership Programs for Teams and Organizations
Early Education Instructional Leadership Institute - This applied leadership development program is designed to cultivate leadership mindsets and strengthen the knowledge, skills, and competencies of early education instructional leaders to support high quality teaching practices with diverse learners. The course begins with an evidence-based framework and a set of concrete strategies for instructional leaders, and then provides multiple opportunities to apply these frameworks and strategies in early childhood education settings. The course examines early childhood curriculum, job-embedded professional learning, and the role of instructional leaders in early education settings, including program directors, education coordinators, lead teachers and teachers, coaches and others. Educators learn about organizational change, and new research on methods for accelerating improvement and creating a culture of collaborative learning. We offer this program for teams of teachers and administrators in early childhood programs who want to develop their collective capacity to successfully improve quality and sustain gains and learning over time. This program is offered in partnership with the Boston Public Schools Universal PreK Program.
Early Childhood Support Organization - Our ECSO partners with local center-based early education and care programs licensed by the Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) to implement our tested approach to improving instruction and practice in high-quality programs serving children ages birth through five years old. Program leaders who participate in our program receive professional development and learning in how to be an effective instructional leader as well as coaching and peer support in learning how to transfer new knowledge about leadership to program staff.
Breakthrough Series Collaborative - Culture of Continuous Learning: Leadership and quality improvement training in early care and education programs that is based on the Breakthrough Series Collaborative (BSC) model for organizational change. BSCs have supported quality improvement in the health, child trauma, and child welfare fields, but have not yet been widely tested in ECE settings. This program facilitates both individual and organizational change by mobilizing leadership from all levels of an ECE program, and by creating and supporting work cultures that reinforce continuous learning.
Leadership Development Supports for State and Regional Systems
Leading for Change Certification Program: We train and certify facilitators who can deliver the Leading for Change curriculum in order to build our partners’ capacity to offer this entrepreneurial leadership development program to early educators. For more information, contact us at earlyedinstitute@umb.edu.
This institute is part of the College of Education and Human Development.