2018-2023
Leadership is widely recognized as an essential driver of organizational performance and improvement, but little is known about its role in driving quality of early childhood programs and outcomes for staff and families. In launching the Early Care and Education Leadership Study (ExCELS), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) sought to fill the definitional and measurement gaps to help the early childhood field understand how effective leaders can improve quality experiences for staff and families in early care and education (ECE) settings.
OPRE contracted with Mathematica Policy Research and its subcontractor, the University of Massachusetts, Boston, to conduct this study. The study team identified three leadership elements, mapped out and tested their associations to center and staff outcomes, and developed a new measure of leadership in center-based ECE settings. Project staff and OPRE partnered with substantive, technical, and practical experts to inform the work.
The study team completed the following tasks:
- Reviewed the existing research literature to identify the key features of effective ECE leadership and highlight gaps in our understanding
- Constructed a theory of change that shows how ECE leadership can support positive center, staff, family, and child outcomes
- Developed a compendium of existing measures aligned with the theory of change to identify measurement gaps
- Identified promising leadership development initiatives and methods of evaluating them
- Conducted a descriptive study in 110 centers that received funding from Head Start or the Child Care and Development Fund to test hypothesized associations between leadership elements and center and staff outcomes in the theory of change
- This study is registered on ClinicalTrials.gov under the title Early Care and Education Leadership Study: Descriptive Study (ExCELS).
- Information collections related to this project have been reviewed and approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs under OMB #0970-0582. Related materials are available at the Early Care and Education Leadership Study page on RegInfo.gov.
- The most currently approved documents are accessible by clicking on the ICR Ref. No. 202205-0970-013 with the most recent conclusion date. To access the information collections (E.g. interviews, surveys, protocols), click on View Information Collection (IC) List. Click on View Supporting Statement and Other Documents to access other supplementary documents.
- Data are being archived at the Child and Family Data Archive https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR38706
Point(s) of contact: Nina Philipsen, Bonnie Mackintosh, and Krystal Bichay-Awadalla.