Evaluating Leadership Development in Early Care and Education

Publication Date: September 15, 2022
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  • Published: 2022

Introduction

Research Questions

  1. What does the landscape of leadership development initiatives that support center-based ECE leadership in the U.S. currently look like?
  2. What are the characteristics of leadership development initiatives that have some empirical evidence base?
  3. What evidence exists about the strength of the program models, their implementation, outcomes, or effectiveness in developing leadership? What does this suggest about next steps for evaluation of these initiatives that can inform future development of ECE leaders?

Leadership is widely recognized as a key driver of organizational performance and quality outcomes, making it an essential com­ponent of a field’s infrastructure. The early care and education (ECE) field is still in the early stages of build­ing the infrastructure it needs to attract, support, and sustain strong leadership. Leadership is not limited to those with a formal leadership position or job title—any staff who influence positive change or contribute to decision making can be leaders. Leadership development can influence who engages in leadership; the knowledge, skills, and mindset they bring to it; and the practices they implement to achieve positive outcomes. The ECE sector has historically lacked the dedicated and sustained funding sources and infrastructure necessary to provide broad, consistent access to leadership development.

This brief presents the findings from a review of research on ECE leadership development initiatives from the Early Care and Education Leadership Study (ExCELS) that focuses on leadership in center-based ECE settings. It examines seven ECE leadership devel­opment initiatives that have been the focus of one or more evaluations, describes the features and intended outcomes of each initiative, and considers how they might continue to be implemented and evaluated to further strengthen ECE leadership development.

Purpose

The Early Care and Education Leadership Study (ExCELS), funded by the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) in the Administration for Children and Families, has three goals: (1) fill the definitional and measurement gaps to understand what leadership looks like as defined by who participates in leadership in center-based ECE settings and the ways in which leaders can improve quality experiences for children in ECE settings, (2) develop a short-form measure of ECE leadership, and (3) identify actionable leadership development programs and methods of evaluating them. This brief focuses on the last goal of the ExCELS project.

Key Findings and Highlights

This brief highlights several key findings:

  • Compared with other sectors—such as K—12 education and health—there may be fewer opportunities to develop leaders in the ECE sector. For example, half of all states had no ECE leadership development programs in 2018. We found seven leadership development initiatives with an empirical evidence base.
  • The seven leadership development initiatives seek to strengthen leaders’ knowledge, skills, mindsets and/or practices; however, the specific set of practices varied based on the focus or purpose of each initiative. Four focused exclusively on developing leadership qualities in administrators while the other three included teaching staff and administrators, with one also including parents. All seven initiatives have a primary focus on professional learning of current leaders— administrators or teaching staff—often through training workshops, coaching, mentoring, peer learning opportunities, or similar kinds of programs.
  • Evidence about leadership development in ECE is not yet widely available or accessible. Descriptive studies of the seven leadership development initiatives suggest that continued use and evaluation can increase our understanding of the structures and supports that are needed to develop ECE leaders. Three initiatives could be ready for evaluations of intervention effectiveness to help build evidence about what works to develop individuals as leaders in center-based ECE settings. A new measure of ECE leadership could be a useful tool in evaluating these leadership development initiatives.

Methods

We identified seven ECE leadership development initiatives that have been implemented with administrators and/or teaching staff who work in U.S. center-based child care or Head Start center-based settings that serve children from birth to age 5, and that have published research or evaluation studies. We identified these initiatives through the ExCELS literature review search and by consulting select experts who recommended initiatives with research evidence. We categorized each initiative using a typology of leadership development approaches adapted from an evaluation of K—12 leadership development interventions.

We then assessed the characteristics of each initiative and the studies that evaluated them on six key dimensions: (1) need, (2) fit, (3) resource availability, (4) evidence, (5) readiness for replication, and (6) capacity to implement. The brief includes profiles of each of the seven leadership development initiatives along these dimensions. Lastly, we assessed whether each initiative is suited for early-stage or later-stage evaluation methods/approaches based on (1) evidence of imple­mentation status, (2) strength of the logic model, and (3) impact evaluation evidence and presented ideas for what later-stage evaluations can help us understand about ECE leadership development.

Recommendations

ExCELS is developing a definition of leadership and a way to measure it that will provide a common way to assess different leadership development initiatives by the changes brought about in leaders, center quality, and other outcomes. This new measure can support further evaluation of the leadership development initiatives. Regardless of the stage of evaluation an initiative is in, a common definition and measure of leadership can identify the elements each initiative can change, influence, or affect.

Citation

A. Douglass and G. Kirby. “Evaluating Leadership Development in Early Care and Education.” OPRE Brief #2022-XX. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, US. Department of Health and Human Services, 2022.

Glossary

ECE:
Early care and education
Leader:
A person who participates in leadership by contributing to decision-making and influencing change and quality improvement
Leadership:
The combination of center and teacher leaders that exist within an ECE center