Young Children - May 2008 - (Page 87) Navigating the Road for Aspiring Early Childhood Leaders Missouri’s Response early childhood education continues to increase as a public policy priority, the need for capable leadership is repeatedly accentuated. Across our states a heightened interest in children’s early experiences is drawing more scrutiny, demand for accountability, and expectations that we will deliver promised results. Now more than ever, our field must proclaim a clear message about who we are, what we can offer, and what the public can expect from us. This takes leadership. Michael B. Abel, Denise Mauzy, Kathy R. Thornburg, and Margo Heger As The leadership banner: Mike Abel The number of leaders emerging in the field who are prepared and have the will to take up the leadership banner is not keeping up with the expanding public sector demand. This deficit is especially evident in AEYC state and local Affiliate groups. Identifying qualified board members and committee chairpersons is a growing challenge requiring greater efforts and continuous leadership development. The need for competent, representative leaders intensifies as Affiliate groups work toward the goal of becoming more high performing and inclusive. Early childhood education has always been a complex amalgamation of programs serving young children. Services are delivered in diverse settings, with funding from a variety of sources, and to children in different age groupings. Recently, early childhood leaders have begun asking some The Missouri Association for the Education of Young Children (AEYC-MO), like many state Affiliates, is struggling to identify, support, and maintain leaders at the local and state levels. This article describes Missouri’s response to this issue and its plan for supporting new and emerging leaders. We think of the process of developing leaders as a kind of navigation system and appropriately include here voices from all the parts of that system. Mike Abel talks about the early childhood field’s need for leadership development and, in his role as an Affiliate leader, of the continual need in Missouri. Denise Mauzy, who chairs the Missouri AEYC’s endowed leadership fund, shares its vision and goals. The fund’s honoree, Kathy Thornburg, reflects on her career and recounts the importance of mentoring and supporting early childhood professionals. First award winner Margo Heger relates how receiving the fund’s award has helped her begin to navigate her leadership path. breadth of services to young children at the macro level, with an emphasis on developing infrastructure for service integration in local communities. Challenges The field’s ambiguous identity and its fragmentation contribute to the challenge of developing leaders from within. Many emerging early childhood leaders find it difficult to identify appropriate mentors or to find a linear path to professional growth that matches their goals. There is no superhighway to success. Back roads are often unmarked, confusing, and Michael B. Abel, MAEd, is a research associate at the Institute for Human Development, University of Missouri– Kansas City—an applied research and interdisciplinary training center for human services. Mike serves as president of AEYC-MO. abelm@umkc.edu Denise Mauzy, MSW, LCSW, is director of the OPEN Initiative, Missouri’s Career Development Initiative for Early Childhood and School-Age/After-School Professionals. She serves as chair of the Kathy R. Thornburg Leadership Fund for AEYCMO. mauzyd@missouri.edu Kathy R. Thornburg, PhD, is director of the Center for Family Policy and Research, University of Missouri–Columbia, and is a past president of NAEYC. Margo Heger, EdM, is coordinator of data and contracts for the Missouri Child Care Resource and Referral Network in St. Louis and is active in the Rivers Bend AEYC as its newsletter chair. She received the first Kathy R. Thornburg Leadership Fund award in 2007. challenging questions to clarify the field’s purpose, identity, and responsibility (Goffin & Washington 2007). Efforts to address fragmentation of the field have led to federal and state initiatives with a focus on service integration, such as the Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (ECCS) Initiative (Altarum Institute 2008). ECCS is helping states examine the Young Children • May 2008 87
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