| Title: |
Measuring Leadership in Center-Based Early Care and Education Settings: What We Can Learn from Teaching Staff and Center Managers. Early Childhood Methods Brief. OPRE Brief #2024-347 |
| Language: |
English |
| Authors: |
Yange Xue; Scilla M. Albanese; Gretchen Kirby; Lizabeth Malone; Katie Gonzalez; Anne Douglass; Reggie Gilliard; Administration for Children and Families (ACF) (DHHS), Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE); Mathematica; University of Massachusetts Boston, Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation |
| Source: |
Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation. 2024. |
| Availability: |
Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation. Administration for Children & Families, US Department of Health and Human Services, 330 C Street SW, Washington, DC 20201. Web site: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre |
| Peer Reviewed: |
N |
| Page Count: |
15 |
| Publication Date: |
2024 |
| Contract Number: |
HHSP233201500071I/75N98022F00287 |
| Document Type: |
Reports - Research |
| Education Level: |
Early Childhood Education |
| Descriptors: |
Early Childhood Education; Child Care Centers; Early Childhood Teachers; Administrators; Educational Administration; Measures (Individuals); Leadership; Measurement Techniques; Participative Decision Making; Leadership Styles; Educational Quality; Administrator Attitudes; Teacher Attitudes; Teacher Administrator Relationship |
| Abstract: |
Effective leadership is important in providing high-quality education and a range of services, based on research in other fields such as K-12 education, management, and health care. Yet, there is little information available about what leadership looks like in center-based early care and education (ECE) settings and how it can improve center quality and outcomes for staff, children, and families. There is also a gap in the information existing measures of leadership in ECE can provide about what teaching staff and center managers contribute to leadership and what they do as leaders. This brief discusses what can be learned from teaching staff and center managers to understand ECE leadership. The Early Care and Education Leadership Study (ExCELS) team developed a measure of ECE leadership based on a theory of change that grew from research findings in ECE and related fields. The measure features surveys of teaching staff and center managers to get their perspectives on what leadership looks like in their centers. Using data from 110 ECE centers, the team tested the soundness of the ExCELS measure from these two perspectives. The authors discuss how those perspectives can help to understand the link between a type of leadership called distributed leadership and positive outcomes for staff and centers, and then look at what the perspectives can reveal about relational coordination in ECE centers and how much relational coordination matters for promoting positive outcomes for staff and centers. The brief also presents ideas for using the ExCELS measure in research and practice and ideas for further testing. |
| Abstractor: |
ERIC |
| Entry Date: |
2026 |
| Accession Number: |
ED678143 |
| Database: |
ERIC |