Are Leadership Essentials the Foundation of Whole Leadership?

A woman wearing glasses and a suit is smiling in front of a flag.

Sim Loh is a family partnership coordinator at Children’s Village, a nationally-accredited Keystone 4 STARS early learning and school-age enrichment program in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, serving about 350 children. She supports children and families, including non-English speaking families of immigrant status, by ensuring equitable access to education, health, employment, and legal information and resources on a day-to-day basis. She is a member of the Children First Racial Equity Early Childhood Education Provider Council, a community member representative of Philadelphia School District Multilingual Advisory Council, and a board member of Historic Philadelphia.

Sim explains, “I ensure families know their rights and educate them on ways to speak up for themselves and request for interpretation/translation services. I share families’ stories and experiences with legislators and decision-makers so that their needs are understood. Attending Leadership Connections will help me strengthen and grow my skills in all domains by interacting with and hearing from experienced leaders in different positions. With newly acquired skills, I seek to learn about the systems level while paying close attention to the accessibility and barriers of different systems and resources and their impacts on young children and their families.”

A table showing the comparison of pre and post intervention of fas scores

My colleague Mike Abel, in an earlier blog post raised a question I keep coming back to: Are leadership essentials (LE) the foundation on which administrative leadership (AL) and pedagogical leadership (PL) are built?

As I think back on my career working in Head Start, it seems that it was those Leadership Essential competencies (awareness of self and others, cultural competence, and ethical conduct) that helped our program be successful through some challenging times. Changes in education requirements for teachers, increased diversity of staff and parent policy council, and changes in curriculum and assessment tools were a few of the challenges that gave me the opportunity to use and grow the LE competencies necessary to meet changes in our organization.

My role, as the education coordinator, involved both Administrative Leadership and Pedagogical Leadership. However, awareness of self, others, and the profession; communication and team building; cultural competence; and ethical conduct absolutely were the foundation that supported my work as an education coordinator. Being authentic and conducting my work in an ethical manner helped me earn a trusting relationship with teachers and staff so that, when changes in policy or initiatives occurred, they were willing to walk with me to meet and exceed the outcomes set for us.

It seems to me that anyone who is in an Administrative or Pedagogical leadership role for any length of time develops his or her own LE foundation and is mindful that the competencies and qualities of Leadership Essentials may not be fully developed or consistently used.

Barb Volpe is the Quality Specialist Manager at the McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership at National Louis University. In this role, Barb supports the Illinois Quality Specialists in their technical assistance work with center and family child care programs. She develops and presents trainings on leadership and best practices in early childhood programs at local, state, and national conferences. Prior to her work at the McCormick Center, Barb was a teacher, site director, and education coordinator at McHenry County Head Start where she worked with children, teachers, and families.

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Let’s Talk About Bullying

By Sherry Rocha • June 12, 2025

Bullying has been around for ages. That doesn’t mean it’s ok, or we should get used to it. It is a persistent problem for all ages, and now it’s reaching into our early childhood programs. What can program administrators do? Some definitions and tips are below. WHAT IS BULLYING? Bullying has been described as a student’s repeated exposure to negative actions on the part of one or more students in which there is an imbalance of power between bullies and the victim. Some children learn that by bullying others, they can get ahead. It can affect the goals of education if not handled well. While the behaviors of young children can sometimes be aggressive, they lack the more strategic and deliberate actions that typically define bullying. Still, early behaviors can be precursors to later behavior, so awareness and positive interventions are needed . Bullying prevention can be embedded into SEL practices, diversity awareness, and behavior guidance practices of early childhood programs. HOW COMMON IS BULLYING? Most studies look at bullying as something that involves older children. Research on early childhood bullying is still developing. The Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP) is considered one of the most effective school-based anti-bullying programs that schools and centers study. Its founder, Dan Olweus, Ph.D, found that 35-40% of boys characterized as bullies in grades 6-9 had been convicted of at least three officially registered crimes by the age of 24. Bullies sometimes teach their children to be bullies. PREVENTION AND GUIDANCE CONCERNING BULLYING There are things parents, teachers, and friends can do to prevent or stop bullying . During the early childhood years, programs to help prevent bullying are helpful. Teachers and parents should be role models of caring behavior. Children raised in safe and nurturing environments will learn to be caring individuals. As children’s abilities develop, they can learn anger management, problem-solving skills, and decision-making skills. TEACHERS AND PARENTS CAN ALSO: Dispel myths that bullying is part of childhood. Encourage a positive environment by stating desirable behavior instead of negative behavior. Emphasize respect, fairness, caring, and responsibility in classrooms. Incorporate lessons about appropriate social skills in classrooms and everywhere; provide words for children to use. Understand the seriousness of bullying. Encourage children to consider the needs of others. Parents can arrange play groups for their children. A COMPREHENSIVE PROGRAM SHOULD: Promote a caring, respectful environment Help victims help themselves Challenge the bullies’ thinking Consider the effects of peer pressure Elicit students’ input FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs (ASPA). (2025, February 5). Get help now. StopBullying.gov. https://www.stopbullying.gov/resources/get-help-now The Institute on Family and Neighborhood Life. (n.d.). Olweus bullying prevention program, Clemson University. Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, Clemson University. https://clemsonolweus.org/ Temkin, D., & Snow, K. (2015, August 18). To prevent bullying, focus on early childhood. NAEYC. https://www.naeyc.org/resources/blog/prevent-bullying-focus-early-childhood