Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the Summer 2024 edition of Exchange magazine.
In 2017, the McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership at National Louis University developed the Whole Leadership Framework with diverse voices from the field to define the critical components of early childhood leadership and to ensure consistent approaches to leadership standards and competencies. In 2023, the framework was revised byBuilding on Whole Leadership: Energizing and Strengthening Your Early Childhood Programauthors (Masterson, M.L., Talan, T.N., & Bella, J.M.) in response to current research, the needs of the profession, and additional feedback collected from over 200 early childhood leaders as part of the Building Leaders Project, funded by the Foundation for Child Development. The book,Building on Whole Leadership: Energizing and Strengthening Your Early Childhood Program, provides a variety of tools that can be used by administrators to enhance their core knowledge, skills, and behaviors to foster effective and thriving early childhood organizations.
Please click here to download the Whole Leadership Framework.
Learn how the McCormick Institute for Early Childhood is transforming early childhood education through innovative programs and workforce development. Our mission is to expand access, equity, and opportunity for young children and families across Illinois and beyond, drawing on decades of leadership in the field.
Discover our journey from Elizabeth Harrison's 1886 vision to train women as kindergarten teachers to the renowned McCormick Institute for Early Childhood. Learn how a $600 grant in 1985 ignited a movement that transformed early childhood leadership and explore the pioneering educators and pivotal moments that shaped our legacy.
Meet the dedicated experts, researchers, and leaders who drive the McCormick Institute's mission to transform early childhood education and support the early childhood workforce.
