McCormick Institute for Early Childhood

BY Teri Talan | February 23, 2016

This document may be printed, photocopied, and disseminated freely with attribution. All content is the property of the McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership.

A couple of weeks ago I taped a video chat with Susan Ochshorn on how to put the whole child in the center of early childhood education policy reform. This got us at the McCormick Center thinking about a parallel concept—whole leadership of ECE programs. The whole child approach recognizes there are multiple and equally important domains of development for the young child. As reform efforts strive to close the achievement gap, child development experts caution against an unhealthy emphasis on cognitive development at the expense of young children’s social, emotional, and physical development. I fear we may be embarking on a similar, “one single ingredient” way of thinking when it comes to reforming policy around ECE leadership.


There is a lot of interest these days in ECE leadership. Last year the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council released its seminal report, “Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth through Age 8: A Unifying Foundation”. One of the 13 major recommendations in this nearly 700 page book concerns ECE program leadership:

  • Recommendation 8: Ensure that policies and standards that shape the professional learning of care and education leaders encompass the foundational knowledge and competencies needed to support high-quality practice for child development and early learning in their organizations.
  • Recommendation 8a: The nation’s major early childhood policy and research organizations…should review existing statements of core competencies and qualification requirements for early care and education leaders and establish updated and comprehensive standards that reflect what these leaders need to know and be able to do, especially in the area of instructional leadership… (p. 539- 40).

Thought leaders across the country are reviewing the competencies and qualifications of early childhood administrators, both school principals and center directors. At the McCormick Center, we, too, have responded to the challenge by reviewing our published statements on ECE leadership as well as the content of our professional development initiatives. This effort has led us to two conclusions:

  1. Effective ECE leadership is multi-faceted and nuanced. While instructional leadership is important, so is administrative leadership. Should instructional leadership be prioritized over administrative leadership? What exactly do these terms mean? Are there core competencies of leadership that are missing from an either-or conceptual frame?
  2. Effective ECE leadership should be defined by those doing the work. While researchers, funders, and policymakers are busy reviewing existing frameworks and professional statements of competencies (mea culpa), the center directors, family child care providers, elementary school principals, and other program administrators on the ground should be consulted on what leaders need to know and be able to do to lead their organizations most effectively.


Over the next several months, the faculty and staff of the McCormick Center will post weekly considerations of the whole leadership concept. We really want to hear from you, the program leaders doing the work, to help shape our multi-faceted, nuanced understanding of ECE program leadership.


Please join the conversation by sharing your thoughts, ideas, and concerns in the comments section on each weekly post—including this one! Alternatively, join the conversation on social media using #WholeLeadership. Or e-mail me directly at teri.talan@nl.edu. Regardless of how you share your view, we are so eager to hear your perspective on whole leadership. Leadership matters! Help us shape this new conversation.

Dr. Teri Talan is the Michael W. Louis Chair and Interim Executive Director of the McCormick Center at National Louis University. She promotes action by state and national policymakers on early childhood workforce, leadership development, and program administration issues.

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The AI-Enabled Administrator: Reclaim Valuable Time

By Dr. Neal Green • February 8, 2026
Tools: Gemini Gems, NotebookLM, Perplexity Spaces Overview The evidence is clear that early childhood professionals' most significant challenge is a lack of time. Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, when used strategically, can give administrators some of the time they desperately need, allowing them to focus more on their staff and the children and families in their care. This approach aligns with the foundational goal of strengthening leadership effectiveness and program impact (Abel, Talan, & Masterson, 2023). When I scan the AI landscape of available products and platforms, it becomes overwhelming. There are so many options that it is impossible to keep up with every new development. Focusing on a limited number of AI tools backed by organizations with strong infrastructure and fiscal stability is a wise place to start your AI journey. McCormick Institute for Early Childhood’s (MIEC’s) upcoming professional development sessions will focus on three AI tools. These include Gemini Gems, NotebookLM, and Perplexity Spaces. Think of Gemini Gems as your customized AI assistant that you "train" to follow your rules and meet your goals. Gemini Gems are the right tool to tackle Internal Operations . NotebookLM is perfect for creating Family Support resources that stick. NotebookLM is a powerful AI tool that uses only the documents or other resources you add to generate specific, focused output. Perplexity Spaces is a fantastic choice to address Marketing demands. Like many AI tools, you can toggle back and forth between open web searches and focused documents that are specific to your work. Gemini Gems: The “Specialist Teammate” Gemini Gems allow you to create templates you can use repeatedly for agendas, HR policies, and more. If you have used AI in the past, you know that writing an effective prompt takes time, and they can easily get "lost" if you use AI often. Gems removes that challenge and lets you save your most effective prompts without having to rewrite them every time you use Gemini. It is up to you to decide if you want to create several smaller Gems to tackle common challenges you face or create larger Gems that encompass large swaths of your work. For our purposes, we will focus our Gem work on Internal Operations, addressing Program Administration Scale (PAS) Item 9: Internal Communications (Talan & Bloom, 2011). Imagine using a Gem to turn messy staff meeting notes into professional minutes with clear action plans in minutes or less! NotebookLM: The "Walled Garden" NotebookLM is an excellent tool for Family Support for your center, addressing PAS Item 17: Family Support and Involvement (Talan & Bloom, 2011). After uploading documents and resources, such as your parent handbook or community referral lists, to your Notebook, you can create several resources that parents/guardians of your center students will love. Just a few of the impressive features available with NotebookLM include audio (podcast) summaries, video summaries, and reporting functions with templates or the option to create your own report with metrics that matter most to you. Perplexity Spaces: The "Research Librarian" Perplexity Spaces is a perfect AI partner for Marketing your early childhood education (ECE) program, addressing PAS Item 18: External Communications (Talan & Bloom, 2011). You can build your own centralized repository, with control over branding to ensure consistency and present a professional, current image. Adding specific instructions to your space eliminates the need to format documents constantly and saves valuable time. The consistency that a Perplexity Space offers in this regard allows you to upload messages that are the "voice” of your brand. Your marketing efforts are not only more aesthetically pleasing but also enable you to track trends at similar centers in your area, helping you assess the competition. Strategies for Success: Audit your Internal Communications: Identify one repetitive task, such as creating staff meeting agendas (PAS Item 9), and automate it with a Gemini Gem. Curate your Family Resources: Gather three to five existing documents to "feed" a NotebookLM project for more responsive family support (PAS Item 17). Standardize your Brand: Use a Perplexity Space to ensure all public relations tools project a consistent, professional image (PAS Item 18). Reflection Questions: Which administrative task takes the most time away from your interactions with staff and families? How might centralizing marketing materials (branding) impact the professional image to prospective families? Table 1: AI Tools for ECE Professionals
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