Whole Leadership Framework now available in Exchange

McCormick Institute for Early Childhood

BY Michael Abel, Director of Research and Evaluation | February 16, 2017

Whole Leadership Framework now available in Exchange

The whole leadership framework is published in exchange magazine

The Whole Leadership Framework, which has been in development for more than a year, has been published in the January/February edition of Exchange Magazine. Here’s an excerpt:



As the nation addresses the recommendations in the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council’s report, Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth through Age 8: A Unifying Foundation,1 leadership is emerging as an important component for increasing workforce capacity in early childhood education. Because program leaders are included with other individuals considered to be ‘lead educators,’ a clear understanding of their foundational knowledge and competencies is necessary for successful implementation. Yet, early childhood leadership is a multi-faceted and nuanced concept that is often clouded by inconsistent standards and policies across an array of program settings.


The McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership at National Louis University developed Whole Leadership, a clarifying conceptual framework to help address this need. It encompasses a broad view of program leadership — evidenced in many areas and collapsed into three domains: leadership essentials, administrative leadership, and pedagogical leadership.


Read the rest of the Exchange article here. View the Whole Leadership Framework here.


The Whole Leadership Framework will be discussed at the Leadership Connections™ national conference, in May. The Framework will be introduced in a plenary session and reviewed in detail during a featured skill-building session to thoroughly explain the conceptual framework and to help participants explore real-life application and implications for how the framework can be used. Already at the McCormick Center, we have begun to align our training, resources, and strategic plans to the Framework.


We hope you find the Whole Leadership Framework useful. We invite continued dialogue leading into Leadership Connections and thereafter.

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Nudrat (Nuri) Hassan, MPH, serves as the Data and Evaluation Coordinator at the McCormick Institute for Early Childhood at the National Louis University. In this role, she develops and automates both individual and aggregated profile reports for Leadership Academies across the country, utilizing statistical analysis and programming techniques. She also designs surveys to support program evaluation efforts for the Research and Evaluation Team. Nuri holds a Bachelor's degree in Applied Health Science with a certification in Health Informatics from Minnesota State University and a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology with a certification in Maternal and Child Health from the University of South Carolina, Columbia. Prior to her current position, Nuri was a Health Promotion Graduate Assistant at the Center for Health and Well-being, where she conducted evaluation reports, provided wellness coaching, and served as an STI consultant to help students access community resources for preventative health measures.
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