Zoom: The Impact of Early Childhood Leadership Training on Role Perceptions, Job Performance, and Career Decisions

McCormick Institute for Early Childhood

BY Jill Bella and Paula Jorde Bloom | May 20, 2003

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

This study looked at the role perceptions, job performance, and career decisions of individuals who had participated in two leadership training programs between 1993-2003: The McCormick Leadership Training Program and Taking Charge of Change. The research revealed the many ways that participating in leadership training enhanced participants’ personal and professional growth.

An individual in a denim jacket and brown pants stands smiling in a crowded conference room, surrounded by seated people.
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