Emergent Leaders Program

Click here to apply for the Arizona Early Education Emergent Leaders Class of 2012.

Research studies continue to acknowledge the critical role of Early Childhood Center Directors in establishing the overall quality of an early childhood program. Yet early childhood directors face a multitude of challenges as they improve and maintain program quality. The Arizona Early Education Emergent Leaders Program creates opportunities for the directors to broaden their current views on teaching, advocacy, and learning environments while providing a forum for participants to reflect on their own personal attributes that impact the culture of the early childhood program they direct.

Since its inception in 2004, the Arizona Early Education Emergent Leaders Program has impacted more than 130 early childhood professionals who work in a variety of early childhood settings throughout Arizona. Program participants have demonstrated significant improvement in key leadership areas, such as: program administration and management; knowledge of best practices in teaching methodologies and philosophies; availability of state resources; and creation of an early childhood professional support network.

Goals of the Arizona Early Education Emergent Leaders Program include:

• Enhancing management and leadership skills
  
• Engaging in leadership and professional development discussions
  
• Providing a forum for collaboration and networking
  
• Building leaders that reflect the cultural diversity of the children in Arizona’s early care and education programs

The program has four major components:

Cohort Learning Model
This one-year program uses a cohort learning model which provides participants with opportunities to share resources and strategies. Relationships formed with other directors during the program year provide an informal network that supports problem solving, resource development and creative approaches to staff development and training. The opportunity to network and build relationships with directors working in centers throughout Arizona, as well as state leaders in early care and education, helps directors feel less isolated in their own programs and builds a base of resources that support their day-to-day work with their teaching staff, children, and families.

Mentor Support
Each director is assigned a mentor who supports and guides the director through the year-long experience. The mentor’s role is to assist the director in implementing concepts, ideas, and information presented in the workshops by establishing a planning process that builds on strengths and identifies challenging areas.

Directors’ Project
A key element of the program is the Directors’ Project. Each participant will work with his or her mentor and up to two teachers from their center to develop a project based on the model and required for their participation. A summary of this project will be displayed at the graduation ceremony.

Workshops with National and State Experts
The Arizona Early Education Emergent Leaders Program includes an orientation and training sessions with national and local early care and education professionals. Workshops are designed to help program directors access and build their leadership styles and skills and gain knowledge on critical areas of program quality, including an emphasis on the importance of language and literacy and social and emotional development. The program addresses key components of program administration, provides an introduction to a number of assessment instruments and creates opportunities to meet and learn from national experts in early care and education. All workshops are held in the Phoenix area and are mandatory.

To apply for the Arizona Early Education Emergent Leaders Program Class of 2012, click here.

NAEYC Fellowship Opportunity:
The Emergent Leaders program has been chosen by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) as one of three programs in the country to extend NAEYC’s leadership development work. Applicants for the Arizona Early Education Emergent Leader program can apply for the opportunity to participate in the NAEYC Legacy Leader Fellows Program in conjunction with their participation in the Emergent Leaders program. Click here to read about this exciting opportunity.

For more information please contact Mary Jamsa at (602) 633-8801, or mjamsa@swhd.org.