From Survive to Thrive: A Director's Guide for Leading an Early Childhood Program

With so many demands and limited time, being an early childhood program leader is more challenging than it’s ever been. This guide, grounded in current research and based on the experiences of the authors as well as directors from across the country, blends theory with practical tips you can implement immediately. Each chapter provides the building blocks you need to:
-Develop effective policies and procedures that work for your program
-Manage a healthy budget
-Build a strong staff
-Forge robust home–­school partnerships with children’s families
-Handle confrontation and conflict
-Achieve and maintain full enrollment in your center

Plus, each chapter recommends additional resources you can explore to take your knowledge and professional development to the next level. Use the guidance and strategies contained in this book to go from surviving in your role as director to thriving in it.

Debbie LeeKeenan is an early childhood consultant, lecturer, and author. She was director and lecturer at the Eliot-Pearson Children’s School, the laboratory school affiliated with the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development at Tufts University in Medford, MA, from 1996 to 2013. She has also held academic teaching positions at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her work has been published in numerous journals and books, including Young Children, Theory Into Practice, and the first edition of The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Approach to Early Childhood Education. Her most recent book, coauthored with Louise Derman-Sparks and John Nimmo, is Leading Anti-Bias Early Childhood Programs: A Guide for Change. Debbie holds a master’s degree in education from the University of New Mexico. Her areas of expertise include anti-bias education, early childhood education, teacher preparation, inclusive special education, curriculum development, teacher inquiry, family engagement, leadership development, professional learning communities, and public school partnerships. Debbie has received a number of awards for her outstanding commitment to young children and the early childhood profession, record of distinguished professional achievement, and work in diversity, including the Tufts University Arts and Sciences Faculty/Staff Multicultural Service Award in 2003; the Tufts Bridge Builder Distinction Award in 2009; and the Abigail Eliot Award in 2015.

Iris Chin Ponte, PhD, is director and classroom teacher at the Henry Frost Children’s Program in Belmont, MA. She also currently serves as an adjunct faculty member at Lesley University’s Graduate School of Education. Iris previously worked for Sesame Street Research at the Children’s Television Workshop (now Sesame Workshop) in New York among many other media and research institutions. Iris was proudly recognized as an Exchange Emerging Leader in 2015. As a former Fulbright Scholar, she has expertise in cross‐cultural issues in education. She has taught and conducted extensive preschool research in the United States, the United Kingdom, Taiwan, China, Japan, and Newfoundland. Iris has received various scholarship and fellowship recognitions from the Children’s Defense Fund, the Thomas J. Watson Foundation, CBS, and the American Educational Research Association. She has published in the areas of children and technology, behavior management, children’s play, outdoor environmental design, and birth parent reunions and heritage trips for adoptees in China.