ML Test

The Exchange Leadership Initiative (ELI) launched in November 2014, with the intention to explore strategies for making leadership more visible in the field of Early Care and Education, growing in understanding of the qualities, training, and skills sets that underlie leadership and fulfilling our responsibilities in supporting and developing leaders.

We undertook the search for Emerging Leaders as treasure hunters, seeking what we knew to be there but which we could not yet see. Applications were reviewed on the basis of specific criteria below by the distinguished members of the Emerging Leaders Review Team. Exchange Emerging Leaders were announced in the May/June 2015 issue of Exchange magazine.

Exchange continues to focus on leadership with the announcement of Master Leaders in the November/December Exchange magazine. The Master Leaders Review Team evaluated applications to be considered Master Leaders based on the criteria below.

We are grateful to everyone who applied in these leadership searches and for the dedication and care which each of the Review Team members brought to the challenging task.

Emerging Leaders are currently engaged in writing articles for Exchange magazine, participating in surveys about the field, connecting in-person at conferences and gatherings, and advising and creating a presence through social media. Many Emerging Leaders will be attending the Action Forum on Early Childhood Leadership (an experience designed specifically for them) before the NAEYC conference in November.

Next steps include a meeting at the Action Forum with the collaborating organizations of ELI, follow-up on ideas for the support and development of leadership generated at the Action Forum, and community building and idea generating with the new cohort of Master Leaders. In 2016, the next search for leaders who work directly with young children will be announced.

It is our intention that Exchange, in collaboration with other professional organizations, continues the search and support for leadership in ECE. Once identified, these leaders will be invaluable in plotting our ideas and initiatives into the future they will lead us.