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Professional development is often treated as an event. A workshop. A webinar. A conference session. While these experiences can inspire new thinking, research and practice consistently show that learning sticks when it is connected to daily work. Adult learning theory and early childhood leadership research emphasize that growth happens through reflection, practice, feedback, and relationship over time. Job-embedded professional development allows educators and leaders to app

The phrase “our child care system is broken” is common. While it reflects real pain and frustration, it can also unintentionally narrow our vision. When systems are labeled as broken, people within them can begin to feel powerless, and the focus becomes "the fight to fix child care." A strengths-based reframing does not deny inequities or challenges. Instead, it asks a different question: where is the system already working, and how can we build from there? Across early child

Well-being in early childhood education is often discussed in fragments. Leader wellness. Educator self-care. Children’s social-emotional development. Family engagement. But these experiences are deeply connected. A parallel process exists across early childhood systems. How leaders experience support influences how educators feel at work. How educators regulate stress shapes classroom climate. How children experience safety and belonging affects families’ trust in the system

Leadership in early childhood education is often described in terms of skills and competencies. While those matter, research from positive psychology suggests something equally important: how leaders and educators recognize and use character strengths. Character strengths are universal human capacities such as curiosity, kindness, perseverance, creativity, and self-regulation. The VIA Classification of Character Strengths, developed through decades of research and shared by t

For decades, conversations about early childhood education have centered on what is broken. Low wages. High turnover. Inadequate funding. Burnout. These challenges are real, and they deserve attention. But what if the questions we are asking are shaping the reality we are experiencing? Appreciative Inquiry offers a different starting point. Rather than beginning with problems to be fixed, Appreciative Inquiry begins with curiosity about what is already working. It is based on