Introduction
Research Questions
- What can influence what leadership looks like in center-based ECE settings?
- What are the connections between who participates in leadership, what center staff bring to leadership, and what center staff do as leaders?
- What are the pathways by which ECE leadership can influence good outcomes in the center?
Effective leadership can support positive outcomes for staff, center quality, children, and families in center-based early care and education (ECE) settings. As important as leadership is, little is known about who participates in leadership in center-based ECE settings, what actions people take as leaders, and how leadership influences staff and center outcomes. The Early Care and Education Leadership Study (ExCELS) was launched to help define leadership in center-based ECE settings that serve children birth to five and understand how leadership can support quality improvement.
The ExCELS study team created a theory of change that describes (1) what can influence ECE leadership, (2) what leadership can look like in center-based ECE settings, and (3) what ECE leadership can influence. Using data collected from 110 ECE centers, the ExCELS team developed a measure of ECE leadership and conducted analyses to test parts of the study’s theory of change. This brief describes the support we found for measuring leadership in this way. It also shows how leadership can help produce good outcomes in the center.
Purpose
The purpose of this brief was to describe the support we found for measuring leadership as described in the ExCELS study theory of change. This brief presents key findings from analyses that show how leadership can help produce good outcomes in the center. It provides a summary of how the ExCELS measure can be used to produce a functional and relevant picture of what leadership looks like in center-based ECE settings.
Key Findings and Highlights
The brief highlights key findings from analyses testing the ExCELS theory of change:
Center characteristics and teaching staff education, experience, and credentials did not predict who participates in leadership.
What teaching staff bring to leadership (their values and beliefs about ECE) can influence who participates in leadership.
What center managers and teaching staff bring to leadership can influence what they do as leaders.
What center managers do as leaders (based on teaching staff report) can influence center culture, climate, and communication.
What teaching staff say they do as leaders can influence center culture, climate, and communication.
Center culture, climate, and communication can influence who participates in leadership (based on teaching staff reports).
Teaching staff provide an important perspective to understand how leadership can support positive outcomes for the staff and center.
Center culture, climate, and communication works with the leadership elements to influence positive outcomes.
Methods
The ExCELS study team developed a measure of ECE leadership using data collected from 110 centers. To test the ExCELS theory of change, we examined how parts of the theory of change are related to each other. We first examined what can influence leadership, considering the associations of center characteristics with leadership scores. Next, we described what leadership looks like in center-based ECE, based on associations between the leadership elements and their connections with center culture, climate, and communication. Then, we explored what ECE leadership can influence, to test whether the leadership elements predict positive staff outcomes and family involvement.
We used generalized linear models to test the theory of change. We used multivariate ordinary least squares regressions for center-level analyses, and estimated models to account for the clustering of staff within centers for staff-level analyses. We included state fixed effects and center characteristics as covariates in all models, and included teaching staff characteristics as covariates for staff-level analyses. Results of these analyses show whether leadership scores predict positive outcomes—that is, whether centers with higher scores tend to have more positive staff and center outcomes, accounting for center and teaching staff characteristics and state context.
Citation
K. Gonzalez, G. Kirby, L. Malone, A. Douglass, and Y. Xue. “Testing a Theory of Change for Leadership in Center-Based Early Care and Education Setting.” OPRE Report #2024-346. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, US. Department of Health and Human Services, 2024.
Glossary
- ECE:
- Early care and education
- Center managers:
- A center director or site leader (responsible for day-to-day operations) and other people who oversee center operations, the care and education program, center finances, and other areas.
- Teaching staff:
- Lead, head, or co-teachers and assistant teachers who provide care and education to children in ECE center classrooms.