Understanding and Measuring Leadership in Center-based Early Care and Education to Inform Policy and Practice

The purpose of the literature review was to understand what is known about what leadership looks like in center-based ECE settings and how it functions to improve center quality and, in turn, children’s experiences and outcomes. This brief highlights findings from the literature review to inform policy and practice. 

The brief highlights key findings from the literature review: 

• Distributed leadership recognizes the participation of teaching staff and families in leadership, along with center managers, and it can flourish in a variety of formal management structures based on a supportive center culture and good internal communication. 

• An individual’s values and beliefs, in combination with their education, training, and experience, can influence their participation in center leadership and what they are able to do as leaders. 

• Leadership practices that might support positive outcomes in center-based ECE settings fall into five categories that include: (1) instructional quality practices; (2) relational coordination practices among center-based staff; (3) relational coordination practices with families and the community; (4) strategic practices, and (5) operational practices. 

• Center managers improve children’s learning by building a positive organizational climate and relational trust with teaching staff. 

• Involving teaching staff as leaders is important to improving quality and child outcomes. 

The literature review drew from 51 sources, 30 that were specific to ECE.  We used a two-tiered search strategy to identify sources to review:  

1. A comprehensive search on leadership in ECE, focusing on leaders within center-based settings that serve children birth to five. 

2. A targeted search for reviews, syntheses, or meta-analyses of leadership in the K—12, health, and management fields that best apply to the unique qualities of ECE settings and ECE leadership.  

In searching other fields, we were not exhaustive; we identified commonalities in defining leadership and the unique contributions that come from perspectives outside of ECE. For each source, we documented the leadership measures used; data sources and respondents; leadership elements examined; and whether and how the association between leadership and outcomes was assessed.  

Building on learnings from the research literature, and using data from a descriptive study of 110 centers conducted in 2022, the project team created the ExCELS leadership measure. The measure captures what leadership looks like in center-based ECE settings based on (1) who participates in leadership, (2) what center managers and teaching staff bring to leadership and, (3) what center managers and teaching staff do as leaders based on the actions and practices they pursue. The measure could inform policies or funding strategies for professional development, training, or technical assistance efforts to support ECE center staff as leaders and agents of quality improvement. It could also help to expand the empirical understanding of what makes for effective leadership that produces positive outcomes for staff, center quality, families, and children.

G. Kirby, A. Douglass, and L. Malone. “Understanding and measuring leadership in center-based early care and education to inform policy and practice.” OPRE Report #2023-177. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, US. Department of Health and Human Services, 2023.