Book Description

After more than a century of evolution, early childhood care and education in the United States is in transition. In this frank discussion of the field’s purpose, identity, and responsibility, the authors examine the major issues that must be addressed if children are to be given more and better opportunities. They show how adaptive leadership work can unify the field, create openness to new change strategies, generate a shared vision, and build a viable strategy for its achievement. This provocative volume: Examines the leadership challenges of early childhood education, drawing lessons from extensive interviews and focus groups and from historical analyses.Suggests how the early care and education field can position itself to take charge of its future, rather than being driven by external influences. Outlines the need to focus internally, along with a challenging assessment of the field’s resistance to change.Focuses on the necessity for the early care and education field to engage in critical adaptive work or risk the consequences of not doing so. “This is a powerful book that has the potential to reinvent the field in ways that have yet to be determined. It should be required reading for all who work in early care and education.” —Josué Cruz, Jr., Dean, College of Education and Human Development at Bowling Green State University, Ohio, and past president of NAEYC “They get it! We need a true system of services for young children and their families in America. The authors explain to us why and present options for all of us to consider as we move forward.” —Dick Clifford, Associate Director, National Center For Early Development, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill “Goffin and Washington employ a variety of tactics to help us acknowledge imminent fork-in-the-road options in our field….If we fail to engage in this adaptive work, we will be no better than the elected officials whom we criticize for their partisan stubbornness and refusal to collaborate for the good of the whole.” —Marilyn M. Smith, Council for Professional Recognition, Washington, DC