Foundation for Child Development Young Scholars Program 2018 Convening

Speaker Bios March 15, 2018

Introducing the Issues: Professionalism and Diversity in the ECE Field

Lisa Guernsey is deputy director of the Education Policy program and director of the Learning Technologies project at New America. She leads teams of writers and analysts to tell stories, translate research, examine policies, and generate ideas for new approaches to help disadvantaged students succeed. Prior to her work at New America, Guernsey worked as a staff writer at The New York Times and The Chronicle of Higher Education and has contributed to several other national publications, including The Atlantic, the Washington Post, Newsweek, Time, Slate, and USA TODAY. She has served on several national advisory committees on early education, including the Institute of Medicine's Committee on the Science of Children Birth To Age 8. Guernsey holds a master’s in English/American studies and a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Virginia. Lisa lives in Alexandria, Virginia with her two daughters. Michael López is a Principal Associate at Abt Associates, brings over 25 years of experience conducting policy-relevant, early childhood research, with an emphasis on low-income or culturally and linguistically diverse populations. He currently is Co-Principal Investigator for both the National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families and the National Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Study. Prior to joining Abt, he was Executive Director of the National Center for Latino Child & Family Research. Before that, Dr. López directed the Child Outcomes Research and Evaluation team in the Administration for Children and Families, within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where he developed and directed large-scale, national, evaluation studies, including the National Head Start Impact Study (HSIS), the largest, nationally-representative, randomized study examining the impact of Head Start on school readiness. Valora Washington is the CEO of the Council for Professional Recognition, the nation’s largest credentialing organization for early educators. Throughout her career Dr. Washington has co-created several institutions, such as Michigan’s Children, the Early Childhood Funders Collaborative, and The CAYL Institute. She has chaired and served on numerous boards and commissions such as the Massachusetts Governor’s School Readiness Commission; Voices for America’s Children; NAEYC; and the National Head Start Association. She holds honorary degrees from Bennett College and Meadville Lombard Theological School. Awards received are from groups including the Barr Foundation, Urban College, Boston AEYC; NAEYC Black Caucus; Cambridge Resource and Referral Agency; Center for Adoption Research, University of Massachusetts; National Association of Black Social Workers, United Way of Massachusetts Bay, and Working Mother magazine.

Mapping the Barriers to Professionalizing a Diverse Workforce

Joanne Hurt is the Executive Director of Wonders Early Learning + Extended Day, a nonprofit organization that provides NAEYC accredited early childhood education and before and after school programs in Montgomery County and the District of Columbia.. Joanne has been in educational leadership for the past 24 years and has worked at Wonders for 29 years. Throughout her career, Joanne has worked to ensure that Wonders creates and sustains learning environments for children that are engaging, nurturing and led by excellent teachers who are supported in their growth and professional development. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Montgomery County Collaboration Council for Children, Youth and Families. Additionally, Joanne is on the Advisory Board of the Judische Kulturbund Project. Florence Kreisman is the Director of the Quality Improvement Network (QIN) Hub at Mary’s Center in Washington, DC, where she helps lead this citywide initiative to enhance the quality of infant and toddler care and education within the family child care context. Prior to her current role, Ms. Kreisman served as the Dual Language Manager with DC Public Schools’ Early Childhood division, where she supported the rollout and implementation of the Head Start School-Wide Model and led a team of specialists coaching in pre-K and kindergarten classrooms. Her other previous roles include Senior Teaching and Learning Facilitator for a Georgetown University early literacy study, National Council of La Raza’s Early Childhood Coordinator, and infant-toddler administrator at the World Bank Children’s Center. She began her career teaching kindergarten in Atlanta Public Schools. Sonia Pruneda-Hernandez is the Early Childhood Program Coordinator for Montgomery College Rockville and Takoma Park Campuses. Sonia earned her M.S. from Nova Southeastern University and her B.A. from the University of North Florida. She is a current doctoral candidate of early childhood education at Walden University. She started her career in early childhood education with the Navy Child Care Programs in Jacksonville, Florida and continued in the ECE field directing and training in Child Care Centers for the Department of Defense - Naval Support Activity Naples, Italy and then government centers in Rockville, MD. Sonia is the Co-Advisor of the MC Early Childhood Education Club which has received numerous awards and is the MC Coordinator for the Maryland State Department of Education Child Care Career and Professional Development Fund. She was awarded the MC Faculty Outstanding Service Award in 2015, the NISOD of Excellence Award in 2016, and the American Association of Community College Dale P. Parnell Distinguished Faculty this year. Maurice Sykes is the Executive Director of the Early Childhood Leadership Institute and a Senior Associate at M Russell & Associates. He was formerly a director in the Center for Urban Education at the University of the District of Columbia, where he received the Marjorie Holloman Parker Distinguished Educator Award. Maurice served as the Deputy Superintendent for the District of Columbia Public School's Center for Systemic Educational Change as well as Director of Early Childhood Programs for the DC school system. He also advised the US Department of Education on educational policy and programs related to urban education improvement. He has served as a teacher, teacher trainer, a curriculum developer and as Director of the Tuft's University Educational Day Care Center where he also served as a Lecturer in the Elliott-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development. He was selected as a National Policy Fellow at the Institute for Educational Leadership and subsequently coordinated the DC Policy Fellowship program. He has written for numerous publications and has traveled nationwide inspiring and challenging schools and communities to do the right thing for children.

National Initiatives

Cemeré James is the Vice President of Policy at the National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI). Prior to joining NBCDI, Cemeré was a senior policy analyst at the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP). Cemeré was also Lead Operations Specialist at Illinois Department of Human Service and, from 2009-2011, an inaugural fellow in the Illinois Early Childhood Fellows Program. Ms. James holds an MPP degree from University of Chicago and a Master of Industrial Engineering and Management Science degree from Northwestern University, as well as a bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering from Florida A&M University. Lucy Recio is part of the public policy and advocacy team at the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) where she is responsible for writing and developing tools and resources, as well as providing technical assistance to build capacity for engagement and impact by NAEYC members and Affiliates. Prior to joining NAEYC, Lucy served as the Deputy Director of Education and Youth Services for Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. Lucy began her career as a community organizer and entered the world of education as a high school Spanish teacher. She earned her Master's degree in public administration from CUNY Baruch College as a National Urban Fellow and her Bachelor's degree from Georgetown University.

Federal Policy Opportunities and Challenges Gina Adams is a Senior Fellow in the Labor, Human Resources, and Population Center at The Urban Institute, and directs Urban’s Kids in Context Initiative. Her research efforts span a range of issues that affect the well-being of children and families. Her primary focus since the mid-1980s has been on studying the broad range of policies and programs that affect the affordability, quality, and supply of early education and child care, and factors that affect the ability of lower-income families to access and participate in these services. In recent years she has broadened her focus to also encompass a broader range of policy areas, including breaking down siloes between early childhood/child care policies and the range of other services and systems that support children’s development and family well-being, as well as a new focus on understanding the broad range of supports that are needed to stabilize children and families. Lori Connors-Tadros is the Senior Project Director for the Center on Enhancing Early Learning Outcomes (CEELO) at the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University. The National Institute for Early Education Research provides independent, research-based analysis and technical assistance to inform policy supporting high-quality, early education for all young children. Lori leads the work of CEELO to build capacity of state early education administrators to implement comprehensive early learning systems for children birth through third grade. Dr. Connors-Tadros was the Vice President of Children and Family Services at The Finance Project, a Senior Researcher at Johns Hopkins University’s Center on Schools, Families, Communities, and Children’s Learning, and a state early childhood specialist charged with implementing policy to support inclusive settings for children with disabilities. Dr. Connors-Tadros holds a Ph.D. in Developmental and Educational Psychology from Boston College, a Master of Science in Early Childhood Special Education from Southern Connecticut State University, and a certificate in Leadership and Coaching from Anderson School of Business. Yvette Sanchez Fuentes serves as the Deputy Chief for Public Policy and Research at Child Care Aware of America. Yvette previously served as Assistant Director for Policy with Ascend at the Aspen Institute. Yvette brings extensive experience in providing services to young children from low-income families at the local, regional, and national level. Yvette is the former Director of the Office of Head Start, a Presidential Political Appointee under the Obama Administration at the United States Department of Health and Human Services.. Prior to her appointment, Yvette served as the Executive Director of the National Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Association (NMSHSA). She worked with early education services, policies and resources for migrant and seasonal farm worker children and their families. Elizabeth Groginsky is the Assistant Superintendent of Early Learning at the Office of the State Superintendent of Education in the District of Columbia. In this capacity, Ms. Groginsky administers and coordinates programs related to the District’s efforts to expand and improve high-quality child care and development services in the public and private sectors and ensures strong consumer education and outreach.. Her early learning leadership, management and development experience includes serving as the early childhood advisor to a Colorado governor; leading an international organization’s school readiness partnership; directing a county-wide early childhood collaborative; administering a Head Start agency; and evaluating the quality of early care and education in a large urban setting. She has particular expertise and background in developing and communicating about early childhood services and linking them to improved outcomes for young children and their families. Shayne Spaulding is a principal research associate in the Income and Benefits Policy Center at the Urban Institute, where her work focuses on the evaluation of workforce development and postsecondary education programs. She has spent nearly 20 years in the workforce development field as an evaluator, technical assistance provider, and program manager. Her research has included studies of programs for young noncustodial fathers, sectoral employment programs, social- purpose staffing agencies, faith-based programs, and other workforce development topics. Before joining Urban, Spaulding was the university director of Workforce Development for the City University of New York (CUNY). She was also the principal investigator for the CUNY Jobs Task Force, which examined trends in five industry clusters and how universities could better prepare graduates for available jobs. From 2001 to 2009, Spaulding worked for Public/Private Ventures, where she was a senior program director. Spaulding serves on the board of the Workforce Professionals Training Institute and the advisory board of the New York City Labor Market Information Service at the CUNY Graduate Center.

State and Local Strategies

Ivory Clarke is an Associate Program Officer at the National Academy of Medicine. She directs the Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth through Age 8: Pathways to Implementation program. In this role she works directly with state teams to develop actionable implementation plans, grounded in the science and recommendations from the 2015 IOM Report Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8: A unifying Foundation. She also co-directs the NAM Culture of Health Program, a multiyear collaborative effort to identify strategies to create and sustain conditions that support equitable good health for all Americans. She holds a master’s degree from the Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago. Kathy Glazer joined the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation, as President in January of 2012. Under her leadership, the Foundation promotes innovative partnerships to ensure that Virginia’s children enter kindergarten healthy and ready to succeed in school, the workforce, and life. Previously she worked with the national BUILD Initiative as Director of State Services, providing strategic advice to states advancing their early childhood policies and agendas. From 2005-2009 she served in Virginia state government positions including Executive Director of the Governor’s office for early childhood policy and Director of the Office of Early Childhood Development, an office created to span early childhood programs, staff, and funding streams across state agencies. She has provided leadership for the development of many of Virginia’s key early childhood initiatives, including the statewide Smart Beginnings network, the establishment of the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation, and the quality rating and improvement system. Most recently, she served on the National Academies’ committee to develop the Transforming the Financing of Early Care and Education report. Glazer received her BA from the University of Georgia and MPA from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Winona Hao manages the National Association of State Boards of Education’s (NASBE) Early Childhood Education (ECE) work. She provides state policymakers with ECE policy trends, analyses, and technical assistance. Hao oversees NASBE’s ECE State Network where she supports state teams and works with national partners to advance the workforce for children from birth through age eight. For eight years, Hao taught children from birth to age five in China and the U.S. As an immigrant, she is a strong advocate for dual language learners and believes all children can thrive through effective early education. Hao also worked at Save the Children and the Institute of Public Policy at the George Washington University, from which she also earned a master's degree in international education policy. Tonja Rucker currently serves as the Director for Early Childhood Success in the Institute for Youth Education and Families at the National League of Cities. She is responsible for developing and overseeing implementation of the Institute’s work plans and long-term strategies for early education. She conceptualizes and leads efforts to identify and document best practices and promising initiatives, oversees the implementation of TA, and contributes to the overall management of the Institute, including strategic planning, coordination of cross-program initiatives, and identification and cultivation of prospective funders. Tonja works directly with mayors, city councilmembers, and other municipal officials in creating local systems of support for parents, children, and youth in their communities. By helping cities develop the necessary local infrastructure and providing concrete ideas and tools for policy and programmatic action, a significant number of cities and towns have positioned themselves as models for investing in children’s healthy growth and development. Prior to joining the NLC team, Tonja served as Transition Coordinator for Baltimore City Head Start and as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland College Park. She has a doctorate in Human Development from the University of Maryland College Park and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Spelman College.