Dear Colleagues,
How can we make the world better? One way is for us to advance equity for all children, and that starts by giving them access to high-quality pre-K. Children who attend great programs are more kindergarten ready and tend to have more long-term success in school and life. But the sad truth is that access to early learning is uneven. Attendance varies widely based on children’s race and family income, which means that Black, Hispanic, and low-income children are less likely to attend early learning programs than their more affluent peers. And the programs they do attend often lack the resources and qualified teachers to help the children become kindergarten ready.
So, the Council is doing its part to support all children by giving them the skilled teachers they need. We help serve our diverse body of young learners by giving free webinars in English and Spanish. Our Council Alumni Network (CAN) is offering a three-part series on Building Equity Into Your Curriculum. Our Early Educators Leadership Conference will include sessions on equity for children and the teachers who serve them, including the many men who face roadblocks in our field. So, the 2023 EELC will feature a special panel of men, and this issue spotlights two men who are tackling the big issues that deal with inequity in early education.
Nick Terrones, program director at Daybreak Star Preschool, helps children see life through an anti-bias lens, as you’ll read this month. “Anti-bias education,” he says, “is an approach that leads children to question why things are the way they are. For example, a young child might ask why I’m the only male teacher. Providing an answer is part of anti-bias education. So is responding to a child who wonders why people are living in tents near their house. And it’s up to teachers to be brave enough to have those difficult conversations about injustice. When they do, children learn the importance of advocating for a fairer system that will give marginalized communities more chance to empower themselves.”
Similarly, Mike S. Browne works to empower young Black boys as senior director of Cultivate Learning, a research and training program for teachers. And he doesn’t just work to get the boys kindergarten ready, a typical goal in the early learning field. “My goal is to prepare them for lifelong success and allow them to reach their dreams,” Mike explains. And as he works to guide them into the future, he’s inspired by his own past. “The dreams I had as a poor Black boy,” he says, “are still informing me today.” So, he guides children and teachers in having in-depth conversations about inequity in their lives and in our nation.
And one of the conversations that’s taking place across the country is about how to provide pre-K for all. The challenge that states face is balancing costs, high-quality and resources, according to Dr. Calvin Moore’s new paper. Sure, it’s expensive to provide equity in early learning for all children, but it pays off by helping children become productive adults. So, Dr. Moore urges us to put our all into pre-K for all by investing in teacher training, like the CDA®, and giving deep thought to what goes on in the classroom when designing public preschool programs. In addition, he says, we must redesign K-12 education, so it sustains the many benefits children derive from quality pre-K.
Children also profit a lot from having parents who are involved in their lives. And when we discuss the impact of parents, we should count the ways dads can support their daughters’ success, Dr. Moore also points out in his latest blog. He speaks as the engaged father of two girls, like former President Barack Obama, who always made sure to give his daughters a full dose of their dad. And fathers get something back from investing time in their girls, Obama said in a Father’s Day speech: “I’m inspired by the love people have for their children. And I’m inspired by my own children, how full they make my heart. They make me want to work to make the world a little bit better. And they make me want to be a better man.”
With our warmest regards to great dads,
The Council for Professional Recognition
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Vice President of People and Culture
Janie Payne is the Vice President of People and Culture for the Council for Professional Recognition. Janie is responsible for envisioning, developing, and executing initiatives that strategically manage talent and culture to align people strategies with the overarching business vision of the Council. Janie is responsible for driving organizational excellence through strategic talent practices, orchestrating workforce planning, talent acquisition, performance management as well as a myriad of other Human Resources Programs. She is accountable for driving effectiveness by shaping organizational structure for optimal efficiency. Janie oversees strategies that foster a healthy culture to include embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion into all aspects of the organization.
In Janie’s prior role, she was the Vice President of Administration at Equal Justice Works, where she was responsible for leading human resources, financial operations, facilities management, and information technology. She was also accountable for developing and implementing Equal Justice Works Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion strategy focused on attracting diverse, mission-oriented talent and creating an inclusive and equitable workplace environment. With more than fifteen years of private, federal, and not-for-profit experience, Janie is known for her intuitive skill in administration management, human resources management, designing and leading complex system change, diversity and inclusion, and social justice reform efforts.
Before joining Equal Justice Works, Janie was the Vice President of Human Resources and Chief Diversity Officer for Global Communities, where she was responsible for the design, implementation, and management of integrated HR and diversity strategies. Her work impacted employees in over twenty-two countries. She was responsible for the effective management of different cultural, legal, regulatory, and economic systems for both domestic and international employees. Prior to Global Communities, Janie enjoyed a ten-year career with the federal government. As a member of the Senior Executive Service, she held key strategic human resources positions with multiple cabinet-level agencies and served as an advisor and senior coach to leaders across the federal sector. In these roles, she received recognition from management, industry publications, peers, and staff for driving the creation and execution of programs that created an engaged and productive workforce.
Janie began her career with Verizon Communications (formerly Bell Atlantic), where she held numerous roles of increasing responsibility, where she directed a diversity program that resulted in significant improvement in diversity profile measures. Janie was also a faculty member for the company’s Black Managers Workshop, a training program designed to provide managers of color with the skills needed to overcome barriers to their success that were encountered because of race. She initiated a company-wide effort to establish team-based systems and structures to impact corporate bottom line results which was recognized by the Department of Labor. Janie was one of the first African American women to be featured on the cover of Human Resources Executive magazine.
Janie received her M.A. in Organization Development from American University. She holds numerous professional development certificates in Human Capital Management and Change Management, including a Diversity and Inclusion in Human Resources certificate from Cornell University. She completed the year-long Maryland Equity and Inclusion Leadership Program sponsored by The Schaefer Center for Public Policy and The Maryland Commission on Civil Rights. She is a trained mediator and Certified Professional Coach. She is a graduate of Leadership America, former board chair of the NTL Institute and currently co-steward of the organization’s social justice community of practice, and a member of The Society for Human Resource Management. Additionally, Janie is the Board Chairperson for the Special Education Citizens Advisory Council for Prince Georges County where she is active in developing partnerships that facilitate discussion between parents, families, educators, community leaders, and the PG County school administration to enhance services for students with disabilities which is her passion. She and her husband Randolph reside in Fort Washington Maryland.
Chief Operations Officer
Andrew Davis serves as Chief Operating Officer at the Council. In this role, Andrew oversees the Programs Division, which includes the following operational functions: credentialing, growth and business development, marketing and communications, public policy and advocacy, research, innovation, and customer relations.
Andrew has over 20 years of experience in the early care and education field. Most recently, Andrew served as Senior Vice President of Partnership and Engagement with Acelero Learning and Shine Early Learning, where he led the expansion of state and community-based partnerships to produce more equitable systems of service delivery, improved programmatic quality, and greater outcomes for communities, children and families. Prior to that, he served as Director of Early Learning at Follett School Solutions.
Andrew earned his MBA from the University of Baltimore and Towson University and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland – University College.
Chief Financial Officer
Jan Bigelow serves as Chief Financial Officer at the Council and has been with the organization since February of 2022.
Jan has more than 30 years in accounting and finance experience, including public accounting, for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. She has held management-level positions with BDO Seidman, Kiplinger Washington Editors, Pew Center for Global Climate Change, Communities In Schools, B’nai B’rith Youth Organization and American Humane. Since 2003, Jan has worked exclusively in the non-profit sector where she has been a passionate advocate in improving business operations in order to further the mission of her employers.
Jan holds a CPA from the State of Virginia and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lycoming College. She resides in Alexandria VA with her husband and dog.
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