[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-46499-en":3,"doc-seo-46499-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":92},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},46499,1099513958607,"Jiven","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/100002390cf8733938c?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1778829742770036399",8,"Research & Report","Leadership Development and System Building in Early Childhood Education and Care: Current Issues and Recommendations","Early childhood education and care (ECEC) supports young children and families in achieving educational, developmental, and behavioral outcomes that enhance quality of life. In the United States, ECEC leadership development lags behind policy and practice needs, leaving effective leadership approaches scarce, fragmented, and insufficiently rigorous. This theoretical paper examines leadership development and system building using an ecological framework, clarifies current preparation challenges, and provides recommendations to establish a high-quality ECEC leadership structure with integrated state and local coordination.","Early Years  \nAn International Research Journal  \nISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: [https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ceye20](https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ceye20)  \nLeadership development and system building in early childhood education and care: current issues and recommendations  \nSara Movahedazarhouligh, Rashida Banerjee & John Luckner  \nTo cite this article: Sara Movahedazarhouligh, Rashida Banerjee & John Luckner (2022):  \nLeadership development and system building in early childhood education and care: current issues  \nand recommendations, Early Years, DOI: 10. 1080/09575146 .2022.2047899  \nTo link to this article: [https://doi.org/10.1080/09575146.2022.2047899](https://doi.org/10.1080/09575146.2022.2047899)  \n Published online: 05 Mar 2022.  \n\n|  Submit your article to this journal  |\n| --- |\n|  Article views: 457 |\n|  View related articles  |\n|  View Crossmark data |\n\nFull Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at [https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=ceye20](https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=ceye20)  \nLeadership development and system building in early childhood education and care: current issues and recommendations  \nSara Movahedazarhouligha, Rashida Banerjeeb and John Lucknerc  \na Department of Early Childhood, Elementary, Middle, Literacy, and Special Ed., University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, NC, United States; bMorgridge College of Education, University of Denver, Denver, CO, United States; cDepartment of Special Education, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO, United States  \nABSTRACT  \nEarly childhood education and care (ECEC) aims to assist all young children and their families in meeting educational, developmental and behavioral outcomes to enhance their quality of life. However, in the United States (US), the field of ECEC lags behind in policies and practices to develop and sustain quality ECEC leadership. Although international initiatives in ECEC leadership have been growing, in the United States, effective leadership practices have been few, isolated and lacking rigor, resulting in a shortage of evidence-based policies and practices in ECEC. This theoretical paper discusses leadership development and system building in ECEC through an ecological framework elaborates on current issues in preparing effective leaders, and offers recommendations to develop a leadership structure for a high-quality ECEC system. The concepts underlying these recommendations can transform the current leadership situation and create well-integrated state and local coordination in leadership development and capacity building in ECEC in the United States.  \nARTICLE HISTORY  \nReceived 13 September 2020 Accepted 25 February 2022  \nKEYWORDS  \nLeadership; leadership development; system building; early childhood education; early childhood care  \nAn effective and comprehensive system of early childhood education and care (ECEC) services is complex and multilayered, impacting the quality of programs and services for young children and their families (Abel et al., 2018) . In the United States (US), integration of service provision to young children and their families happens across many domains, subsystems and programs that require alignment of policies, funding streams, and infrastructure across national and local levels (Clifford 2012) . One route to creating such integration is through a solid and diverse cadre of leaders at all levels (e.g., local program, district, state and national levels), capable of driving continuous improvement and facilitating transformative change and innovation (Allred and Hancock 2015). Consequently, it is imperative to embrace the conviction that effective leadership is one necessary element of achieving high quality in ECEC programs (Kivunja 2015) . However, in contrast to many other developed countries, the US has yet to fully recognize ECEC as a public good, as with  \nCONTACT Sara Movahedazarhouligh  ","cbCaifkjPe103qKz","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaifkjPe103qKz","pdf",626721,6,1,16,"English","en",105,"# Abstract\n# Leadership systems and integration in the United States\n# Ecological leadership framework\n## Defining ECEC leadership and system building\n# Recommendations for leadership development ecosystems","[{\"question\":\"What problem does the paper identify in U.S. early childhood education and care leadership?\",\"answer\":\"The paper identifies that U.S. ECEC leadership development and sustained quality practices lag behind needs, with effective leadership approaches being few, isolated, and lacking rigor.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the paper explain leadership development and system building?\",\"answer\":\"It uses an ecological framework to describe leadership development and system building as arising from interactions between systems, informing how leadership development ecosystems can be created.\"},{\"question\":\"What solutions does the paper recommend to improve ECEC leadership?\",\"answer\":\"The paper offers recommendations to develop an ECEC leadership structure that enables well-integrated state and local coordination and alignment for capacity building and continuous 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