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Administrators are central to hiring, supervision, finances, and organizational climate, yet many novice leaders lack preparation for core responsibilities. The Ready to Lead Leadership Academy (RTL) was created to support new administrators through structured leadership development and reflection, aligned to Illinois competencies.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/we-cant-afford-to-lose-leaders-professional-development-to-increase-administrator-retention-during-the-first-few-years/585900/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/we-cant-afford-to-lose-leaders-professional-development-to-increase-administrator-retention-during-the-first-few-years/585900.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Jordan Avery","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-31","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":39},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"Why is administrator retention important in ECEC programs?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"Administrator retention affects program quality and stability by influencing hiring, supervision, financial management, and the organization’s overall climate. Low leadership capacity can also contribute to staff turnover and program closure.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What challenges do novice ECEC administrators face?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Novice administrators often come from teaching roles and may lack formal preparation for program administration and leadership duties. They report difficulty managing areas like human resources, coaching and supervision, operations, strategic planning, and fiscal management.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What is RTL and how was it developed?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"RTL is an intensive four-month leadership academy created in 2018 to meet the unique needs of new and novice ECEC administrators. Its content emphasizes reflection, transitioning to supervisor roles, productivity and time management, and building a balanced workload, with strategic alignment to Illinois Director Credential competencies.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},585900,1792172091,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":39,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":39,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":46,"preview_page_count":4},1099523882367,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_9964176cb1d06d4a9deccf72a44ae3dc","We Can’t Afford to Lose Leaders: Professional Development to Increase Administrator Retention During the First Few Years  \nROBYN KELTON & TERI TALAN  \nThe field of early childhood education and care (ECEC) has an undeniable educator retention problem (NAEYC, 2021)A. Staffing shortages in programs have a detrimental impact on the children and families served, the communities in which they are located, and the well-being of the remaining staff. While the field’s administrator retention crisis is less publicized, it is arguably no less important. In fact, nearly a quarter (23%) of directors/administrators who responded to NAEYC’s 2021 survey reported that they were considering leaving or closing their child care program within the next year (NAEYC, 2021) . Additionally, across all workforce roles, those who are new to their roles or the ECEC field are at an even greater risk of leaving, with 45% of respondents who had been in the field for a year or less and 34% of those with 2-5 years of experience reporting that they were considering leaving (NAEYC, 2021) .  \nAdministrators are the gatekeepers to program quality and the linchpin for an array of program functions that impact staff satisfaction and retention, including hiring and orienting new staff, supervising and promoting current staff, managing program finances, creating a shared mission and vision, and setting the overall tone for the organizational climate (Bloom & Abel, 2015; Doherty et al., 2015; Douglass, 2019; Sims et al., 2015; Talan et al., 2014) . Moreover, research in the K-12 education sector has repeatedly found that principal turnover is tied to teacher turnover (e.g., Béteille et al., 2012; Buckman, 2021; Miller, 2013) . While there is limited research on this relationship within the ECEC field, there is no reason to think the pattern would differ. To compound the problem, without effective leadership, ECEC programs risk not only staff turnover and declining quality but program closure as well (Talan et al., 2014) .  \nMost new or noviceB administrators have formal education and training in early education and child development. However, because they tend to be promoted from the ranks of the teaching workforce, they often lack the education and training in program administration and leadership needed to successfully run and sustain an ECEC organization (Talan et al., 2014) . To that point, research has found that novice administrators report struggling to navigate responsibilities in areas where they have no prior experience, such as human resources, coaching and supervision, program operations, strategic planning, and fiscal management (Kelton et al., 2022) . Administrators who receive early career support  \nare more likely to remain in the field, better support staff, improve the overall quality of their programs, and continue to grow professionally.  \nOne way in which the McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership has worked to support novice ECEC administrators is through the Ready to Lead Leadership Academy (RTL) . RTL was created in 2018 asan intensive, four-month leadership academy to meet the unique needs of new and novice early childhood administrators. RTL content covers the power of reflection and self-awareness, leadership inaction, transitioning from peer to supervisor, productivity and time management, and strategies for creating a balanced workload. Additionally, the RTL curriculum was strategically aligned with competencies within the Illinois Director Credential, part of the Illinois Gateways to Opportunity professional development system.  \nTo date, the McCormick Center has conducted seven cohorts of RTL with 119 novice administrators from across Illinois completing the academy. At the conclusion of the seventh cohort, the McCormick Center engaged Erikson Institute to conduct an external evaluation report on the effectiveness of the RTL academy (Hadi-Tabassum & Beaudoin Ryan, 2023) . This research brief focuses on two of four of the main r","cbCaieF7Z3kxHRXg","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaieF7Z3kxHRXg","pdf",382383,"English","# Introduction\n## Administrator retention and program impact\n# RTL Overview\n## Ready to Lead Leadership Academy design and alignment\n# Evaluation Approach\n## Research questions and focus\n# Methods\n## Sample and participant demographics","[{\"question\":\"Why is administrator retention important in ECEC programs?\",\"answer\":\"Administrator retention affects program quality and stability by influencing hiring, supervision, financial management, and the organization’s overall climate. Low leadership capacity can also contribute to staff turnover and program closure.\"},{\"question\":\"What challenges do novice ECEC administrators face?\",\"answer\":\"Novice administrators often come from teaching roles and may lack formal preparation for program administration and leadership duties. They report difficulty managing areas like human resources, coaching and supervision, operations, strategic planning, and fiscal management.\"},{\"question\":\"What is RTL and how was it developed?\",\"answer\":\"RTL is an intensive four-month leadership academy created in 2018 to meet the unique needs of new and novice ECEC administrators. Its content emphasizes reflection, transitioning to supervisor roles, productivity and time management, and building a balanced workload, with strategic alignment to Illinois Director Credential competencies.\"}]","We Can’t Afford to Lose Leaders - Professional Development to Increase Administrator Retention During the First Few Years | PDF",1792056281]