Quick-read summaries of research relating to important
early childhood professional development and workforce issues

Written in a concise, user-friendly format, the McCormick Center’s Research Notes highlight key findings from different studies conducted by faculty at the McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership and researchers from other professional development organizations.

The McCormick Center’s Research Notes are published four times a year.
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Printable Archives: 1998 to Present

• Child Care Center Directors’ Experiences with QRIS (Spring 2012)
• Speaking Up and Speaking Out: The Director as Advocate for the Early Childhood Workforce (Winter 2012)
• Mentoring Directors as a Strategy to Improve Quality in Early Childhood Programs (Fall 2011)
• Degrees in Context: Asking the Right Questions about Preparing Skilled and Effective
  Teachers of Young Children (Summer 2011)
• The Relationship between Organizational Climate and Classroom Quality (Spring 2011)
• Quality in Context—How Directors' Beliefs, Leadership, and Management Practices Relate to Observed Classroom Quality (Winter 2011)
• Factors Impacting Job Satisfaction and Commitment in the Early Childhood Workforce (Fall 2010)
• Connecting the Dots: Director Qualifications, Instructional Leadership Practices, and Learning Environments in Early Childhood Programs (Summer 2010)
• A Window on Early Childhood Administrative Practices (Spring 2010)
• Head Start Administrative Practices, Director Qualifications, and Links to Classroom Quality (Winter 2010)
• Developing a Unified Performance Measurement System (Fall 2009)
• The Role of Leadership to Integrate the Learning Continuum (Summer 2009)
• A Window into the Business Practices of Family Child Care Providers (Spring 2009)
• Examining Family Child Care Quality from a Business Perspective (Winter 2009)
• From Policy to Practice: Learning from Center Directors in New Jersey's Mixed-Delivery Abbott Program (Fall 2008)
• Professional Development: The Landscape of Opportunity in Early Care and Education (Summer 2008)
• When Quality Counts and Money Matters (Spring 2008)
• The Dynamic Relationship Between Child Care Work Environments and Learning Environments (Winter 2008)
• Portrait of Leadership in an Early Childhood Learning Organization (Fall 2007)
• States Efforts to Integrate Measures of Leadership and Management in Quality Rating Systems (Summer 2007)
• Program Characteristics Associated with Utilization of Early Childhood Professional Development Funding (Spring 2007)
• Head Start Programs and Teaching Staff in 2005 (Winter 2007)
• Making the Most of Connections to Support License-Exempt Child Care Providers (Fall 2006)
• Meeting the Demand for Early Childhood Teachers in Illinois Universal Pre-Kindergarten Efforts (Summer 2006)
• Going to Scale with High-Quality Early Education: Choices and Consequences in Universal Pre-Kindergarten Efforts (Spring 2006)
• Directors and the Nonpursuit of NAEYC Accreditation: Varying Definitions of Quality (Winter 2006)
• State-Funded Pre-Kindergarten in Community-Based Child Care (Fall 2005)
• A Focused Look at Program Directors: Education, Salary, and Benefits (Summer 2005)
• Professional Development: How Is It Defined? How Is It Measured? (Spring 2005)
• Widening the Lens: Looking at Quality from a Program Administration Perspective (Winter 2005)
• Lessons Learned: Preschool Teacher Qualifications in New Jersey's Abbott District (Fall 2004)
• Directors' Perceptions About Male Involvement in Early Childhood Programs (Summer 2004)
• The Role of Technology in Early Childhood Program Administration: Results of the 2004 Directors' Technology Survey (Spring 2004)
• Staff Qualifications of Lead Teachers in Early Childhood Classrooms: Making the Case for a Differentiated Staffing Pattern (Winter 2004)
• Leadership Transitions – What Do Directors Experience? (Fall 2003)
• Staffing and Stability in State-Funded Pre-Kindergarden Programs (Spring 2003)
• Financial Aid Strategies – The Key to an Early Childhood Career Development System (Winter 2003)
• Supporting the Infant-Toddler Workforce (Summer 2002)
• Factors Impacting Meeting Productivity: Directors' and Teachers' Perceptions (Winter 2002)
• A Tale of Two States: Turnover in Illinois and California (Fall 2001)
• What's in a Name? Practitioners' Preferences About Terminology (Summer 2001)
• Achieving Center Accreditation: Factors That Impact Success (Winter 2001)
• Using Research to Promote Sound Policy and Practice in Early Care and Education (Fall 2000)
• The Role of Technology in Early Childhood Program Administration: Results of the 2000 Illinois Directors' Technology Survey (Summer 2000)
• Stories from the Field: Directors Making a Difference (Spring 2000)
• Illinois Directors' Benefits: Baseline Data (Winter 2000)
• Illinois Directors' Salaries: Baseline Data (Fall 1999)
• Preschool Teachers in Two Settings: Issues of Parity (Summer 1999)
• Investing in Teachers' Professional Development: A Comparison of Elementary Schools and Child Care Centers (Spring 1999)
• Elementary School Principals and Early Childhood Directors: Same Universe, But Worlds Apart (Winter 1999)
• Investment in Directors' Training Yields Big Payoffs (Fall 1998)
• A Profile of Early Childhood Center Directors (Summer 1998)