In her role as a senior technical assistance specialist for the Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center (ECTA) at the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG), Sherri Britt Williams, MPH, has led a year-long process of engaging diverse critical perspectives in the development of competencies for equity and inclusion-focused leadership. This process was a result of ECTA receiving requests for assistance from state and entity leaders of early childhood systems throughout the country on how to be more intentional in making changes to address disparities in how diverse groups of children and families receive supports and experience positive outcomes through their state or entity Part C (Early Intervention) and Part B, Section 619 (Preschool Special Education) programs. The result is a resource featuring “Equity- and Inclusion-Focused Leadership: Attitudes and Actions” and a leadership coaching program intensive technical assistance (TA) cohort.

The resource was co-developed by a group with diverse critical perspectives using a process that started with Britt Williams and an ECTA Center planning team looking at who was involved in the planning and asking, "Who else?" This led to identifying the perspectives that are most impacted by barriers to equity and inclusion in early childhood systems. The team then sought out people who identified with those perspectives and are involved with leadership or leadership development. Seventeen individuals from throughout the country lent their diverse perspectives and became the technical working group that led the process of developing the early drafts of competencies for equity- and inclusion- focused leadership during summer and fall 2023.

The technical working group initially met in person in summer 2023, followed by two online meetings. In addition, the group members were offered multiple opportunities to speak one-on-one or in smaller groups to provide input. The group led the process for developing early drafts of the resource and weighed in throughout the iterative process as revisions and refinements were made to create the version used for usability testing with a cohort of state and entity leaders. Britt Williams emphasized the importance of providing multiple ways and opportunities for technical working group members to be heard and to authentically co-develop and refine this resource.

Members of the technical working group then asked the question, “Who else?” and developed a list of key groups with which to share a draft in the fall of 2023. The extensive feedback among the groups, the planning team, and the technical working group helped Britt Williams and colleagues refine and revise the competencies developed for the work.

This month will see the launch of the Leadership Coaching Program (LCP) Intensive TA Cohort, which will be co-led by Britt Williams, ECTA Technical Assistance Specialist Catasha Williams, MEd, and Technical Assistance Associate Sonia Sabater, MSW. Individuals who provide leadership support to their state or entity early intervention or preschool special ed programs were invited to apply to this program in which they will receive one-to-one leadership support with a personal leadership coach in addition to regular group and peer-to-peer coaching with other leaders in the cohort.  

“All of this work is for the purpose of supporting young children with disabilities and their families, especially those who are most impacted by barriers to equitable and inclusive access, experiences, and positive outcomes,” says Britt Williams. “We want states and entities to be intentional about authentically partnering with families in every aspect of planning, implementing, and evaluating the services and resources intended to support them."

The participants will use the equity- and inclusion-focused leadership actions as they consider their current work as well as the areas they would like to strengthen. This intensive TA cohort is designed for state Part C and Part B, Section 619 leaders to strengthen their leadership in co-developing and leading equitable and inclusive access, experiences, and positive outcomes for children and families served through state early intervention and early childhood special education programs.

The coaching team includes TA staff from ECTA and DaSy Centers who will provide individualized coaching support to state leaders as they develop and strengthen their capacity to provide leadership focusing on removing barriers to equity and inclusion for children and families.  The intended outcomes for the LCP Cohort include:  

• State/entity leaders will approach equity and inclusion challenges in collaboration with people most affected by the challenges.
• State/entity leaders will commit to using the equity- and inclusion-focused leadership actions to inform ongoing self-reflection and learn to better understand organizational and systemic barriers to equitable and inclusive access, experiences, and outcomes for children with disabilities and their families.
• State/entity leaders will collaborate with others to identify and develop conditions that remove barriers to access, experiences, and positive outcomes for children with disabilities and their families.

The cohort will meet for two years, through May 2026. The first 18 months will include monthly virtual one-to-one coaching sessions along with bi-monthly cohort meetings. The final six months of the program will involve updating action plan progress and providing information and feedback to complete cohort evaluation activities.

ECTA Center is using a multi-pronged approach in which the resources on the website are available to all committed to equity and inclusion while more individualized technical assistance is provided to a specific group of leaders. Britt Williams and colleagues are co-developing a self-assessment tool that the cohort can use to help develop action plans. That tool will be shared on the website so that anyone interested in exploring equity and inclusion focused leadership can use it to support their learning, reflection and planning.

“All of this work is for the purpose of supporting young children with disabilities and their families, especially those who are most impacted by barriers to equitable and inclusive access, experiences, and positive outcomes,” says Britt Williams. “We want states and entities to be intentional about authentically partnering with families in every aspect of planning, implementing, and evaluating the services and resources intended to support them. This means going beyond inviting parent representatives to meetings or just sharing program data with parents. We want leaders to truly partner with families and communities to analyze data, identify barriers and solutions, and make decisions relating to program improvements so children with disabilities and their families have access to the support they need to thrive. It also involves acknowledging that families and their communities have strengths and information critical to improving programs that serve young children with disabilities.”

“If we all work together and acknowledge the strengths and wisdom of families and their communities by joining them as partners in this work," says Britt Williams, "just imagine the impact we can have.”

Britt Williams and her colleagues continue to ask, “Who else?” and invite feedback from anyone with ideas for supporting leaders of early childhood programs to identify and remove barriers for children with disabilities and their families when it comes to equitable access to inclusive environments and experiences. Britt Williams says, “If we all work together and acknowledge the strengths and wisdom of families and their communities by joining them as partners in this work, just imagine the impact we can have.”