Leading for Early Learning and Development: CEEL Series 1

Offered through the Zaentz Professional Learning Academy at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the Certificate in Early Education Leadership (CEEL) is designed to provide leaders with the core knowledge, management skills, and tools necessary to build and advance high-quality early education across learning environments. CEEL consists of three carefully crafted series. Series 1: Leading for Early Learning and Development covers scientific principles related to child development, adult learning, the impact of trauma on early learners, and the role relationships play in early learning environments. Series 1 contains four Learn modules and one Plan and Apply module.

Overview

Each of the three series includes four instructional Learn modules that build participants’ core knowledge in key areas, including early learning and development, adult learning, and leadership and management. The fifth module is a Plan and Apply module designed to support participants as they map key learnings and to create and implement a plan tailored to their site and work.

Leading for Early Learning and Development provides early education leaders with foundational knowledge, skills, and tools necessary for cultivating optimal learning environments and experiences. The four Learn modules plus the Plan and Apply module that comprise Series 1 offer leaders insights into critical issues related to learning and development for both children and adults.

Participants can begin with any Learn module and take these modules in any order. We recommend participants complete all four Learn modules in a series before they take the Plan and Apply module within that series.

The fee is $245 per module; see the table below for discounts. Participants must complete all 15 modules to earn the full CEEL certificate.

Series 1 Learn Modules

Learn A: The Science of Early Learning
Understand the science behind early learning and how core knowledge informs decision making. Explore key learnings from the science of child development to improve the quality of early education, shape the ongoing work of program leaders, and recognize how relationships impact early learning. 

Learn B: Leading Adults for Quality Improvement 
Learn why supporting adult learning and development is critical to establishing and sustaining high-quality early education environments. Discover and apply practical strategies for creating a culture of adult learning and development, including fostering teamwork, psychological safety, and team learning. 

Learn C: Stress, Adversity, and Trauma 
Understand how early experiences — including stress resulting from adversity and trauma — can impact young learners. Discover strategies for supporting early educators as they support vulnerable children. Gain critical skills in setting up organizational and classroom structures and practices that can help offset the effects of adverse experiences.

Learn D: Strong Relationships and Interactions 
Explore the critical role that relationships play in early education settings. Learn why relationships form the basis for all learning, explore how relationships between adults shape learning environments, and cultivate new strategies to strengthen adult-adult and adult-child relationships.

Plan and Apply
Translate the concepts acquired in the Series 1 Learn modules into an action plan. Map out key concepts derived from each Learn module and create an implementation strategy tailored to the goals and challenges specific to your own learning environment. Upon completion of all four Learn modules, if you haven’t registered for the full series, you will receive an invitation to complete this final module.

Program Details

CEEL is designed to support flexibility. Its modules may be taken independently or as part of the overall certificate program. You can begin with any Learn module and complete the Learn modules in any order. The online activities are asynchronous, allowing you to choose when, within a given week, you complete them. All content is self-paced, including group discussions. Facilitators moderate discussion boards throughout each of the three-week Learn modules.

Each three-week Learn module requires a total of 10 hours of work, and includes a mix of self-paced learning, group discussions, and job-embedded applications. Activities include:

• Brief video lectures from Professors Lesaux and Jones that include insights from current research in early education and related leadership strategies and practices;
• Readings;
• Self-reflection exercises;
• Online discussions;
• Animated depictions of real scenarios drawn from early education practice;
• Facilitated cohort discussions;
• Strategies for practical application; and
• Job-embedded practice where you will apply the concepts and techniques learned.

A central feature of the HGSE experience is cohort learning, and therefore the CEEL curriculum is designed to create a community of practice so that participants can learn with and from each other.

In the four-week Plan and Apply module, participants are provided with scaffolded supports as they map key learnings and create and implement a plan tailored to their own site and work. The Plan and Apply module requires a total of 15 hours of work.

Who Should Participate

CEEL is designed for early education leaders and practitioners, including:

• Directors of early education centers or programs
• Administrators, coaches, and practitioners in public school preK programs
• Leaders of early education service organizations
• State leaders and administrators
• Philanthropists, grant-makers, and advocates

About CEEL

Gain the core knowledge, management skills, and tools necessary to build and advance high-quality early education across learning environments. The CEEL content is aligned and coordinated across its three series to ensure early education leaders have access to the latest research, knowledge, and strategies.

The three series included in CEEL are:

• Series 1: Leading for Early Learning and Development
• Series 2: Rethinking Leadership in Early Education
• Series 3: Supporting Optimal Teaching and Learning Environments

CEEL takes place exclusively online and is designed to offer working professionals in early education an opportunity to deepen their core knowledge and enhance their skills through a flexible, online, and job-embedded learning experience. Materials are interactive and case-based.

Discount and Tuition Assistance

The following discounts are available for eligible individuals and groups. Please contact us to receive your discount codes. Please note that none of the discounts can be combined with another discount code. There is no tuition assistance available for this program at the moment.

*Groups for Series need to register for all five modules at once before Learn A’s registration deadline and pay for the entire amount before Learn A starts.

Fees & Policies

Upon successful completion of an individual Learn module, participants will receive documentation of completion, as well as a letter confirming 10 clock hours awarded. Upon successful completion of a Plan and Apply module, participants will receive documentation of completion, as well as a letter confirming 15 clock hours awarded.

Participants who successfully complete all three CEEL Series — Leading for Early Learning and Development, Rethinking Leadership in Early Education, and Supporting Optimal Teaching and Learning Environments — will receive the Certificate in Early Education Leadership.

Earn CEUs

Professional Education is excited to offer Continuing Education Units (CEU's) for your successful participation in this program. The Continuing Education Unit (CEU) is a nationally and internationally recognized unit of measurement for non-credit continuing education programs. As an IACET Accredited Provider, Professional Education offers IACET CEUs for its learning events that comply with the ANSI/IACET Continuing Education and Training Standard.

Requirements to be eligible to earn CEUs:

• Attend or view all program sessions.
• Complete program evaluation.
• Successfully complete all program requirements.

Upon successfully meeting all requirements outlined above, you will be notified via email that you have A) earned the certificate of completion for the program and B) are now eligible to earn CEUs. This email will contain the link to complete the required reflection assignment if you wish to receive CEUs, along with a submission deadline, and time frame for receiving your CEUs. After submitting your reflection assignment, we will notify you via email of your CEU status, and if you have met all requirements, you will be able to download and view your CEU certificate at this point in time.

• CEEL Learn modules (Learn A, B, C, D) are eligible for 1 CEU and 10 clock hours each.
• CEEL Plan and Apply modules are eligible for 1.5 CEU and 15 clock hours each.

Note: Professional Education is accredited by the International Accreditors for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) and offers IACET CEUs for its learning events that comply with the ANSI/IACET Continuing Education and Training Standard. IACET is recognized internationally as a standard development organization and accrediting body that promotes the quality of continuing education and training.