2012 NAEYC Governing Board Election—Candidate Statements

2012 NAEYC Governing Board Candidate Statements

This year’s slate includes one seat as the Affiliate Liaison and two Governing Board members At Large.

Voting Information All NAEYC members as of December 1, 2011, are eligible to participate in the 2012 Governing Board election. The election will be conducted online, with email notifications regarding the ballot sent in early January 2012. Paper ballots may also be requested; requests must be submitted by December 1, 2011. Voting continues through March 1, 2012, with the election results announced by the end of March.

2012 NAEYC Governing Board Election—Candidate Statements

Please describe your efforts on behalf of young children and families.

My career trajectory has taken me from kindergarten teacher to my cur-rent role as executive director of an NAEYC-accredited, state-funded, cul-turally diverse community preschool program and child advocate. As past president and current vice president for public policy for the New Jersey AEYC, I continually provide leadership toward influencing decision making among local, state, and federal policy makers on behalf of children and fami-lies. Advocating for quality programs for all children from birth to age 8, regardless of the setting, is critical to these efforts. Promotion of a strong system for early learning is an endur-ing pursuit.

Please describe the specific strengths and skills you would bring as a member of the NAEYC Governing Board, emphasizing leadership roles you have had at local community, state, and/or national levels and prior contributions and service to NAEYC.

Child and family advocacy is my passion. Having dedicated many years to working in a richly diversified urban environment, I am deeply com-mitted to program quality. My pro-gram has earned NAEYC Accreditation and Top Ten Preschool honors. I have contributed to developing the New Jersey quality rating and improve-ment system and offered an authen-tic voice for early care and education. I have served on special committees under four governors, with a United Way Educational Plan Design Team and state department workgroups, and as a core member of the New Jersey Build team. With a constella-tion of revered leaders, I have worked to develop a comprehensive, inte-grated early learning system based on a robust infrastructure. My relationship with NAEYC began with my appointment as secretary for my local Affiliate, followed by my progression to president at both the local and state levels. I also served as a member of the NAEYC Affiliate advi-sor team assisting states through the rigorous reaffiliation process. That experience gave me a comprehen-sive understanding of the unique-ness of each Affiliate and their depth of commitment to the Association. Subsequently, I was selected as a con-sulting editor for Young Children. If elected to the NAEYC Governing Board, I will effectively use my skills as a grassroots organizer, advocate for children and families, and sys-tem visionary to enhance the board’s depth and breadth. My extensive expe-rience at the local, state, and national levels will inform and inspire futuris-tic thinking while addressing critical issues facing the field of early learning.

What do you see as the single great-est issue facing the early childhood field today, and what role do you see for NAEYC in addressing this issue?

Newspapers across the country pro-claim the bleak status of the economy in nearly every state. The vulnerabil-ity of early care and education fund-ing is profound, as announcements of preschool funding cuts and reduc-tion in services to young children and their families are becoming routine. NAEYC must continue to provide sup-port to Affiliates and their members in their advocacy for and engagement in the development of state systems that embed quality child care and early learning; health, nutrition, and men-tal health; family support; and special needs and intervention for children from birth through age 8. Promoting a continuum of education from pre-school through third grade as a com-ponent of the system will ensure that developmentally appropriate prac-tices are used to construct good out-comes for young children, securing academic and life success and bol-stering long-term national economic security. NAEYC has an opportunity to con-tinually assist members in commu-nication strategies that can reframe early learning as an essential public policy. While personnel in the field are accomplished in telling their sto-ries, studies have shown that personal stories from direct service providers or their consumers do not resonate with the general public in an era of a stressed economy. In contrast, nontra-ditional spokespersons, such as busi-ness leaders promoting early child-hood education as effective in building a strong, internationally competitive workforce; military leaders expressing their respect for preschool education as a matter of homeland security; and health care professionals announcing support for preschool as a deterrent for chronic long-term disease, help build public support for early child-hood education.

Lorraine CookeExecutive Director

Egenolf Early Childhood CenterElizabeth, New Jersey

C A N D I D A T E S F O R G O v E R N I N G B O A R D A F F I L I A T E L I A I S O NOne member to be elected to a four-year term.


Please describe your efforts on behalf of young children and families.

My work as a teacher, director, trainer, accreditation specialist, and program consultant has given me a deep respect for the challenges facing our workforce and the programs that serve children and their families. My commitment to high-quality, affordable child care has helped me represent the NAEYC perspective while serving on state committees and task forces addressing program quality issues. My experience as project manager for Caring for Children, a research project that studied the impact of poverty on the lives of young children, affirmed my belief that all children need access to high-quality child care programs and services.

Gege KreischerEarly Childhood Consultant

Child Care ConceptsLutz, Florida


A governing board member is an innovator, a collaborator, a criti-cal thinker, and a visionary. My work with my local and state Affiliates, the NAEYC Academy, and Affiliate Relations for the past 20 years has helped me expand my understanding of the importance of these skills. My involvement with children, families, teachers, and administrators has kept me connected to the issues challeng-ing our profession. My service on local and state Affiliate boards has shown me the impact a high-functioning and inclusive board has on the health and productivity of an association. My participation in the Compensated Validator Field Trial gave me a deep respect for the reliability and integrity of our accreditation system and the significant difference it makes for chil-dren in an NAEYC-accredited program. My work with the Affiliate Council, the Innovation Grant Task Force, and the Nominating Panel has given me a unique understanding of the design and function of our Association. To serve as a member of the Governing Board at this time in NAEYC’s history requires that individ-uals commit to being fully prepared to address each issue and remain open to broadening their perspective by carefully reflecting on additional insights and information. The chal-lenges and the educational and eco-nomic issues confronting NAEYC’s membership require us to expand our perspectives if solutions are to be sus-tainable and effective. As a Governing Board member, I would be dedicated to helping NAEYC reach its potential as the premier association for early childhood professionals.

What do you see as the single greatest issue facing the early childhood field today, and what role do you see for NAEYC in addressing this issue?

The unstable economy has already threatened many of the early child-hood funding sources and will con-tinue to affect funding and program quality as we move through this decade. In the current economic envi-ronment of high unemployment and low program enrollment, programs in both the public and the private sec-tor struggle to stabilize budgets. The accessibility of affordable, high-quality programs must not be compromised. The adverse conditions confront-ing our field and our membership call for a renewed dedication to creating a network of advocates to maintain fully funded programs and services for children and their families and to pro-mote the highest standard of program quality in our communities. We need to coordinate efforts to focus on key issues and speak with one voice for children in order to move these issues forward. Advocacy requires passion, energy, commitment, and tenacious determination. NAEYC is a critical resource for its members and for all early childhood professionals. It is uniquely poised to bring together national resources that create a network to support and inform our work in communities and states both in public policy and pro-gram quality. Vision 2015 has clearly defined these goals and the National Dialogue has placed an important emphasis on NAEYC’s relationship with members and Affiliates. We must stay committed to this work and make a clear vision shared through strong relationships an integral part of our Association’s culture.

C A N D I D A T E S F O R G O v E R N I N G B O A R D A F F I L I A T E L I A I S O NOne member to be elected to a four-year term.


C A N D I D A T E S F O R G O v E R N I N G B O A R D A T L A R G ETwo members to be elected to four-year terms.

Please describe your efforts on behalf of children and families.

I have worked for 25 years in the early childhood field. My professional career could be characterized as a search for new and better ways to address the needs of young children and their families. From the begin-ning of my career in my home country, Venezuela, helping teachers promote young children’s literacy using devel-opmentally appropriate practices, to my work in recent years research-ing issues related to the teaching and learning of young dual language learn-ers, my work has focused on bridg-ing the gap between research and practice.

Cristina GillandersScientist

Frank Porter Graham Child Development InstituteUniversity of North CarolinaChapel Hill, North Carolina

Please describe the specific strengths and skills you would bring as a mem-ber of the NAEYC Governing Board, emphasizing leadership roles you have had at local community, state, and/or national levels including prior contributions and service to NAEYC.

When I came to the United States for graduate school, I quickly realized I needed to have firsthand knowledge of its educational system, so I worked as a bilingual preschool teacher in an early childhood program in Chicago. As a result of this experience, I was able to identify gaps in research, espe-cially as it relates to teaching young dual language learners. I have con-ducted research focusing on the early care and education of dual language learners and the beliefs and practices of Latino immigrant families. An important aspect of my work has been my role as a teacher educator, at both the preservice and in-service levels. It has allowed me to identify the needs of practitioners and explore different approaches for professional development. I have also had the priv-ilege of working with leading research-ers in the field and exceptional prac-titioners, who have taught me the importance of collaboration and the benefit of multiple perspectives. Finally, I have been a board member in two community organizations that focus on the education and care of young children. As an example of my leadership experience, I participated in the work group that requested NAEYC’s development of the 2005 position statement (Supplement on Screening and Assessment of Young English Language Learners). These positions have given me a comprehen-sive view of the field and the needs of young children, their families, and practitioners.


One of the challenges and oppor-tunities for the early childhood field is addressing the needs of an increas-ingly diverse population of young chil-dren and families. Despite efforts to resolve educational inequality, we still face persistent disparities between minority and nonminority, poor and nonpoor, and dual language learners and monolingual English-speaking chil-dren. As educators work to address these differences, they have the opportunity to take a closer look at current practices and find new ways to improve the early childhood educa-tion experience for all children. NAEYC can address these issues at the following levels:

• Public policy and advocacy. NAEYC can provide guidance to policy mak-ers regarding the implications of policies for the education of young children—especially children who come from poor and minority back-grounds.

• Research. Because of NAEYC’s close relationship with practitioners in the field, the Association can play a vital role in identifying critical areas where research is needed to understand the best practices for children from poor and minority backgrounds.

• Teacher preparation. NAEYC can work with professional development and higher education institutions to review promising approaches and provide guidance to better prepare teachers to work with diverse chil-dren and families.

• Practitioners and parents. NAEYC can continue making resources avail-able to practitioners and parents. It can also create new opportunities for professional development for prac-titioners in a variety of approaches, and resources for parents in a variety of media, languages, and topics.



With support from colleagues and families, I have been able to:

• Promote education for abandoned girls, AIDS orphans, and institution-alized children in China.

• Develop programs for US families with adopted Chinese children, helping them make connections with their birth culture.

• Advocate for families from over 20 countries to help them find quality child care.

• Bridge two cultures by leading US students to work with vulnerable children in China each summer.

• Spread developmentally appropri-ate practices globally, as evidenced through Dingkey, an early child-hood training school I helped estab-lish that serves over 3,000 chil-dren in Inner Mongolia, Beijing, and Shanghai.

Nili LuoProfessor and Director of

Early Childhood EducationSouthwestern College

Winfield, Kansas

Please describe the specific strengths and skills you would bring as a mem-ber of the NAEYC Governing Board, emphasizing leadership roles you have had at local community, state, and/or national levels including prior contributions and service to NAEYC.

Leadership roles: Lead teacher for Infants to Preschoolers; project super-visor for Half the Sky Foundation, Chun Lei Project, and Early Learning in Orphanages; advisory board—Home-land Foundation; family advocate—Graduate Employees Association; advi-sor to Montana AEYC Student Chapter and the Week of Young Children event; national board member of International Association of Asian Studies; director of Southwestern College’s early child-hood program. I would contribute to NAEYC’s lead-ership through compassion and deter-mination. Although having grown up in the least developed area of China, Istudied diligently and was the only fe-male selected to go to college from my village. This inspired my compassion for helping less privileged students have equal opportunities for education. My international experience has led me to value cultural differences and ex-hibit diversity in teaching. I was trained as a professional educator in two differ-ent countries and work with students from birth to adulthood in various cultural settings, so I am aware of and respond to the current issues in the new, global culture of early childhood. I have served as a liaison between various groups of people and organi-zations. I envision the expansion of service opportunities for early child-hood educators in the United States to understand early childhood education in China, which has the largest devel-oping early childhood education field in the world. My global connections are main-tained through steadfast relationships with my colleagues and students in China, including at five key normal universities, 35 different early learning centers, 19 different welfare institu-tions, and two deaf and blind schools.


The greatest issue in early childhood is meeting the needs of our diverse population of children. By intentionally guiding current early childhood and preservice teachers to adapt teach-ing strategies to effectively meet these needs, we can help them access oppor-tunities in life and achieve success. To provide a globally competent, highly qualified, effective, and pro-fessional workforce, I will encourage NAEYC in the following ways:

• Continue the presence as a strong advocate for children and families. Each of us has the responsibility to close the opportunity gap from birth; the first eight years hold criti-cal developmental milestones for the future success of the child, family, and society.

• Continually review and promote developmentally appropriate prac-tices for children from birth through third grade, including appropriate standards, curricula, and assess-ment tools to make sure all children and families receive comprehensive high-quality services.

• Keep supporting policies to promotea high-quality workforce, including pro-viding early childhood educators with educational opportunities, mentoring educators throughout their careers, and striving for better compensation for professionals in the field.

• Collaborate with local community resources to provide better service to children and families.

• Become a global resource by encour-aging and serving families and early child care centers around the world.

• Grow our membership and present ourselves internationally with strong sensitivity and responsiveness to cul-tural differences.

My goal is to provide advocacy and programs for those who are most often underserved and even forgotten. Thank you for reading my statement.



Tammy L. MannPresident and CEO

The Campagna CenterAlexandria, Virginia


For over 20 years, I have worked in organizations committed to improv-ing outcomes for children and their families. During this time, much of my work has focused on helping adults see young children as compe-tent, capable, and highly influenced by everyday interactions with care-givers and teachers. These early rela-tionships play a critical role in shap-ing a child’s identity development and emerging sense of self-confidence. This perspective, substantially sup-ported by research, has profoundly affected my work as a service pro-vider, trainer, writer, faculty member, and program administrator. In fact, it is core to my identity as an early child-hood professional.


My content expertise includes a spe-cialized focus on the development of children under 3. Through my work at ZERO TO THREE I held various lead-ership roles, including director of the Early Head Start National Resource Center, co-director of professional development, and deputy executive director. I was instrumental in guiding the organization’s overall approach to providing training and technical assis-tance to professionals across a wide range of disciplines, including early care and education, mental health, early intervention, and child welfare. I have served on national advisory committees, and boards of directors, and presented at national and inter-national conferences on practice and policy issues affecting young children. Currently, I am president and chief executive officer of an organization that serves 1,700 children, youth, and familiesdaily; all of our early childhood class-rooms are NAEYC accredited. I haveserved NAEYC in a variety of capacities,including consulting editor of Young Children, Curriculum Resource Team member for Accreditation Reinvention, and as an Advisory Committee mem-ber for NAEYC’s Supporting Teachers, Strengthening Families initiative. Having worked in a variety of senior executive positions, I have interacted with individuals from diverse pro-fessional and cultural backgrounds. These experiences have helped refine my interpersonal and communication skills. Ultimately, being an effective member of a governing body requires strong content knowledge and well-honed interpersonal skills. This lat-ter set of skills helps foster successful participation among a diverse group of individuals working toward shared goals. If elected, I will bring these skills

to my work as a member of NAEYC’s governing body.


The field of early childhood edu-cation has come a long way since NAEYC’s founding more than 75 years ago. Our national conscience on the important role that early childhood education plays in a child’s life has evolved and prompted significant pub-lic and private investments at the local, state, and federal level. States across the country have articulated early learning standards in an effort to align with K–12 education and to improve school readiness. As important and necessary as these developments are, the need to safeguard how standards are used to inform and improve prac-tice is a chief concern for the field. The “how to” of fostering development and learning goals merits careful attention to avoid having K–12 drive practice in ways that violate what we know about how young children best learn. As the largest organization devoted to the education of young children, NAEYC continues to play a leadership role in shaping program and profes-sional preparation standards for early childhood education. Thus, NAEYC must use its voice to make certain that program and professional prepara-tion standards continue to drive prac-tice. Actively participating in local, state, and national debates on this issue and using position statements to provide the framework for informing these discussions are critical. Finally, as this work continues to progress, NAEYC should document changes “on the ground” from the perspective of program administrators, teachers, and parents. Such data can be used to inform future refinements in program and professional preparation stan-dards, reflecting the true spirit of con-tinuous improvement.



Please describe your efforts on behalf of young children and their families.

I have worked in the field of early childhood education as a teacher, fam-ily educator, program director, and school district executive. I am now a consultant and writer, developing curriculum, assessing programs, and coaching educators. I also teach stu-dents and child care providers enter-ing the field. I have authored a book on the transition to kindergarten, and I am writing another book on teaching dual language learners. With my writ-ing, my goal is to bridge research and practice so the ideas can be directly applied in classrooms or family child care homes. Through it all, I promote the value of developmentally appropri-ate practice.

Angèle Sancho PasseEducation Consultant and Author

BlueWater Associates Inc.Minneapolis, Minnesota


I have a strong base in early child-hood education serving children birth through 8, families, students, teach-ers, and providers. This content knowl-edge informs my leadership roles. As co-chair of the professional devel-opment committee of the Minnesota Early Education Council, I advocate for sound public policy. As a mem-ber of the Minnesota Professional Development Advisory Council, I serve to ensure good systems for all educa-tors. We must support and invest in the early childhood workforce if we want quality. I enjoy the diplomacy of negotiating diverse agendas while maintaining focus on the goal. For two separate terms, I was pres-ident of Minnesota AEYC. With my colleagues on the board, I worked to strengthen the organization. We met our objectives of promoting the cred-ibility and the financial security of the association. These would also be important considerations for me as a board member of NAEYC. Professionally, I have a long experi-ence leading small and large organi-zations with a continuous improve-ment philosophy. I particularly like the 85/15 formula, which states that if an organization has challenges, 85 percent is caused by the systems and 15 percent by the individuals. This perspective is very useful to channel problem solving into improving the systems. As a member of the NAEYC Governing Board, I will bring this posi-tive thinking to my governance role. Personally, I have had the benefit of a multilingual, multicultural life. This has given me insights into diversity and inclusion that I will contribute to help NAEYC fulfill its mission.

Website: www.angelesanchopasse.com


Quality is inconsistent in the field of early childhood education. Some chil-dren are lucky; they attend wonderful programs. Other children are not so lucky. I believe the issue of universal quality needs much attention. NAEYC does an excellent job of defining quality. We know what it should look like. The next step is to use these definitions and focus on the implementation of quality. How do we make sure it happens? The answers lie in public policy and in private efforts. Our field is getting noticed from the outside. Policy makers, K–12 pro-fessionals, and business leaders are paying attention. It seems like a great moment to harness this general inter-est to gather public support for quality! The education of our youngest children should not be a matter of luck. I pro-pose that we work to realize the last bullet of NAEYC’s vision statement:

• All communities, states, and the nation work together to ensure accountable systems of high-quality early childhood education for all children.

NAEYC has a strong and smart mem-bership. One only needs to attend a conference to feel the energy in the hallways and in the ideas. This incred-ible source of strength and wisdom is key to the private efforts to ensure quality. Taking advantage of the pub-lic’s notice of early childhood edu-cation, I see that NAEYC has the opportunity to rally the creativity and knowledge of its members to be even stronger actors and advocates. Together we will be able to indeed have high-quality early education for all children.


2012 NAEYC Governing Board Election—Candidate Statements

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