NATCHITOCHES – Faith Stanfield, director of the Child Development Center at Northwestern State University, was one of 24 early childhood directors from across Louisiana named to the third cohort of Louisiana Early Leaders Academy. The Louisiana Early Leaders Academy was created by the Louisiana Department of Education to strengthen leaders in the field of early childhood education and expand access to quality early childhood care and education.
As a Fellow, Stanfield will have the opportunity to enhance leadership skills and boost impact on young learners. Fellows are selected through a competitive application process. The 10-month executive level program is for directors of highly rated publicly funded early learning centers. The directors are aiming for excellence in the daily leadership of their early learning centers. They must be certified as reliable in Louisiana’s classroom observation tool. Fellows will articulate their vision for personal and professional growth while in the Academy.
LELA will hold training in July and will include virtual and in-person training, opportunities to meet national and state leaders in early childhood education, one-on-one coaching to support areas of need and peer learning communities to enhance instructional leadership and quality in early learning programs.
Fellows also learn about managing systems changes, building strong teams and improving program operations, among other content areas. In addition to the new cohort, there are 82 alums from previous Academy cohorts statewide.