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Early Childhood Investigations: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Playground
Early Childhood Investigations is your gateway to inspiring, research-based professional development. Since 2009, our free webinar series has brought together authors, researchers, and leaders in early care and education to share timely insights and spark meaningful conversations across the workforce. We believe high-quality professional development should be accessible, practical, and immediately useful. ECI is a movement that empowers directors, administrators, and teachers to elevate their practice and strengthen outcomes for children and families. https://ecewebinars.com/spotify
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- 5 days ago1h 26m
The Cost of Starting Over A Financial Framework for Hiring, Developing, and Keeping the Team Your Program Needs by Kate Woodward Young, M.Ed. and Carrie Casey
RESOURCESWatch the full webinar hereJoin our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every weekCheck out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management SoftwareEvery time a staff member leaves, your program starts paying — long before you post the job opening.The obvious costs are easy to see: advertising, background checks, onboarding, training hours, and classroom coverage. The real cost reaches much further. Turnover can mean overtime, leadership time pulled away from enrollment and operations, stressed classrooms, lost family confidence, delayed growth, and months of reduced productivity while a new hire gets up to speed. So the question becomes: do you track it?Join Kate Woodward Young and Carrie Casey for a session that helps child care leaders view staffing decisions through a business lens. Kate and Carrie will break down the financial impact of hiring, training, developing, and retaining staff — including the often-overlooked cost of director turnover and the time it takes a new leader to bring a program back to full strength.Participants will explore how to make smarter decisions about raises, performance bonuses, credentialing, onboarding, and staff development. Rather than asking only, "Can we afford to invest in our team?" this session asks the more important question: "What is it costing us when we do not?"Leaders will leave able to put real numbers to the cost of turnover, weigh a retention investment against the cost of replacing an employee, and build a clearer financial case for keeping the right people.Learning ObjectivesBy the end of this 90-minute webinar, participants will be able to:Calculate the total cost of replacing one staff member, including direct hiring expenses and indirect costs such as overtime, classroom coverage, and lost productivity.Identify the hidden costs of director and leadership turnover, including the time required for a new leader to return a program to full strength.Compare the cost of a retention investment — such as a raise, performance bonus, or credentialing support — against the cost of replacing that employee.Formulate a financial case for a specific staff investment decision using program-level turnover and time-to-productivity data.
- 1 weeks ago1h 19m
Advancing SEL—Fostering Character, Creativity, and Culture in Early Learning Spaces by Brian Puerling MS, NBCT
RESOURCESWatch the full webinar hereJoin our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every weekCheck out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management SoftwareReady to go beyond the basics? In this second session of the series, we’ll explore advanced strategies to support children’s social-emotional development through character education, creative expression, and culturally responsive practices.Join Brian J. Puerling, MS, NBCT, nationally recognized author, PBS Innovative Educator Award recipient, and early childhood leader, as he shares practical tools to deepen your SEL approach. Drawing from decades of work with diverse learners, including roles with Sesame Workshop and Chicago Public Schools, Brian will guide you in designing inclusive environments and crafting sustainable classroom practices. This session builds on the foundation of Webinar 1. If you missed the live event, we encourage you to watch the recording of Part 1. Together, these two sessions offer a comprehensive framework for fostering SEL in the digital age.Key Takeaways:Apply practical strategies to teach character and guide conflict resolution.Nurture creativity as a critical element of SEL.Design inclusive, culturally responsive environments for all children.Create your own action plan to bring SEL practices to life in your classroom.
- 1 weeks ago1h 23m
Cited. Now What Understanding Licensing Decisions and Your Next Steps by Ronnae Williams
RESOURCESWatch the full webinar hereJoin our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every weekCheck out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management SoftwareReceiving a citation can leave even experienced child care leaders with a lot of emotion — and even more questions.What exactly was cited? When did that become a rule? Was the regulation interpreted correctly? Should the finding be accepted as written, clarified, or discussed further based on additional information?Join Ronnae Williams, The State Lady®, for an inside look at how licensing decisions are made, what consultants are evaluating during inspections, and how to respond professionally when findings are documented.Drawing on her experience as a former licensing consultant, Ronnae will help participants better understand licensing reports, identify common areas of misunderstanding, and determine appropriate next steps when concerns arise.Participants will leave with practical strategies for addressing citations, strengthening compliance systems, and communicating effectively throughout the process.Learning objectives: by the end of this 90-minute webinar, participants will be able to:Interpret a licensing report to identify the specific regulation, practice, or observation being cited.Describe what licensing consultants evaluate during inspections, investigations, and follow-up visits.Determine whether clarification, corrective action, or additional documentation is appropriate following a citation.Apply professional communication strategies to respond to licensing findings and strengthen compliance systems.
- 2 weeks ago1h 25m
Strong Bodies, Ready Hands: The Playground Path to Handwriting by Stacy Benge, M.S.
RESOURCESWatch the full webinar hereJoin our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every weekCheck out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management SoftwareChildren need movement to develop their bodies and brains; so, let’s embrace the bending, twisting, and wiggling! Join Stacy Benge, author of The Whole Child Alphabet: How Children Actually Develop Literacy, to uncover how fine motor function depends on stable gross motor skills. You will explore ways to intertwine physical experiences throughout the day to offer fun, engaging, and meaningful experiences that support the development of both. You will discover how to design a play environment that encourages movement and physical development. Leave with the confidence of knowing and explaining that the foundations of literacy and future reading and writing begin on the playground. After this session, you will be able to: · Identify the importance of physical development in the lifespan and academic growth.Discover the developmental stages of physical development, including gross and fine motor, brain development, crossing the midlines, and the internal senses. Understand the intricacies of physical development and how it supports future handwritingCreate a learning environment centered around child-led play to promote physical development. Evaluate practices moving forward that support physical development, including sharing information with stakeholders and advocating for child-led play.
- 2 weeks ago1h 25m
Narratives That Nurture: Storytelling as a Tool for Connection and Change in Preschool Classrooms by Kate Shelley
RESOURCESWatch the full webinar hereJoin our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every weekCheck out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management SoftwareStep into the world of storytelling and discover its transformative power in early childhood education. In this heart-centered, inspiring session, you’ll explore how storytelling can do far more than entertain - it can uplift, empower, and connect.In this webinar, storytelling expert Kate Shelley will help you uncover how the simple act of sharing stories can become a powerful tool for supporting children’s communication and language development, building social-emotional skills, and offering hope - especially for children with special needs and disabilities, as well as those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Whether you're working to strengthen relationships, encourage resilience, or promote inclusion, storytelling offers a bridge between hearts and minds.Through thoughtful reflection and real-life examples, Kate will guide you to see storytelling as a vital practice in your toolkit - one that can improve life chances, promote equity, and remind us all of the magic we hold when we listen, connect, and share.Join us for insight and inspiration - and walk away ready to use stories to make a lasting impact.By the end of this session, you will be able to:Describe how storytelling supports communication, language, and social-emotional development in young children.Identify ways to use storytelling as a tool for inclusion, especially for children with SEND or those facing disadvantage.Explain how Tales Toolkit has promoted resilience and supported children’s developing confidence and independence.Reflect on how storytelling can contribute to long-term outcomes and life chances for all children.Feel inspired to create story-rich environments that bring joy, connection, and hope to your daily practice.
- 3 weeks ago1h 26m
From Turnover to Stability: How ECE Salary Scales Drive Retention and Equity by Dr. Tamar Andrews
RESOURCESWatch the full webinar hereJoin our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every weekCheck out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management SoftwareEarly childhood educators are the foundation of quality programs—yet high turnover, wage inequity, and inconsistent compensation remain persistent challenges across the field. This webinar examines how structured salary scales can transform ECE workforce stability by creating transparent, equitable pathways for teacher compensation.Designed for program directors, administrators, and early education leaders, this session pairs the evidence on fair pay structures with practical, immediately applicable guidance for building a salary scale—whether you're starting from scratch or refining an existing structure—along with realistic strategies for funding it over time.By the end of this session, participants will be able to:Describe the research linking structured salary scales to improved teacher retention, reduced turnover costs, and greater pay equity across race, gender, and credential levels.Design a draft salary scale framework for their own program, including credential- and experience-based steps and transparent placement criteria.Identify at least three funding strategies — including grants, public investments, and blended financing — to sustain competitive compensation over time.
- 3 weeks ago1h 27m
Emotionally Responsive Leadership: Leading with Regulation, Clarity, and Capacity by Dr. Yehudis Smith
RESOURCESWatch the full webinar hereJoin our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every weekCheck out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management SoftwareLeadership in early childhood education is deeply emotional work. Every tone you use, every decision you make, and every reaction you have quietly shapes your school’s culture. In this powerful session, you will explore how your nervous system state, decision-making pace, and stress responses directly influence staff morale, clarity, and performance.Leadership breakdown rarely begins with incompetence—it begins with capacity strain. When expectations exceed emotional and structural capacity, pressure replaces presence, reactivity replaces reflection, and culture begins to erode. In this webinar, you will learn how to recognize the early signs of overload in yourself and your team—and shift from survival-based leadership to sustainable, capacity-aligned leadership.You will examine what it means to lead from regulation rather than urgency, reduce invisible decision load, and coach staff through moments of dysregulation without absorbing their stress. By integrating Emotionally Responsive Practice (ERP), leadership psychology, and capacity-based thinking, you will leave with practical tools to design systems that absorb pressure instead of transferring it.If you are ready to move from managing stress to designing for stability—and from reacting under pressure to leading with clarity and intention—this session will provide both the insight and the strategies to help you do it.Learning ObjectivesBy the end of this session, you will be able to:Understand how your nervous system state influences staff performance, morale, and school culture.Identify signs of personal and organizational capacity strain before breakdown occurs.Apply practical regulation tools during high-stakes leadership moments.Use ERP principles to guide coaching conversations with dysregulated staff.Identify structural shifts that support an emotionally responsive, capacity-aligned school culture.
- Sep 2, 20261h 28m
Coaching That Sticks: What to Say When Teachers Resist Feedback by Jaime Rechkemmer
RESOURCESWatch the full webinar hereJoin our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every weekCheck out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management SoftwareYou’ve been there. You prepare for a coaching conversation, choose your words carefully, and still, something doesn’t land. The teacher shuts down, gets defensive, or nods along without any real change. It’s frustrating, and it can make even the most dedicated leader question their impact.In this engaging and practical session, you’ll learn how to turn those moments into meaningful opportunities for growth. You’ll explore why resistance happens — and, more importantly, what to do about it in real time. Through relatable scenarios and real-world language, you’ll build confidence in navigating difficult conversations with clarity and care, and learn how to shift teachers from resistant to reflective.Together, we’ll move beyond compliance-driven feedback and into coaching that builds trust, reflection, and ownership. You’ll walk away with specific phrases you can use, simple frameworks to guide your approach, and strategies to help teachers feel seen, supported, and motivated to improve their practice.Whether you’re coaching a new teacher who lacks confidence or a seasoned educator who resists change, this session will meet you where you are. You’ll leave with tools you can use immediately — because effective coaching isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about knowing how to ask the right questions, in the right way, at the right time.If you’re ready to shift your coaching from frustrating to effective — and finally see it stick — this session is for you.Learning ObjectivesExplain the underlying reasons teachers may resist feedback and how resistance shows up in coaching interactions.Apply effective, strengths-based coaching language and questioning techniques to reduce defensiveness and increase engagement.Analyze real-world coaching scenarios to determine the most effective responses for promoting reflection and growth.Design a practical coaching plan that addresses a current challenge and supports sustained improvement in teacher practice.
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About Early Childhood Investigations
Early Childhood Investigations is your gateway to inspiring, research-based professional development. Since 2009, our free webinar series has brought together authors, researchers, and leaders in early care and education to share timely insights and spark meaningful conversations across the workforce. We believe high-quality professional development should be accessible, practical, and immediately useful. ECI is a movement that empowers directors, administrators, and teachers to elevate their practice and strengthen outcomes for children and families. https://ecewebinars.com/spotify
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